Robert Stumpf, II wrote:

>You'll get over it...at one time I didn't appreciate Brahms' 4th but
>that was then and this is now.  An awful lot has to do with the recording
>you are listening to.  ...

Indeed.  I'm still not a rabid fan of Brahms's symphonies, but I
definitely appreciate them more after listening to Celibidache in the
1st (despite of the slow tempi), Norrington in the 3rd and 4th (still
looking for his 1st and 2nd -- missed them at BRO), and Harnouncourt in
all four.  Harnoncourt definitely adds some Viennese charm to them, while
Celibidache is unrivalled in the beginning of the 1st: nobody achieves
such tension in the slow introduction.  Not even Furtwangler.

-MM