I have the following recordings (the green one is Colin Davis and the 7th). I'm looking for some new recordings with a different spin than Harnancourt - modern instruments, modern recordings, and whatever interpretation is fine even if it's a little idiosynchratic (just has to be "good"), and I'd like really good sound quality (Toscanini and Furtwangler are definitely out.) I'd like a full orchestra, with a nice, rich sound to the strings, and it would be nice to feel the full weight of the orchestra as well. Reference Recordings for example puts out some great sounding CDs, but they have no Beethoven symphonies. I don't need a full set if the recommendations are available individually. I don't really want another 1, 2, or 4 anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Symp...1719101&sr=8-3

This one to me is far and away the best of the Beethoven Symphony Box set. Highly consistent, great sound quality, and most importantly the best balance between the HIP and the old school approach. If you want it even cheaper you can get the DVD box set too, which is the same thing but in video:

http://www.amazon.com/Claudio-Abbado...1719084&sr=8-1

Or for the best period Beethoven you can get:

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-9-Sy...1719311&sr=1-3

Maybe I wasn't clear - I'm looking for something that is *not* HIP or old school. I'm looking for something modern. Modern instruments, modern interpretation, modern recording quality. Even a surround or DVD audio disc.

Maybe I wasn't clear - the Abbado set *is* modern. Modern instruments, modern interpretation, modern recording quality. It has a reduced orchestra like Harnancourt but unlike Harnancourt or any of the other reduced orchestra sets the orchestra feels full and powerful, without sounding shallow (and Harnancourt's Beethoven certainly sounds shallow). It was a revelation for me and Abbado certainly has gotten the best balance when it comes to the divide between the old school full sized orchestra approach and the modern reduced orchestra approach. (I hope you realize that my definition of 'old school' is the Karajan/Furtwangler/Klemperer era of old school).

And if you have a low opinion of HIP sets the Bruggen set is a must have for you, trust me I have a low opinion of many of the HIP sets too. Unlike many of the other hack HIP conductors (who will remain unnamed) Bruggen knows what he is doing; he doesn't follow some of the questionable practices of the HIP crowd, specifically when it comes to tempo.

You have no Karajan?

Get it at first place.

Paavo Jarvi.

Sorry, I was a little confused by what "old school" meant. For this one I'm definitely looking for a full orchestra. I wasn't aware "modern" implied reduced orchestra now. Maybe this refers to HIP being a modern movement? Again, maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about. But I know what I'm looking for :-)

I like my Harnoncourt version for what it is, but I'm looking for something different for the next one. It does sound ... well, like a chamber orchestra.

I didn't investigate Karajan further since I read his preferred full set didn't have the greatest sound quality.

You guys are confusing me. I just looked up Jarvi's version on Amazon, and the first review I see says "Reference HIP performances", and that it's a chamber orchestra. That's not what I'm looking for.

Proxy apologies for the confusion. In reply, let me cite perhaps the most un-confusing post yet made...What he said.

I placed the Karajan-stereo/62-63 set on my "desert island" list back here. It had been rated a 'key-recording' in previous 'Penguin Guides." [Though (curiously) the '09 guide placed Karajan's mono-Philharmonia on the list instead.] It's also short-listed, with no other 'non-HIP' versions rated any higher, in the 'Gramophone Guide.' Perhaps the last word should be reserved for Ralph Lucano, who wrote this the the Morin-edited review tome Classical Music:

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The hardest knife ill us'd doth lose his edge. Shakespeare- Sonnet 95

Jaap van Zweden is also good!

First of all you might glance through these two recent threads:

Period Beethoven... yay or nay?

Best of Karajan's 3 Beethoven 9 for DG?

You will see discussions about the merits of different approaches. Some of the comments are rubbish but just work your way round that. In one of my posts I suggested that if one is not looking for a conventional HIP approach but instead a set based on a modern orchestra pursuing a period approach then the recent Vanska/Minnesota set is pretty good. It gets good reviews despite what some folk here may have said about it:


.


A more fully conventional approach which is quite well regarded is Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin (NB, Barenboim is an admirer of Furtwangler's style):



Lastly, regards the Harnoncourt set you already have, I reckon it's very good and so too did the BBC's CD reviewer (in an overall comparative assessment of all or most of the sets then available) who placed it top of their recommendations a few years ago.

If you are looking for something that's as un-chamber-like as possible and with a better sound quality than Karajan's Beethoven another option I would recommend is Wand's Beethoven:

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Symp...1761168&sr=8-1

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I had looked through those threads already. I do like the Harnoncourt set, just want a different perspective. My uncle gave me that set since he didn't listen to it much. His son (my cousin) is a conductor as well, so he gets free stuff sometimes :-) Of my cousin's recordings that can be found, they are primarily ballet. But I digress....

I won't be getting a full set. I'll start out with a disc each from Karajan, Wand, Vanska and Barenboim, maybe Abbado, and do my own experimenting from there. Thanks for the info.

Well it isn't hardcore HIP. It uses modern instruments. The interpretation is really dynamic and exciting and musical, though, which is all I care about. It is definitely not HIP for HIP's sake.

The Barenboim performances are also available on DVD-A 5.1 format so if you want good sound quality, that would certainly fill the bill.