Beethoven cast a looming shadow over the 19th century. For composers he was a model both to emulate and to overcome. You have no idea how it feels, Brahms confided, when one always hears such a giant marching behind one. Exploring the response of five composers - Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Mahler - to what each clearly saw as the challenge of Beethoven's symphonies, Evan Bonds enhances our understanding of the evolution of the symphony...