Recommendations for "audiphile" Beethoven!

[OvidiuDanut]

Hi! I start yet another thread for audiphile recommendations regarding Beethoven because i dont want to waste money on poor recordings. So i'm counting on your experience after you lost money

 

[PSmith08]

Well, once again, seeking out audiophile recordings limits you from some stuff that is mindblowingly good, but recorded too long ago or in less-than-ideal conditions.

That having been said, Osmo Vänskä's symphonies are beautifully recorded and very, very good from an interpretative standpoint. András Schiff, Paul Lewis, and Mitsuko Uchida all have very well-recorded sonata discs coming out right now. Uchida's first disc of the last three sonatas is really wonderful, and she has a "Hammerklavier" coming out soon that, I hope, will be on par.

 

[Tyson]

Check out Gardiners set of Symphonies - lean and mean interpretations, with outstanding recording quality. For the Piano Concerto's I'd recommend Bronfman on Piano with Zinman conducting, power and joy together, and again great recorded sound. For the Violin Concerto, either Mullova or Hahn will be very good in sound and performance. For the Piano Sonatas, any and all discs by Pollini. String quartets, I recommend the Takacs or the Emersons.

 

[Caribou679]

I cherish the Talich Quartet playing Beethoven's string quartet. A 7 cds box set on Calliope.

 

[compuryan]

Malcolm Bilson recorded all the sonatas on period instruments (fortepianos) which many purists prefer the sound over modern pianos. If that is what you're into, Bilson is the man to go to. If you haven't heard Beethoven on the fortepiano, its very interesting ("as he would have written it"). because beethoven's fortepiano was much different than the pianos we all play on today.

 

[ADD]

Hi,

Tacet is a small, audiophile recording company in Germany who are reportedly in the process of releasing the entire Beethoven Symphony cycle with the Polish Chamber Orchestra on SACD. Yes, I wonder a bit about the lightweight orchestral forces a little too, especially in #9, but nevertheless it sounds like a very interesting project and certainly worthy of audiophile consideration given their merticulous, unique and rather fanatical approach.

Apparently the recordings are fully digital but transistorless - the whole recording chain uses tubes only - including the use of vintage tube microphones.

I just ordered Symphonies #7 and #8 today. Thus far, they have released the aforementioned plus #1 and #2 on a second disk.

 

[mbhaub]

The very, very new Beethoven 3 & 7 on RCA/Sony with Paavo Jarvi has superbly transparent SACD sound.

 

[Murugesh]

I recommend the following CDs

1) Piano Concertos by Fleischer & Szell
2) Piano Sonatas by Richard Goode