Beethoven Complete Works boxed set recommendations

That’s a kinda neat idea - 80 or 123 or thereabouts CDs is a good start..

I consulted amazon which have both Warner and one with Decca/Deutsche Gramophon logos on it - read the reviews there from people who purchased and (hopefully) listened. I generally see high praise from those who are not necessarily seeking the very very best.

One reviewer was a little underwhelmed (Decca) after having absorbed the aesthetics of the Mozart and Bach box sets. Or, "box too large".  First world problems in the extreme. Must be thirsty work.

Naxos is always good for the money and always has good music..

Often someone or group does better than the famous .

Young artists tend to give it it all . I have about a hundred CD’s from Naxos

without one dog .

Noske, I have the Brilliant Mozart and Bach sets and have been pretty pleased with them, I'm not very well versed in Classical music though, so am not a good judge of performance quality. I did read the Brilliant Beethoven set wasn't that good compared to the other two I do have.

Jasonbourne52, Is that 1967 Karajan a complete works set?

Jim, the Naxos set reviews I've read so far concur with your judgement. It's supposed to be a fairly complete set too with lots of odds and ends included.. Since the DG set is harder to find and pricier by far I'm leaning towards the Naxos or Warners.. Hopefully someone out there has the Warner set and can comment. 

Mike 

The two sets I have enjoyed the most recently are Zinman with the Zurich Tonhalle orchestra and the new one by Savall with his hand-picked orchestra.  Terrific sound on both of these.

A classic though is the 1963 Karajan-Berlin set.

Another that many folks like is the SACD Vanska Minnesota Orchestra set.  But I find the BIS dynamics overly aggressive,