Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a German Romantic composer who, all his life, aspired to be a Classicist in the Beethoven mold - to the extent that he refused to allow titles tacked onto any of his instrumental-genre works: symphonies, concertos, string quartets and quintets, piano trios and quartets, piano sonatas, etc. (though Beethoven himself apparently had fewer objections). Any one of them is simply known as "genre" number N in "some" key, opus "some number": no subtitles and thus no allusions to a mood, no literary ties and certainly no program to "follow." You listen for sound only and savor whatever mood it evokes for you. And that is exactly what you can expect Sunday when the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra performs Brahms' Symphony No. 2 withSarahIoannides conducting and young Charlie Albright on piano. Also expect to hear Beethoven'sFidelio Overture and Tchaikovsky'sPiano Concerto No. 1.

TACOMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 2:30 p.m., Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, $19-$79, 253.591.5894