Unlike most other masters of classical music composition, Johannes Brahms did not write his first symphony until the twilight of his career, at a relatively old 43 years of age. That symphony, and the one that followed, proved to be complex, multi-layered, and gorgeous works of sonic pleasure. Conductor Semyon Bychkov, a long-time admirer of Brahms, brings his love of the composer and his work to a moving performance of these first two symphonies, which are played by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln.

Recorded at the Saltzburger Festspiele in 2004, Semyon Bychkov conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Robert Carsen's production of Strauss's comic opera, with performances by Adrianne Pieczonka, Franz Hawlata, Angelika Kirchschlager and Franz Grundheber.