Brahms Symphonies set on DVD with Bernstein

I got this 2 DVD set in the mail from Musical Heritage Society this past Wednesday (for about $20 postage included).  I was pleasantly surprised to see that each symphony is prefaced with an introduction by Leonard Bernstein.  It is an education to hear a composer speak about another composer's work.  I viewed the 1st Symphony on Thursday and this evening I'm looking at the 4th Symphony.  The way Bernstein describes Brahms disciplined classicism and how it related to his life was interesting indeed.  He mentioned how this controlled rage (at the end of the symphony) could be interpreted in terms of his all too short relationship with Robert Schumann, his childlessness (like Beethoven) and the snubbing by his hometown, Hamburg.  He went on to describe the passacaglia section on the piano.  A great addition to my collection indeed.  I will return!

I also note who the first cello is here - Robert Scheiwein (as it was in the Pollini/Abbado recording of the 2nd Piano Concerto).  For the Zimerman/Bernstein recording of the 2nd piano concerto it was the bearded cellist who sits beside him (Wolfgang Herzer).  Scheiwein just passed away this past July. The concert master is the one who I see the most often (I think Rainer Küchl).  Sometimes, it's a another person (there are 2 other concert masters during that era).  The associate concert master is Werner Hink. The Vienna Philharmonic doesn't have a permanent conductor.  That's why in the word of von Karajan when asked what the difference is between the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, said "the Berlin Philharmonic just does what you ask, the Vienna Philharmonic asks why?".