Gratuitous Random Musickal Posting (TM)

I'm listening to one of Brahms' symphonies at the moment and am reminded of a famous anecdote connected with his Symphony No. 4 in E minor, often considered the harshest and most intellectual of the four symphonies he wrote. The American Symphony Orchestra takes up the tale:

In early October [1885], an august group assembled informally to hear Brahms and another composer, Ignaz Brüll, play through [a] two-piano arrangement [of the symphony]. On this occasion Eduard Hanslick and Hans Richter, respectively the most eminent critic and conductor in Vienna, were the page-turners; among the listeners were the surgeon Theodor Billroth, the critic Gustav Dimpke, and the musicologist C. F. Pohl. The scene was described by Brahms’s biographer Max Kalbeck:

After the wonderful Allegro.. .I expected that one of those present would break out at least in a loud "Bravo." wouldn't allow my humble self to upstage in that way the master's older and more competent friends. Richter murmured something into his blond beard that from afar could be taken as an expression of approval. Brüll cleared his throat and slid diffidently and embarrassedly back and forth on his piano stool. The others remained persistently silent, and since Brahms also said nothing, a rather painful silence prevailed. Finally Brahms grumbled, "So, let's go on!" and gave a sign to continue; whereupon Hanslick heaved a sigh and quickly exploded, as if he had to relieve his mind and yet feared speaking too late: "For the whole movement I had the feeling that I was being given a beating by two incredibly intelligent people." Everyone laughed, and the two players continued.

I'm really not much of a Romanticist at all, but I love Brahms' symphonies, particularly the 1st and 4th. Alas, I don't have enough of a theoretical vocabulary to properly explain why, but I will say that his insistence on intellectual rigor channels the immense emotional energy of these pieces, giving weight to their feeling and preventing them from wandering off into the realm of mawkishness.