What should be the criteria for ranking a great symphony orchestra? Recordings? Budget? Technical accomplishment? Famous music director? There are more than two-dozen top-tier symphony orchestras in America with budgets of over $15 million and musician contracts that call for a minimum of 35 workweeks a year. It is generally acknowledged...

From March 17-26, 2006, Andreas Delfs led the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a remarkable Brahms Festival, a series of concerts canvassing the great German master's symphonies, concertos and immortal Deutsches Requiem. Now, as Maestro Delfs begins his 12th and final season as MSO music director, he has chosen not only to revisit all four Brahms symphonies, but also to record them for release on CD. Why does Brahms deserve special attention? "[2008-'09] being my last season in Milwaukee, I wanted to do one more . . .