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recommended versions of Beethoven symphonies?

anybody got any favorite versions of Beethoven symphonies?
I just got into the 9th and am floored by it's brilliance. I would like to become familiar with the better recordings of it and the others (the best performances as good as available sonically). I have a vinyl copy whose sonics are great and the orchestra seems excellent; but I'm new to these waters. It is a Japanese pressing from 1977; dennon "pcm recording" (mfg'd by Nippon Columbia co.). vaclav neumann conducting the czech philharmonic orchestra; prague philharmonic choir. I stumbled on this in mint condition for $6.00 and it blew me away (very intricate and subtle instumentation). so i went out and got all 9 in a set on cd: the Karajan 1963 versions, remastered 1997 on Deutsche Grammaphone. this seems to be recommended by some as "the best". I dunno about that but the 9th and the 1st (all i've heard so far) are certainly amazing! very powerful! quite different in places in approach from the vinyl 9th described above.
So: what else should I seek out?
Thanks very much for your thoughts.
tagyerit
pls1
432 posts
 
I agree that the 1963 Karajan 9th in rarefied company as among the best recordings of this great work. However, focusing just on the music and not the sound I would place it at best in the middle of my list of greats. While the sound on the following performances is not that great the performances all are:

Weingartner VPO 1935
Furtwangler Lucerne 1954
Furtwangler Bayreuth 1948
Toscanini NBC 1938
Mengelberg Concertgebouw 1938
Klemperer Philharmonia Live 1957

All are readily available on CD.
sharri
112 posts
 
The 1963 Karajan recording is not tops in sound, but is still surprisingly good if one gets one of the 20-bit remaster cd's. However, any of the more recent recordings will have better sound quality.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
My parents were at that Tanglewood concert of Bernstein "Last Concert) conducting the 7th.
tweekerman
473 posts
 
hummm, I've read somewhere (Gramophone maybe), that there is some such thing as "Karajan groupies"...?!...
buxter66's avatar
buxter66
103 posts
 
Willem Mengelberg with Concertgebouw. His performances IMHO really capture the spirit of Beethoven... spontaniety, a sense of making it up as we go, weight, elegance, humanity, and divinity. If there were any recordings with Bruno Walter and Vienna Phil, that would be something too.
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