Brahms is a composer of contradictions. He has a reputation for solid tradition and conservative values, yet he was both passionate and innovative in his music. He certainly knew how to enjoy himself: he loved his coffee, cigars and wine, and could drink considerable quantities of German beer. He never married but had deep affections for several women, most notably Clara Schumann, the pianist and wife - later widow - of composer Robert Schumann. When Clara died in 1896 Brahms seemed to lose his will to live: he only survived Clara by about nine months.

Like many composers Brahms had to spend most of the winter months in a busy round of concerts, promoting and performing his music. Composition was concentrated into summer holidays, and the fourth symphony was written over the two summers of 1884 and 1885. He spent them at a little Austrian village west of Vienna called Murzzuschlag, completing the symphony there in October 1885. It was first performed with Brahms himself conducting at Meiningen, in Germany, on 25th October that same year. Further performances rapidly followed, and within a year it had been played to great acclaim in all the main German cities, as well as in Holland and London.

The symphony opens with a wide-ranging melody, full of longing and nostalgia. A second theme first heard on the cellos is more assertive, while a third motive is based on a bold triplet figuration. All three subjects form the basis for this rich movement, which develops continually to a stormy and passionate close.

The andante, though nominally in E major, starts with a stern horn call in C major. The first part is accompanied by pizzicato strings, while a second theme is first sung on the cellos. A central section develops both themes up to a powerful climax, but the end is calm and serene.

The third movement is a boisterous scherzo in character. Its main theme is a combination of three quite distinct short motives, each with a different rhythm. Mostly loud and assertive, the whole movement has a slightly panicky edge to it, as if it knows that the finale is to bring tragedy.

The great finale is a unique creation, a set of over thirty variations on the motto theme given out in the first eight bars. No-one had attempted such a symphonic finale before, and Brahms brings it off brilliantly. The tragic power is only highlighted by the four slower variations in the middle, the first of which features one of the most desperately sad flute solos ever written. At the end the tempo accelerates, and the final variations hammer home the deep tragedy of this, Brahms' final symphonic masterpiece.