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Best Beethoven Symphony Recordings

68K views 183 replies 58 participants last post by  fbjim 
#1 ·
As a newcomer to this site can I ask your advice on the 'best' current CD recordings of the 9 Beethoven Symphonies, either individually or preferably as a set? Many thanks
 
#2 ·
As far as recent releases go, I love the recordings by Paavo Järvi, Christian Thielemann and Kent Nagano. Järvi's Beethoven is lean and tight (played by a chamber orchestra), Thielemann's is grand and sensual, and Nagano is somewhere in between.

In terms of not quite so recent recordings, I love David Zinman's cycle from the 90s.
 
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#43 · (Edited)
I love David Zinman's cycle from the 90s.
Yes. I think it is the ideal cycle (for me). Just received it the other day and am almost through my third listen and loving it.


Also, grabbing an opportunity to bring another older Beethoven symphony up front. The more of these we have active, the more fun it gets.
 
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#3 ·
Frans Brüggen with his Orchestra of the 18th century released a box of all the Beethoven Symphonies recently. It is a live recording, but quite pristine, clean, coughs or any other noise is complete absent: first time I heard the applause I was kind of surprised, that was live?! Played on period instruments, as far as I am concerned in period tempi too. However, I am too less of an expert to be certain about the tempi, through.

I think it is only available through the webshop of the orchestra if you are not from the Netherlands, but it is really worth it, sound is brilliant, playing outstanding. Not the kind of rushed tempi some conductors tend to use nowadays.
 
#4 ·
I go for the historical recordings - the best Beethoven 9 I have heard is Furtwangler's live performance from the 50s which is available on EMI. In fact I rate Furtwangler as the best for Beethoven. If you put recording qualiy above performance then obviously there are better versions. Karajan and Klemperer recorded probably their best verions of the 9 symphonies but in mono. Karajan's 1960s DG stereo cycle is fine.
 
#7 ·
I am quite pleased with my recently acquired Gunter Wand Beethoven symphonies set, though I still rank Frenec Fricsay's Ninth as my favorite (of about 30 Ninths I have listened to). For the whole cycle I have not heard many sets, just Wand and Walter.
Gardiner's Third is very good too.
 
#11 ·
My favourites:

1, 2 and 3 - Gardiner/Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique

5 - Carlos Kleiber/VPO

6 - Karl Bohm/VPO

7 - Carlos Kleiber/VPO

8 - Karajan/BPO

9 - Barenboim/Berliner Staatskapelle (But, primarily because the slow movement is taken slow, around 19 minutes, the other movements are not necessarily that great, but still good)
 
G
#13 ·
Well ryg, ya startin' to get the idea?

If you get Gardiner, then you'll be getting neoshredder's favorite. If you get Wand, you'll be getting hp's favorite. If you get Furtwangler's, then you'll be getting stomanek's favorite.

And so forth.

What you will not be getting, in any case, is "the best." No matter how many people you asked (and ask enough and you'll get a recommendation for every recording that's ever been made), you would not get "the best."

There's no substitute for listening.

Listen.

(This is, just by the way, "the best" advice you will ever get about music.:))
 
#15 · (Edited)
Depends on how you like your Beethoven...

If you want fast and lean chamber style Beethoven check out Paavo Jarvi.

If you want fast but with a full orchestra and some "oomph" to the sound check out Riccardo Chailly.

If you want a more "Traditional" Grand & Powerful approach check out:
Leonard Bernstein (Both of his sets are similar in style although I prefer New York for it's rough and energetic style, but his Vienna Philharmonic Cycle is also fine and the sound of the strings from the Vienna Philharmonic are beautiful)

George Szell or Gunter Wand or Paul Kletzki also fall under that category and are all excellent traditional choices.

Karajan's Beethoven is Karajan's but it's still beloved by many people. The 60's and 70's cycles are both considered classics.

If you're interested in more Germanic slower tempo but with massive and majestic sounds try Karl Bohm or Otto Klemperer.

All of the above are in good sound.

Gardiner has been mentioned but I personally find him unlistenable.

I would pick a Symphony you are familiar with, like the first movement of the 5th and then go to Spotify or Youtube and listen to some of these recordings. Find one that sounds "correct to YOU" and give that set a shot.

EDIT: And I just noticed this thread was from 2012. I assume ryg has long since bought a set of Beethoven Symphonies since he/she only had 1 post on this forum.
 
#19 ·
Beethoven V, VI, & IX



For my 'Holy Trinity' of Beethoven symphonies-- that is to say: the Fifth, the Sixth, and the Ninth?-- It's unquestionably Karajan. . . the other symphonies have so much statistical variability in my taste of conductors that chosing just a couple of them becomes stochastic. Ha. Ha. Ha.
 
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#20 ·
You find what you like by comparing stuff and deciding for yourself, I know that takes work but if someone wants to get the most out of music that's what you have to put in. I wouldn't even presume to recommend something because I assume people are grownups who can decide for themselves, and it's not that difficult to hear lots of stuff on the internet.
 
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#21 · (Edited)
Of course what you say is true. I've subscribed to Fanfare for quite a while and most of the time when I purchase a CD based on a critic's review, I'm disappointed. I've learned to only take seriously one or two critics out of 25 or so whom I am simpatico with. The ideal way is to hear the performance before buying it.

Same deal with recommendations here. The best way to acquire classical music performances is to sample before you buy.

The best way to buy a set of the Beethoven symphonies is NOT to buy a complete set. No conductor is equally successful among all of the 9 symphonies.

I recommend sampling individual performances of each symphony, say Carlos Kleiber for the 5th and 7th, Leonard Bernstein/VPO for the 6th, Gunter Wand for the Eroica, Karajan 1977 for the 9th.
Much better than any one conductor's complete set.
 
#24 ·
I second the votes for Paavo Jarvi. Lean, mean chamber orchestra--a bit bigger sounding than a pure HIP outfit but smaller than the big Bernstein and Karajan. The live DVD is nicely done too. Check out his 8th--my favorite because it's fast and fleet while still forceful. I hear the 8th as more Beethovenian Haydn than Haydnesque Beethoven, if you catch my drift.

For me, the value of asking fellow fans for their opinions is not so much to elicit simple "good" or "bad" judgments to heed, but to elicit descriptions, such HIP or big band, romantic-ish or classical-ish, traditional or idiosyncratic, continuo or no continuo, light or profound, recorded live or in the studio, and so on, especially from listeners more knowledgeable or perceptive than me.
 
#37 · (Edited)
The bad news is I just received the same wrong disc (Kegal's Acoustica) that was sent back in December, both times instead of the Immerseel set, but this was a different seller supposedly, different name anyway. Return processing again.

So, I give up on Immerseel. Who'd have thought you could get the whole cycle for $12 shipped anyway--am I cheap? :lol: So, what to do? To console myself, I should purchase the Lenny set with NYPO! :) Same price, probably a better way for me to go as I already have a HIP original instruments set.

Did I mention that I just bought half a Monteux set last night (#1,3,6,&8) :D
 
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