John Eliot Gardiner Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra "The Brahms project with the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique in 2007 was a thrilling undertaking - a thorough reappraisal of Brahms's sound world, both in terms of period instruments and a study of the surviving evidence of performance practice. So why then a second recording 18 years later? First, because these symphonies are evergreen - miracles at the time of their inception and super-challenging every time one encounters them. Second, because I sensed a need and a personal challenge to build on that seminal earlier experience and to extend it's findings and interpretations to/in working with a modern instrument orchestra - especially such a distinguished, flexible and immensely accomplished one as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - in search of a fresh synthesis of styles and approaches. 'Fuego y cristal,' as Jorge Luis Borges described them. That's what we've been aiming at." - John Eliot Gardiner. 3-CD Digipak set with booklet.