Beethoven Symphonies - best perf + sonics on CD

Lowrider, What happened at DG is hard to understand. DG made terrific recordings then suddenly forgot what music sounded like. The JCK is by all accounts a terrific recording venue. I have a recent recording by Angela Hewitt recorded there and it is very nice. I heard the DG engineers were not happy about being forced to record in the then new Berlin concert hall instead of the JCK. Trying to make the switch to digital at more or less the same time made for a train wreck I guess.

Brownsfan...that's very interesting and may account for the change in sound during that period. I just listened to Karajan 1963 and though lacking the detail of modern recordings, the overall balance is excellent. The later Beethoven and Schumann cycles suffer from a change in their recording technique. Sounds like over-miking and a lack of the venue ambiance. I know Karajan was very displeased and they were remixed and remastered.
And then there was DGs transition to digital...terrible. That's why I can't recommend the later Beethoven cycle as far as having good sonics.
BTW, I still order DG vinyl made in Germany/Holland and it is so well crafted.

This discussion really brings back the memories Lowrider. As a poor student, I cut my teeth on William Steinberg's Pittsburgh Beethoven set. 9 symphonies, $10. Later when I had a little more money I began to accumulate the von Karajan set from the 60's. I will never forget years later, hearing the digital recording of the 7th how terribly disappointed I was.

Either of you please, Lowrider and/or Brownsfan; what about the current DG recordings in these German cookie cutter concert halls. The hall in Köln is the same as in Berlin is the same as in Hamburg, etc...it's just Walt Disney. Do you suppose that the aforementioned transition was a necessary evil for DG?
I've also been to the Theatre Champ Elysee and the acoustics in that hall are lovely but recordings and concerts don't often take place in these types of venues anymore. Paris has its beautiful Paris Opera but typically the opera plays in the modern facility at Place Bastille. Regardless, excellent recordings are had from almost anywhere today, would you not agree?
It seems to me like DG artists at some point were the victims of a race to keep up with technological advancements, which at the end of the day either meant maximizing dividends or reporting a loss. After all, it is primarily a business, Karajan or no Karajan.

Goofyfoot, Its been a long time. My memory is good, but--- I can't swear to any of this. What I remember having heard at the time would be in agreement with your "necessary evil" scenario. What I remember is that once construction of the Berliner Philharmonie was complete, there was an enormous amount of pressure applied to the Philharmoniker to shift recordings to that venue. I don't know who was applying the pressure. The facility was completed in 1963. This change in venue was not something DG desired, as I recall.
I suppose referring to early digital as a necessary evil is as apt a description as any.
I do think that excellent recordings can be made in most venues today, provided that you have a recording company that wants to make the effort. I'm not sure I can think of one decent recording in my collection made in the Barbican, so I think there is a limit to what competent engineering can overcome. I'd love to here a new recording made of the Clevelanders in the old Masonic Auditorium. Some of those were pretty special (at least to me).
Your point regarding viable economics is apt. The money has to work, unless you are fortunate enough to have someone underwrite.