The Brahms project with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in 2007 was an exciting undertaking: a thorough reappraisal of Brahms's soundscape, both in terms of historical instruments and a study of the surviving evidence of performance practice. So why a second recording 18 years later? Firstly, because these symphonies are evergreen—wonders at the time they were conceived and enormously challenging every time you encounter them. Secondly, because Gardiner felt a need and a personal challenge to build on that groundbreaking earlier experience. He also wanted to extend the findings and interpretations to work with a modern orchestra. Especially with such a distinctive, flexible, and enormously talented orchestra as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, this is certainly possible.