Beethoven Symphonies - best perf + sonics on CD

It certainly seems that the Japanese remasters, especially sacds (e.g. HvK LvB 3), are superior to most others. After all, they have the largest per capita classical music audience of any country, and the technology as well.

Hi Goofyfoot. For Mahler, the DG remastering of Bernstein's cycle is superb. I have Boxes I and II, and not III, because the eighth is my least favorite and it is an older recording, and this version of the ninth is awful.

I purchased Lenny's ninth with the BPO separately, which is wonderful.

"I just wish there could be more of an emphasis put on live recordings and damn the mistakes, that's just part of the process."

I love live recordings in a good concert hall, and not only that, I wish a classical work would be recorded continuously and not edited in post. I have a CD (forget which one) that lists something like : Mvmt 1... Thursday performance, Mvmt 2... Friday performance, Mvmt 3... Rehearsal.

That's IMO worse than the current Pop/Rock recording procedure of 1 musician at a time, then edit the band together,

Thanks for all the feedback...great reading. I may try these Gardiner symphonies now. I do enjoy the Karajans...i will give another listen soon.

Lowrider, well at least they're being honest, if that's of any consequence?
My local classical radio station (it's often silly, however it) features a live concert once a week from anywhere but typically from Western Europe and it makes me wish that I had a better Magnum Dynalab and a professional reel to reel so that I could tape them.
You know, I have a DG mono platter of Karajan conducting the Brahms 4th that I believe was recorded in 1966 and it sounds wonderful. It seems that in the big picture, that DG has a track record of being inconsistent, am I right to say that? One prime example would be the Anne Sophie Mutter recordings of the Mozart Violin Concertos on CD compared to the Concertos on DVD. The performances of both are wonderful but the DVD recording sounds thin and a little gritty in comparison to the CD's. Sorry but I didn't have any Beethoven examples.