Johannes Brahms only approached the symphony genre slowly and with a great many qualms. After he had revised and rejected numerous earlier attempts, he did not introduce himself to the public as a symphonic composer until November 1876 with his Opus 68. Three further symphonies were to follow in less than ten years. Today, these four symphonies are core works in the symphonic repertoire ╩ and at the same time are milestones documenting the progress of the Brahms Complete Edition, based in Kiel a