Beethoven Symphonies - best perf + sonics on CD

Goofyfoot, I get no enjoyment out of doing this, but I think the Janowski 4th is more to my liking that the 2nd and 3rd. I used the same reasoning and found the 2nd and 3rd a let down. Don't listen to that disc much.

Brownsfan, well thank you kind sir, you've just saved me $15.00 that can be put to use somewhere else. In fact I've had my eye on the Bob Dylan 'Blood on the Tracks' SACD from Mobile Fidelity.
Brahms is a tough composer to weed through seeing that many of the greatest interpretations date back to the 1940's. As a result, Brahms lovers can be set in their ways, therefore making it difficult for the newer recordings to live up to those previous accomplishments. I'm looking at my Andante Brahms Symphonies box set and the conductors on it are;
Toscanini 1941, Walter 1936, Stokowski 1936, Mengelberg 1932, Monteux 1945, Sabata 1936, Furtwängler 1945, Weingartner 1938.

I also posted on a Gramophone forum with respect to the Beethoven Cycles and was informed of the Mikhail Pletnev cycle with the Russian National Orchestra. Has anyone heard this set? What is your opinion of Russian or Eastern European academies whenever concerning the music of Vienna or of Central Europe? This is of interest to me in the context that many recordings made during the Soviet Union are just now being discovered by us here in the West.

Sorry cannot say...except that Pletnev on Scarlatti piano works is exceptional ihmo.

Hi Loydelee,
Maybe we could give this subject a bit more latitude; USSR recordings including Eastern Block countries like Hungary, etc... The point being that Vienna and Budapest are next door neighbors, so one might conclude that a handful of Beethoven performances recorded from behind the 'Iron Curtain' would be of significance. My assumption is that despite Mylodia and their efforts from the 1950's forward, that many recordings are yet to be delivered to the public domain.
A while back, the Appian label released a series of recordings entitled 'The Russian Piano Tradition' and it would appear that this was an attempt to finally release unfamiliar Russian recordings to us here in the west. As one might imagine, it included Beethoven pieces from Maria Yudina but also from many other Russian pianists who are anything but household names. This series has been out of print now for a few or more years. What I'm driving at is that I believe we're just scratching the surface when it comes to Russian and Eastern European artists, including those who attended conservatories both in the US and in Western Europe.