Say what you will about the Germans AFTER Nietsche, but the Germans BEFORE Nietsche were magnificently brilliant, as far as I'm concerned:
Beethoven, Symphony #7 (complete), hands-down Beethoven's best next to the ninth. Conducted by the great Herbert von Karajan:
Brahms, Symphony #1, fourth movement, unknown youth orchestra (damn good performance, for a youth orchestra, but try to ignore the mic hiss):
Mozart, Symphony #38 (The "Prague"), Second Movement:
Mendellsohn, Octet #4, (The entrance is quite muddy, but I think it's the accoustics):
Weber, Overture to the opera "Oberon":
A bit of whimsey from Haydn: Symphony #22, nicknamed "The Philosopher" because of this first movement. Imagine a beared old man pacing back and forth in his study:
Mahler, Symphony #4, Fourth Movement. Ideal for a relaxing evening contemplating the night sky:
Had it not been for the likes of Marx and Nietsche, who knows what musical heights the Germans would have soared to in the present day?