The 1962-62 recording cycle of Karajan’s Beethoven were probably the best among few others that Karajan undertook. The 62’s cycles are Ok but nothing extraordinary. There were many-many other more interesting attempts by the different conductors to play different Beethoven’s symphonies.

It is interesting with Beethoven symphonies: the industry tries to package them into 9-symphonies bundles but I think it is a mistake. I do not know any of the 9-symphonies packages where all of the symphonies would be interesting-enough to justify a bulk-purchase. It always possible to find here and there a symphony that would stay above of anything else and most likely it will be within different contactors and perhaps within the different eras. However, and contradicting what I’ve said, if one would force me to live juts with one single 9-symphonies package then I would probably go for Rene Leibowitz version with Royal Philharmonic marvelously released by RAC for “Readers Digest”. All 9 Leibowitz’s symphonies are very far from best performances (probably with the exception of the Second Symphony). They all sound very “light” and not necessary as in-depth as some others conductors (no wonder that the Second was wonderful in there), almost up to the point of being like pop-music, but still I feel that it was reasonably combined cycle where all symphonies maintained a certain level, BTW very far form the worst level.

Rgs,
The caT

I do not know, Antonio. The Beethoven’s symphonies are divert it would be difficult to point out a specific performance but rather an array performances:

3 - Toscanini, Schmidt-Isserstedt, Weingartner
5 - Carlos Kleiber
6 - Walter, Erich Kleiber, Boehm, Klemperer, young Bernstein with VPO
9 - Fricsay, Weingartner, Furtwangler’s wartime and Bayreuth form 50s, Toscanini end of 30s, young Giulini

The Cat

Thanks Romy, I'm getting one of those renditions by Carlos. Any better sounding, or most remarcable edition?

You should post some day your preferences/obsessions about conductors making great works of specific composers. I mean something like "I generally like the way Barbirolli conducts Brahms" or "I'm not a big Toscanini fan, but I like his Beethoven and Verdi". Or perhaps right the other way, something like "if you want to start into Bruckner you can try any xxxxx's rendition which will be at least interesting". That would be very helpful for begginers like me ;-)

Rgrds.

Alex,

if you still care bout the Beethoven’s symphonies then here is a sexy lead for you.

There are many-many releases of the celebrated psychedelic performance of the Ninth by Furtwangler’s in 1942. Probably the “Music and Art’s” was the best release attempt on CD. Still, if you wish to get it analog then try to find the “Unicorn Records” release – it is insultingly good and well worth ANY amount money to pay for it. I do not think that any more powerful reading and performing of this work ever was committed to recording media and the “Unicorn Records” release is the best mastering among a dozen attempts that I was exposed to. (Including the Japanese mastering in 1996 and the Green Hall’s CRU series “The True Sound of Furtwangler”.). It is spresd accros 3 side of the albom and it is... very very high qulety of sound. It is speeds across 3 sides of the album and it is... very-very high quality of sound. If you looking for a REAL High-End then you will not find anything "higher"....

Romy the Cat wrote:

...if you still care bout the Beethoven’s symphonies then here is a sexy lead for you...

Paul S wrote:

…. No, I can’t get Beethoven’s 9th just right, but then I don’t presently aim to.  Call me a quitter, but I just mostly gave up quite a few years ago…

Romy the Cat wrote:

… There are many-many releases of the celebrated psychedelic performance of the Ninth by Furtwangler’s in 1942. Probably the “Music and Art’s” was the best release attempt on CD.…

I think I would expend little on the subject. The Furtwangler’s 1942 performance was issued by countless labels. Sine, I so love this B-IX I have probably a dozen different LP pressing of the performance and probably a dozen of different CDs. It is very difficult to find a properly sounding CD of the B-IX Furtwangler’s 1942. In fact all of them are garbage, completely ruined but the sound engineer’s “best intentions”. Still, there is one absolutely wonderful CD that I very much like. The “Music and Art’s” has a number of the releases of the performance, including one, absolutely unique. It was remastered in 1990 and was available for a short time as CD-653. It is still pop up her and there and it has as good sound as the 1942’s “Magnetophone” could be. Find it and play it anywhere you wish – table radio, crapy car sterios, computer system… it will “sound” very good everywhere…

For further "education" I would suggest to read a wonderful article  by Peter Gutmann:

http://www.classicalnotes.net/features/furtwangler.html

and in the end … here is the actual footage (!!!) the bottom of the Beethoven’s 9th, 1942, Berlin, March 22-24 concert

Hm, I never knew that this set exists. The well-celebrated Leibowitz session with Royal Philharmonic was recorded in spring 1961. It was truly nice cycle and the Reader Digest subscription, as most they press, was a perfect environment for this box set to be released. The surio recording was beautiful, the Leibowitz made Beethoven to sound “exiting”, sometimes overly exiting. I particularly like the “hipper-exitment” from this set on the earlier symphonies, with the Second probably the very best I ever heard. The entire Leibowitz cycle was licensed from RCA by many companies, in CDs and LPs and even Chesky released them.

What however is very strange is that you have mono box set. RCA begun to record stereo commercially in 1954-1955 and during the first years they recorded some performances in stereo AND mono at the same time. There are many of them around from 1954 to 1958 and it is auditable that the microphones even were positioned differently. What however surprised me was that RCA did it in 1961 during the Leibowitz session. Unless you say that it is a different recording session from the one that was recorded in 1961 sessions. In such case I never have seen/hear that album…

Yep, the Carlos Kleiber’s Beethoven 5 and 7 are pretty much attachable.  If you for a first time came across to a “better performances” then you might imagine how different might be experiences if you catch a “better performances” live.

BTW, the Beethoven 7 record that is shown at the photograph above is not the good pressing. That is the Deutsch Gramophone’s Privilege Series – I never was able to make them to sound good. The have very good vinyl mass - the surface not is very low but it is about it. The sound of the  Privilege Series is almost like a bad digital… If you do not have earlier pressing then I would go for the DG’s CD production – the earlier releases of “The Originals” Series. They had very good sound in 90s

clarkjohnsen wrote:

...I nominate Mengelberg's as the finest overall. Unfortunately it does not include his utterly transcendent studio recording of the Sixth. clark