Your desert island disc Beethoven symphony recordings.

[Bryn]

With 59 opinions to read through, I could have missed it - but no-one seems to have mentioned the very stimulating set by Immerseel and Anima Eterna.

Oh yes I did! As a single orchestra/conductor set it tops my list. It's just I also have a soft spot for Norrington's somewhat wayward 9th with the LCP too. That's not to say I do not have lots and lots of time for Abbado, Mackerras, Stuttgarters/Norrington, Toscanini, Cluytens, Weil et al.

[Barbirollians]

I do wish EMI would reissue the old Colin Davis RPO recording of the 7th, and not just for nostalgic reasons.

I agree - a wonderful record.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What you appear to be saying is that it isn't always straightforward.

I wouldn't disagree with this statement, but I'm sorry if that was indeed what I "appeared" to be saying. What I thought I was saying was that Beethoven was a greater Musician than all the conductors mentioned in this thread combined, and that to ignore/overlook/neglect whatever clues he gave about how his Music should be played is to betray that Music to the audience.

Of course Beethoven knew what be meant with his metronome indications

So performers need to take them seriously and attempt to reproduce them as closely as they can (given the peculiarities of Hall acoustics) in performance.

but as far as I know, he wasn't autistic and he certainly wasn't obsessive.

... errrrm ... well, actually ... !

[Biffo]

I have owned the Davis/RPO version of No 7 since LP days, a wonderful performance. It was available for a time (and still might be?) in a two-disc EMI Classics forte issue. The rather mixed couplings are a Schubert Great C major from Szell/Cleveland and 5 Rossini Overtures from Davis/RPO.

[HighlandDougie]

I'm currently working my way through the Chailly box. He is quoted in the booklet as saying that three major influences on his Beethoven have been Toscanini, Karajan and John Eliot Gardiner. "...(Chailly) is not using the new Urtext edition. 'I studied it but then went back to the old Peters edition, which I've freshly prepared. It was done extremely cleanly and makes a solid basis for our material. In addition I've made a careful study of Igor Markevitch's critical edition, and in the Eighties I went carefully through George Szell's entries in his scores. Out of all of this, I've formed my own view' ". Interestingly, Konwitschny's Beethoven is decribed elsewhere in the booklet as having an, "elemental force".

Those influences certainly seem to colour Chailly's approach. If you like your Beethoven slow, you'll hate it. The Eroica first movement is certainly brisk (although I have a hazy memory of a Furtwängler/VPO performance which was almost as fast) and the final movement of the 8th is possibly just a bit too brisk. I haven't tried the 9th yet. An exciting 4th (almost as good as Kiril Kondrashin) is playing as I type. The orchestral playing is, as one would expect, beyond reproach and the recording, again as one might expect from the Gewandhaus and Decca, very fine indeed. As implied by many of the previous posts, there is probably no single 'right' way with Beethoven. I haven't read Richard Osborne's take on the cycle which will be a far better judgement than I'm qualified to make. If only for the recording (at last, pace Paavo Järvi, a Beethoven cycle in glorious modern sound), I can see myself listening to this set quite a lot . The overtures are an unexpected bonus and the price, at least here in France, very reasonable.

[Barbirollians]

I have owned the Davis/RPO version of No 7 since LP days, a wonderful performance. It was available for a time (and still might be?) in a two-disc EMI Classics forte issue. The rather mixed couplings are a Schubert Great C major from Szell/Cleveland and 5 Rossini Overtures from Davis/RPO.

Nearly £40 ! on amazon

[Parry1912]

I haven't read Richard Osborne's take on the cycle which will be a far better judgement than I'm qualified to make.

RO gave a very good review to the Dresden/Davis cycle in 1995 ("There has not been a Beethoven cycle like this since Klemperer's heyday, or Bruno Walter's" ... etc) and no-one mentions that one these days (Note to self: must listen to it again!)

I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks of the Chailly but I think I'll wait to see if it stands the test of time.

[amateur51]

RO gave a very good review to the Dresden/Davis cycle in 1995 ("There has not been a Beethoven cycle like this since Klemperer's heyday, or Bruno Walter's" ... etc) and no-one mentions that one these days (Note to self: must listen to it again!)

Recently re-released by Newton

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Symphonies-1-9-Staatskapelle-Dresden/dp/B005BMK9DK/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1319627674&sr=1-1

[Biffo]

The Dresden/Davis No 7 is a fine performance, beautifully played and recorded but it doesn't have quite the same dancing quality the younger Davis had with the RPO. I remember being told the RPO version was recorded with reduced strings so it could be issued as a mid-price recording; that certainly paid off.

[silvestrione]

the Dresden/Davis cycle in 1995 ...no-one mentions that one these days

I chose the Dresden/Davis Eroica in my list. It and some of the others are available cheaply in HMV stores, in an unpromising-looking Classic FM series of budget cds that actually contains many classic recordings

[visualnickmos]

....the Colin Davis/Dresden
- yes, I agree, it doesn't get mentioned (maybe because it's largely unavailable?) but it is a very fine set.
Another excellent set is Kempe/Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

[Karafan]

Has anyone mentioned the highly characterful Kletzki cycle from the '60s with the Czech PO?

Now reissued by Supraphon as a set at quite an attractive price. They are wonderfully played and paced with outstanding contributions from wind, brass and strings. I have had and enjoyed this set, among many others, for years and return to it with undimmed pleasure. It's one of those rare sets - it is imbued with a sense of "rightness".

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Symphonies-1-9/dp/B004NWHVSA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319632035&sr=8-1

Karafan

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have owned the Davis/RPO version of No 7 since LP days, a wonderful performance.

I had this on an HMV Concert Classics LP. I remember buying this one particularly well. I was the winner of a school Christmas Carol Competition in 1963 or 64. Two days after receiving the £1 record token as a prize, I heard this wonderful symphony at the Free Trade Hall, so the choice of how to spend the prize was not difficult.

[Parry1912]

I chose the Dresden/Davis Eroica in my list. It and some of the others are available cheaply in HMV stores, in an unpromising-looking Classic FM series of budget cds that actually contains many classic recordings

Apologies for not noticing that - it's certainly one of my favourites.

Worth knowing about the Classic FM CDs too.

[Karafan]

Interested to see a number of you have opted for Boult in #6 over the 'default' Böhm setting. I am tempted but would like a friendly push in Boult's direction please - your thoughts on the Medici Masters issue?

Incidentally, have just bought the Sanderling/Philharmonia cycle (Disky Classics, ex-HMV, circa 1981) which is sounding pretty good on a first listening. But I am also appalled. The have split the first symphony, between CD1 where the first 3 movements are marooned alongside the whole of the Eroica, leaving the finale bobbing up incongruously on the final, 5th disc just before the onset of the 9th! How bizarre! His Eroica 1st movement weighs in at a lengthy 18:32, a good four minutes longer than Karajan but not as leisurely as Konwitschny in Leipzig at 19:40. Still, a damned funny way of splitting a symphony across discs.

K.