In May 2007, the Emerson String Quartet celebrated 30 years as an ensemble. To coincide with this milestone, Deutsche Grammophon released the Emersons' performance of one of the most important bodies of string quartet literature from the 19th century: the string quartets of Johannes Brahms.

In addition to the composer's three string quartets, this two CD set also includes Brahms' Piano Quintet, a richly colored and highly romantic masterpiece for which the Emersons teamed up with legendary pianist Leon Fleisher. This pairing of brilliant artists proves a worthy follow-up to the Emersons' series of complete quartet anthologies, which already includes Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich.