Concentration is the best key to approaching the Brahms‘ compositions – it is the most compact and formally cohesive of the four Brahms symphonies. The four movements are clearly related to each other and closely connected motivically. Nevertheless, the work is anything but monotonous, and although all the movements end very subdued and softly, the symphony is not lacking in vigorous momentum or rhythmic energy. And here we find it: Brahms‘s ability to create fascinating symphonic complexity from simple, appealing, folklike motifs – but, in the case of the Third Symphony, with a rather melancholy tone.