Kurt Masur also gives an in-depth interview prior to each symphony, both thought-provoking and stimulating, in which he talks about his family background and his long association with this world-famous orchestra, having studied, like many members of the orchestra, at the Leipzig Conservatoire.

He also discusses Brahms' four symphonies which he sees as a single great inspiration, with each symphony like a separate movement, together amounting to the symphony of Brahms' life. It is fascinating to hear them performed as a cycle with a consistent approach and by a conductor and an orchestra with such a distinguished and distinctive tradition.

If you believe, as Kurt Masur does, that hte four symphonies are related, that one leads to the other and together they form a single grand symphonic sweep, then it can make you hear them in a totally different way.

This program contains 2 DVDs.