This concert presents two major symphonies by composers who represent different traditions, one a stirring affirmation, the other one of the greatest tragic works in the repertoire. Paul Ben-Haim’s Symphony No. 2 is the work of an early pioneer of Jewish symphonic music, written after the composer immigrated to what is now Israel after being driven out of Germany by the Nazis. In contrast to his Symphony No. 1, written in the shadow of World War II, No. 2, except for the dark third movement, is an optimistic work composed in 1945 after the war, its first and last movements united by a glowing pastoral theme. Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique,” his final symphony, is a searing negation. Tchaikovsky called it his most “sincere” symphony, and indeed it brought a new emotional honesty to music. Part of its unique power comes from Tchaikovsky’s decision to end the work not with a desperate life affirmation, as he’d done in the two previous symphonies, but with heartbreak and resignation, a completion of the tragic gesture.