[JamesKH]

From an overall perspective, what would you guys say is the best Beethoven Symphonies 1-9?  Leibowitz/Royal Philharmonic (1961)? Rattle?  Gunter Wand?  Karajan?

 

[Light - Man]

  From an overall perspective, what would you guys say is the best Beethoven Symphonies 1-9?  Leibowitz/Royal Philharmonic (1961)? Rattle?  Gunter Wand?  Karajan?

 
I will leave that question to our esteemed colleagues on HF, someone like @CanadianMaestro would have a strong informed opinion but I am not sure if he is on HF anymore, probably too busy or has had his headphones surgically removed recently, which is an operation I am due to have again even though it was not very successful last time!!!

 

 

[Slaphead]

From an overall perspective, what would you guys say is the best Beethoven Symphonies 1-9?  Leibowitz/Royal Philharmonic (1961)? Rattle?  Gunter Wand?  Karajan?

Funnily enough my favourite versions of 1 & 2 from a recording perspective happen to have been recorded practically in my back yard.

David Zinman - Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich.

It was actually recommended to me, above all other versions, by a specialist classical record shop in England while I was back there making a visit - IMO they weren't wrong.

 

[Christer]

If we're talking about 1977 to around 1987 then there was an awful lot of bad vinyl around, and it affected mostly everybody in the recording industry. First off the oil crisis of the 70's meant that vinyl was being produced pretty damned thin, meaning the mastering engineers had to make compromises to ensure that the record would actually track properly, and then later in the 80's it seemed that a lot of vinyl was mastered treble heavy anyway. I don't really know the reason for that, but I guess the new kid on the block, CD, had something to do with it.

You've definitely got a point there. And one other often forgotten reason many LPs from the late 70s  and early 80s sound bad is that they were very likely also made to sound bad intentionally  to make people abandon LP and start buying CDs.
Personally I never abandoned LPs and I still buy a lot mostly from thrift shops at true bargain prices these days. Last week I bought 6 LPs in varying quality  including two  real gems one Living Stereo "Unsterbliches Wien" immortal Vienna,Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic playing Strauss waltzes in superb sound from 1960 on a heavy  vinyl that after cleaning  beats any rbcd sound I have heard .
The other  bargain being a double set Decca Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake  from 1958.vintage DECCA at its very best.
But the 1977 Philips Hatink conducts Ravel although on thin lightweight vinyl also sounds clearly better than on rbcd.
And if we are talking direct cut LPs from  the 70s I would say that via my system they rival most hi res digital SQ wise in some respects.
Massed string sound and percussion via direct cut LP is about as good as it gets to my ears.

 

[Mr Trev]

 

[Light - Man]

Classical meets the whiter shade of pale in the dale?

 
 

 

[Christer]

For those new to classical You Tube can be a good introduction but  SQ often leaves a lot to be desired,although the actual performances are often great.
For free viewing and listening in clearly  better SQ one of the the best sites for me recently is the GSO LIVE site I recommended in an other post.
Very naturally balanced and clean streaming sound  with a basic DECCA tree ie  most of the time, no more than three mics above the conductor!
The opposite of the  compromised  multimic'd digital no man's land approach that ruins many modern classical recordings.
And the GSO is a good  orchestra that also appears on several classical labels, ranging from Swedish BIS and British Chandos and DGG to Farao Classics.
I can heartily recommend their recent Mahler 2 symphony.

 

[JamesKH]

Will try to get my hands on a copy...recorded in your back yard and Zinman is from my town in NYC.

 

[Baldr]

  From an overall perspective, what would you guys say is the best Beethoven Symphonies 1-9?  Leibowitz/Royal Philharmonic (1961)? Rattle?  Gunter Wand?  Karajan?

 
I always liked Bruno Walter's symphonies (Early Columbia Stereo), especially #3,6,7,9.  Amazing!!

 

[Light - Man]

3 short but sweet
 

 

 

 

[Slaphead]

Oh yes - The Lark Ascending. One of the best versions I've heard is one played by Nigel Kennedy on the CD Elgar Violin Concerto in B Minor / The Lark Ascending

Nigel Kennedy just seems to find so much space and air in that performance.

 

[Light - Man]

This one is so sweet that one could easily verge on hyperglycemia

 

 
This one is by Polish students doing Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre
 

 
And a very different version of it
 

 

[sjwaudio]

  From an overall perspective, what would you guys say is the best Beethoven Symphonies 1-9?  Leibowitz/Royal Philharmonic (1961)? Rattle?  Gunter Wand?  Karajan?

There are so many great options. A lot depends upon what type of performance style you prefer -- modern instruments, period instruments, or historically informed on modern instruments -- and how much you care about hi-res sound quality.
 
Of the sets I have owned, I would recommend: 
 
- modern instruments - Vanska on Bis (SACD or hi-res download on eClassical.com); Wand on RCA (get the big Gunter Wand: The Great Recordings box set with Wand's Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, etc.); Von Karajan 1963 on DG; Leibowitz  
- period instruments - Gardiner on Archiv (there are other good sets, but none that I've listened to enough to single out) 
- historically informed on modern instruments - Paavo Jarvi on RCA (SACD); Zinman on Arte Nova / RCA / Sony (get the big Beethoven: Complete Masterpieces box set)
 
If I had to pick only one set, I'd probably go for Vanska/Bis or Paavo Jarvi/RCA, both on SACD, for the combination of performance and sound quality.
But you'd want to supplement with specific performances, such as Wand's 9th Symphony, among others. 

 

[costinstn]

I started with Karajan/Berliner Philharmonic, which i think is a very good introduction...Huge soundstage, clinical, precise, analytical, powerful. Moving to Bernstein/Wiener Philharmonic, maybe is the recording, but the orchestra seems smaller, more compact..warm sound, a little slower pace, more intimate...Both are great quality recordings, very good for beginners to follow the positioning of instruments and basically to get a feeling of 2 different interpretations.
Lately i'm hooked up on Kleiber/Wiener for the 5'th, and Celibidache/Munich for the 9'th. Kleiber's 5'th has such a synergy and cohesion, smooth yet powerful at the same time, making - in my opinion - a better job than Bernstein with the Wiener Philharmonic. You should also check Kleiber's Brahms-sym no4, and Schubert - Sym no8 "Unfinished" as well as the Traviata if you're into opera.
As for Celibidache, i find his Betthoven 9'th and Tchaikovsky 6'th to be very emotional. They have a mix of slow tempo and up tempo in the right moments, that really gives me chills. Also great horns on Tchaikovsky...Better than Gergiev in my opinion...
Anyway...preference lists can go on for a while....And for me Classical music is very emotional listen....I would like to hear in this thread also what makes a certain interpretation tick for you...

 

[Mr Trev]