Although Bruno Walter’s Beethoven and Brahms are probably best known from recordings made towards the end of his life in the early stereo era, this Beethoven collection from the 1930s, made before his break with Europe and relocation to America, shows him at the height of his powers. Combining fire with lyricism, the Vienna Philharmonic’s Pastoral Symphony is both flexible and energised: the music never lingers too lovingly or sentimentally as it could do in later years, but remains firmly shaped by symphonic purpose and direction.