Beethoven Symphonies - best perf + sonics on CD

Kmccarty, thanks for the recommendationsI I found the live Kleiber d'Orfeo recording and I'm interested in hearing it but since I just ordered a Sandrine Piau CD, it will have to wait a bit. There's also a DG Original Masters remaster of Kleiber and the Vienna playing Beethoven's 5th and 7th. I typically opt for live recordings however and since d'Orfeo takes their recordings from the original source tapes, they tend to reign on my priority list.
Kleiber is an interesting conductor for me since he is primarily associated with Opera. Louis Langree is the same in this sense and will become full time conductor of the Cincinnati now that Paavo Jarvi has moved to the Rheinland.

To clarify the HIP thing - this stands, as someone else said, for Historically Informed Performance. Technically, this can also refer to a performance on modern instruments, using the increased knowledge that we have thanks to scholarship of the last few decades (things like style, tempi, orchestra size, etc). However, in actual practice, this term is used interchangeably with "period performance." Period performance always implies period instruments. So the two terms should mean something different, but HIP is used in a more narrow sense than it should be.

Kmmcarty

Thanks for your post...interesting to read. I like the Gardiner Missa Solemnis...smaller ensemble (so smaller sound) but articulate reading imho and well recorded.

Shouldn't HIP be HPP for historical performance practice? Then HIPP could be historical instrumentation performance practice.

Lloydelee, yes the Gardiner Missa Solemnis is very rewarding. I've enjoyed it for many years. Another I've enjoyed over the years is the Karajan performance on DVD, live from the 1979 Easter Festival. I think this performance does a good job of capturing the spiritual impact of the piece, actually coming across more as a spiritual event than a performance, if that makes sense. I've never heard the 1935 Toscanini performance, which many consider the best recorded performance ever - although questionable sonically.

Any other rcommendations for best Missa Solemnis?