Beethoven Symphonies - best perf + sonics on CD

Goofyfoot..there is a Karajan LvB cycle with the Philharmonia from 1950 on EMI.
Don't know much about it.

Lowrider, I don't own any HvK CD's from the 60's cycle. I had the vinyl back in the day. By the time the 80's rolled around, I was moving away from vinyl and the HvK's were so worn you could see through them.
I am thinking about buying whatever I can find from the 60's cycle on redbook. Last night, all I could find was the 3rd, 9th, and I think maybe the 5th. No mention of them being remastered. If DG remastered the 60's HvK's and reissued them I'd buy them in a New York minute.

You are correct about HvKs age. He was a great conductor. HvK, LvB, and I spent much time together.

Thanks Lowrider, I'll look into that set ASAP. In general I've found that I tire of repeated performances. Not to say that their aren't enough performances on recording but I've been listening more for various interpretations, spontaneity in the concert hall, etc.. Which is why I'm surprised that there is no mention of Otto Klemperer in this regard.
Nathan Milstein, in Christopher Nupen's DVD portrait (one of my best DVD's), mentions Klemperer as being one of the great conductors of the 20th century (Nathan Milstein also states that Firtwangler was the greatest conductor that he had ever worked with).
Sonic quality is important to a degree but given the option of listening to very early Horowitz or later Horowitz, I will opt for the remastered early recordings of the 1920's. However, seeing that I was born in 1962, my familiarity with the raisonne' of early classical recordings is severely limited. But thanks to website forums like this one, I have an opportunity to learn and discover.
Thank You!

Brownsfan, have u seen this 1963 set...
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-9-Symphonies-Gundula-Janowitz/dp/B000001GBQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1361404079&sr=1-1&keywords=karajan+beethoven

Reading the user reviews makes it even more confusing as to the sound quality. I see there are now some hybrid SACDs of the remixed 1963. I'll be looking into those.

Goofyfoot...you are most welcome. I have many DDD cycles of Beethoven; like you I am interested in the interpretation.
But now I explore the early conductors such as Klemperer, Kleiber, Furtwängler, but it's a crapshoot finding good quality CDs and some of the mono to stereo transfers are dreadful.

Lowrider and Brownsfan, I have a Furtwängler set on the Orfeo D' Or label that I want to recommend for these reasons;

A) The remastering was taken from the original source.
B) They are live performances from the Salzburg Festival 1949-1954 with the Vienna Philharmonic.
C) It contains 8 mono CD's.
D) Includes Beethoven Symphonies 3, 9, 8, the Große Fuge and Symphony 7

This set won the PREIS DER DEUTSCHEN SCHALLPLATTEN KRITIK