Beethoven's 9th

[bjackson]

Can someone recommend the best 'audiophile' grade recording of this? I have the Harencourt (sp?), CD, but I just feel that it is lacking and...muddy..

I have the ability to do DVD-Audio if there is any good recordings of it, however I will only be using this in stereo so multichannel is not an issue.

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!

 

[jackinnj]

herbert von karajan's 9th used to be the standard of comparison

 

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

I thought I had read here on this forum about a great distaste for DG recordings.

 

[EC8010]

Solti on Decca. Can't comment on whether it's the best recording available, but it's a superb performance.

 

[phase_accurate]

Solti on Decca. Can't comment on whether it's the best recording available, but it's a superb performance.

IIRC he did more than one recording of the 9th.,

Regards

Charles

 

[EC8010]

In that case, the one I have in mind is the 1987 recording with Jessye Norman and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus on Decca 417 800-2.

 

[pinkmouse]

Shouldn't you guys be having this discussion here?

Covers that are arguably better than the originals:

 

[EC8010]

Shouldn't you guys be having this discussion here?

Covers that are arguably better than the originals:

Only if you've got a recording with Beethoven conducting that's worse than the covers.

 

[phase_accurate]

AFAIK he never conducted it by himself (it is difficult to conduct if you are deaf!). To be more exact he never even heard it by himself !!!!

Regards

Charles

 

[jackinnj]

Shouldn't you guys be having this discussion here?

Covers that are arguably better than the originals:

Beethoven isn't music, it's transcendence over mortal existence.

 

[Larry Lomax]

Beethoven isn't music, it's transcendence over mortal existence.

Right man!

 

[Leslie Horn]

Beethoven isn't music, it's transcendence over mortal existence.

How romantic!

 

[dice45]

LvB S#9: E.Kleiber

Decca LXT 2725 and 2726 from the early 50ies:

Erich Kleiber conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Hilde Gueden (soprano)
Sieglinde Wagner (contralto)
Anton Dermota (tenor)
Ludwig Weber (bass)

sonics are remarkable albeit not as breathtakingly realistic as with the famous Symphony #3 and #5 , E.Kleiber cond. Concertgebouw Orch, Amsterdam. The singers are German native speakers (AISB)

And as we are on it, the E.Kleiber performance of LvB Symph.#6 (Pastoral), LPO, also early 50ies, is the only performance sounding like Beethoven to my ears ... and not like some romantic misunderstanding.