Brahms is one of the few really great composers who seems to divide people into passionate admirers or (our sympathies) those allergic to his musical personality. He is not a composer to wear his heart on his sleeve (unlike his great friend Robert Schumann), but his music explores very deep emotional depths, and the power of his music draws its strength from its magnificent technical construction – his music not only works on the page, but it speaks so directly, and without sentiment. Here's a Brahmsian Top Ten to give you a pretty good introduction to the composer, focusing on his orchestral and chamber music, without forgetting his choral masterpiece, the German Requiem. With performances this good, Brahms is hard to resist...

Symphony No 1 - Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer (Channel Classics) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon

Symphony No 4 - Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Carlos Kleiber (DG) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon

Violin Concerto - Julia Fischer; Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra / Yakov Kreizberg (Pentatone) CD from Amazon Gramophone Artist of the Year (Julia Fischer)

Piano Concerto No 1 - Nelson Freire; Gewandhausorchester / Riccardo Chailly (Decca) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon Gramophone Award winner

Hungarian Dances - Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Claudio Abbado (DG) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon

Haydn (St Antoni Chorale) Variations - Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer (Channel Classics) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon

Piano Quintet - Artemis Quartet; Leif Ove Andsnes (EMI) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon Gramophone Award winner

Piano Quartet No 1 – Isaac Stern; Jaime Laredo; Yo-Yo Ma; Emanuel Ax (Sony Classical) CD from Amazon

String Sextet No 2 – Raphael Ensemble (Hyperion) CD from Amazon / Download from Hyperion

Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) - Gundula Janowitz; Eberhard Waechter; Vienna Singverein; BPO / Herbert von Karajan (DG) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon

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