I can't believe I hadn't payed much attention to Brahms' music up until now. Apart from being insanely beautiful and intricate, the dude was into some serious harmonies and played a lot with rhythm as well.

I'm mainly listening to his first 2 string quartets, and the opening of the second one has to be one of the most beuatiful moments ever. Here are some school kids doing an amazing job with it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tYzc60LOi4

And here's the third movement from the first quartet. This is the best version i could find on youtube, but i feel like their dragging it a bit too much:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOQMgK-O2gA

Anyway, just sharing...

On closer inspection, the players on the first video aren't as young as I thought. :D Still, great performance.

I too am guilty of neglecting to listen to more guys like this. I really should broaden my listening spectrum. 2 nice pieces there DatM.

I'm pretty new to Brahm's music too, but had my eyes opened when I went to see a performance of his Symphony No. 4 earlier this year. Bloody marvelous!

Yes,Brahms is very good...One of the representative in romantic period.

Furious romantics, passionated romantics, crazy romantics... I think Brahms is a sad/melancholic romantic artist.

I like his music very much, I think despite being melancholic it is somehow relaxing.