This is a GREAT set. The only slight drawback is that Ashkenazy's impeccable technique somewhat takes away from the requisite "fire" in some of the Rondos (especially the Pathétique and the Appassionata). Ashkenazy's Waldstein is terrific, however.

Oh- I also wanted to mention some of my purchases:

Today I purchased



Conductor: Vladimir Askenazy
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 7, "Leningrad"
Festive Overture, Op. 96

Some of my favorite works by Shostakovich in one CD!

They have all the best Beethoven at the lowest prices, I swear... The symphonies cycle is twenty bucks at Amazon... inexpensive to the extreme, by the greatest Beethoven conductor I know of.

I'm thinking of buying Vladimir Ashkenazy's set of Sibelius symphonies.

Absolutely love his 7th - enjoy his 5th too, but his 7th is my favorite by his at the moment.

Now I'm getting into a Tchaikovsky phase, since I bought this (nice segue, huh? Thought so):



And also, because I said I probably would (and because Barnes & Noble had a nifty little sale on its last day that allowed me to do so), I purchased this little gem:



and my mother bought another double-CD set to round off our little spate of banditry.

__________________
"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

Another purchase.
I couldn't resist
I had to buy another Mahler 2.
I seriously think this is the BEST one yet
It's bombastic when need be, and soft and sweet when need be.

Nice add. This is a rock-solid set, IMO. The version of #5 in this set has been widely praised elsewhere on this board (although I still think it's second-by-a-nose to Tennstedt). Symphony #8 has achieved the status of "consensus top recommendation." 7 is another jewel. One of my review texts states (roughly) that Solti and the musicians "come up with an interesting solution to the patchwork problems of [7's] finale... they simply play the hell out of the music!"

I still think Bernstein's is the one to get, though Solti's 8th is the one for that particular symphony, so I've heard. I listened to Solti's recording of the second and, while it is very good, I still prefer the way Bernstein stretches out the tempo at the very end. (it doesn't matter, really, Solti's was still overwhelming)

__________________
"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

Except for the quite weak Fifth... but Bernstein's accounts of the others (particularly the 3rd, IMO) make up for it.

And, WV, all of the recordings in that RCA box set series are VERY well priced- especially the Toscanini Beethoven you mentioned earlier and the Prévin/LSO Vaughan Williams cycle.

@ Chi- I can't quite agree with you about Tennstedt's Mahler 5th, but his 8th is one of my favorite recordings of the piece.

__________________
Take a look at the Bandit's blog, The Classical Corner.

And the one recording of Mahler 5th I bought was Bernstein. I knew I should have bought Tilson Thomas.

I would buy Solti's entire recording of Mahler symphonies but 55.00 is too much right now. I already bought the 2nd for 13.45 though so it would give it to me for 40 i believe.

__________________


Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend. -- Beethoven

Yes, I think the fifth under Bernstein is rather weak... but I still love the scherzo!

Bernstein's recording of the second has remained my absolute favorite, though I've heard others that are also stunning (Tilson Thomas, for one, Georg Solti's for another, and Zubin Mehta's Vienna recording; though I say the mezzo-soprano is terrible: I'll post why if you ask me to...)

__________________
"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

Ok I bought even more Mahler...



Bought another disc off the Solti recordings:

Symphony No. 6 this time
I didn't like Haitink's tempo.

Then I bought the first Cello Suite from Bach



Why is the mezzo-soprano bad on Mehta's recording W.V.?

__________________


Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend. -- Beethoven

Well, at least I think she is because the vibrato is absurdly wide and she's out of tune half the time, so most of the time you don't know what on earth she's singing... I like the mezzo-soprano in Tilson Thomas' better; it's much smaller vibrato and (drum-roll please...) she's IN TUNE!

Alright, I broke down and bought a bunch o' stuff from Amazon:





Old recordings are really cool when you can get 'em cheap! That Toscanini set was 20$US, the Landowska recordings 30$US! Such a steal...