I really like the ORR/Gardiner as well. I also have a great time listening to the London Classical Players/Norrington, which was one of the treasured discs I took with me almost everywhere when I traveled on business more than I do now, listening to it on a Sony Discman back in the late 80's.

I was all set; put my eyes on this:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...?album_id=3460

Now, after reading all of this - not so sure. From what I have heard of Bernstein, I enjoy his stuff. Matter of fact my future buys include some Mahler, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Schumann conducted by him and fairly certain of the Mahler and Schumann works.

Karajan 1963 or 1977 sounds like a sound choice but can only seem to find recordings from 1962 and 1976. anyone have any links on exactly what I should be looking for if I go this route?

Klemperer seems like a fine choice, but the closest to a 1958 performance is this one: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...?album_id=5071 but it says recorded in 1957. Is this one and the same and I am mistaking the release date as recording date (which would apply to the above Karajan as well)?

Or should I just say heck with it and get all of them? Not that this is a bad idea one day.... but I am not ready to start collecting multiple versions yet.

So, if you have links to the above works to help point me in the right direction I'll still make up my own mind but I would have an idea of which recordings is which. Thanks in advance!

Sam

I think this Arkiv one is the live version recorded in 1957. They don't appear to have the 1957 studio version which is normally recommended (which I have among several others), on the EMI Legacy label:http://www.emiclassics.com/releasedetails.php?rid=23017

In addition, as noted earlier, I would also recommend you get the 1951 Furtwangler 1951 Bayreuth version. I don't generally like older recordings but this is an exception, as Furtwangler was regarded as probably the greatest of all Beethoven interpretors. It's a live recording in mono, with the odd glitch here and there, but overall it's very satisfying.

Just a word of warning: This work is very much a staple among beginners, and some people are saying on other Boards that the single piece of music they never want to hear gain is this, as it's been done to death! I must admit after a while one does tire, but at least it's nice to know one has the best recordings to go back to occasionally. Incidentally, Klemperer's version of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is superb, as too is his Brahms Requiem. For Beethoven's 6th, I like Bohm/VPO.

Thank you very much for the direct and honest response. I will seriously consider the Furtwangler and was good to be able to count out a couple of my choices and get a link to the Klemperer.

Sam

I like the Karajan and Solti versions of the 9th.

Anyone familiar with the Re-orchestration by Mahler? I've been meaning to give it a whirl.

Bernstein Symphony No. 9 - awesome stuff.

I plan on getting Klemperer and Furtwangler versions in the future as well. The more and more I listen to classical music, the more I am appreciating the differences between conductors and various orchestras. As such, I am planning on getting duplicates of my more favorite pieces sooner than I originaly thought.

__________________
Remember the 3 SW's: Some Will, Some Won't, So What!

Ok, for laughs I have to share this... and show off my awesome newbness to classical. I knew Symphony No. 9 was known as the "Choral" symphony, but until just now in the 4th movement I didn't realize there was singing....

Can't understand a word of it, but it flows with the music so it sounds really cool! Now to go and search and see what heck they are saying...

__________________
Remember the 3 SW's: Some Will, Some Won't, So What!

Don't worry about it. There was plenty of stuff I didn't know when I was new to this, and now five years later I'm still learning.

The text, which I'm sure you've looked up, is a setting of "Ode to Joy" and is in German. Older archival performances have been sung in Italian, but this is rare. Leonard Bernstein also tinkered with the words in 1990, to create an "Ode to Freedom" symphony. Silly, really.

Finally, to answer the thread, I love Bohm (DG, Vienna), Bernstein (DG, Vienna), and Friscay (DG, Berlin)

1963 recording with Herbert von Karajan and the B.P.

I believe it was remastered in 2003 to sound better.

The Toscanini/NBC SO from the early fifties has always been my choice. RCA issued this as part of a complete LvB set. I believe my standard for the symponies will always be this version; taut, exciting performances. In addition the ninth has the Robert Shaw Chorale.
It has been many years since I have heard this set; they were in monaural sound and the RCA engineers recorded in a dead acoustic,Studio 8 I believe. After sampling many other versions I settled on Solti and the CSO as being nearest the spirit of the Toscanini and in stereo. I'd place Szell and the CO as a tie with Solti.. Both are all I'd ever want in this music.

I'm a sucker for Klaus Tennstedt's live recording in the Albert Hall on BBC. If electricity could be translated into music...this recording proves it.

You talked me into it. My comments are found somewhere on this linked page.

I've been wanting to get this one for some time; what does everyone think of it?



Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Osmo Vänskä, conductor; Minnesota Orchestra; Minnesota Chorale; Helena Juntunen, soprano; Katarina Karnéus, mezzo-soprano; Daniel Norman, bass

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

It's different, but in a really good way. Not thunderous like some and not meager like others (*cough* Cobra). I really think Vanska has found some very fertile 'middle' ground with Beethoven (also in reference to his 4th and 5th). Well worth checking out.

Haha... Cobra...

Anyway, I ordered Vanska's recordings of 4&5 earlier last week... I was going to get the whole set and wanted to see what others' thoughts on them were. I kinda figured they'd be quite intense readings (as are much of the Sibelius readings), so that's good... anyway, thanks for your thoughts on the 9th, Rondo!

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