Beethoven Symphonies, William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony on Command. I was unaware of this set, and Googling it has been considered an early stereo audiophile recording because Command used 35 mm tape. Despite that I found it sonically disappointing, harsh, prone to overload at the climaxes. The Hall seems to have a lot of resonance and the veteran Steinberg doesn’t seem to allow for it, with a muddy sound produced by not letting echoes decay. It makes me wonder if the set was recorded in a different venue from where the Orchestra routinely played. I found the Brahms Symphony cycle from the same forces, reissued on DG on CD, to be much better sonically and interpretively.
