Beethoven Ninth Symphony

The entire Barenboim set of 9 symphonies and four overtures is available from Amazon UK for a tad under $29 including airmail delivery.

If you want a ninth that is a spiritual experience,then Barenboim's live in Berlin recording with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is by far the best I have ever heard. Daniel has a masterpiece,pace,power,energy,and sound that is extraordinay,Bravo.

As a side picked it up at Borders earlier in the evening,50 off sale,for 8 bucks,what a deal.

I *strongly* recommend John Elliott Gardiner's Beethoven cycle. I have several (maybe 10?) recordings of the 9th, but the Gardiner is my favorite.

Tight, clean rhythms, outstanding soloists, interesting and contemporary interpretation, great mic placement, and great mixing. Musically and sonically outstanding ... hear it if you can.

CD format only, I believe.

Gunter Wand on RCA Red Seal.

Bernstein with the Vienna Philharmonic is my (rather unusual I think) recommendation. In fact his entire budget set by DG is worth having. And I'm not a Bernstein advocate! In general he picks up the pace a bit and his music is just plain joyous and exciting, not somber, overblown and, well sorta (for me) uninteresting. Greatly underrated I think. And the rest, i.e.

Reiner and the CSO

Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra on BIS BTW, although I'm not sure why, I really like the Vanska with the gain higher than normal, it brings the music to life.

Von Karajam's 1963 performance, at least performance wise. I've not heard it on CD so I don't lnow about sound quality

And last, but not least, Kubelik and the Baverian SO.

Think about the Bernstein! :-)