Beethoven Symphonies

Tonight, while at work, I am taking the time to do something I have never done before, listen to the entire cycle of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies. The works individually are each brilliant in their own way, but the impact of listening to them all so far has been a wonderful experience. I had forgotten how much I love the oft overlooked fourth symphony.

I'm just finishing the famous fifth now, and the best is yet to come. If you've never listened to them in a cycle I highly recommend it. It will take around six hours.

If you are looking for a good and reasonably priced complete set, I would recommend on of the following.

Herbert Von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic - The 1963 recording is generally regarded as best. It is certainly a classic recording, and Karajan squeezes all the drama he can from the wonderful BPO (I'll never understand how the Amazon Editorial Reviewer calls Karajan's Beethoven "Squeaky Clean" and "Emotionally Cool). The only let-down in this set for me is the Ninth. The performance is superb, but the 1963 recording really shows its age in the finale. The Choir is muddled and unintelligible, the orchestra and Soloists do well though. It is also worth noting that Karajan tended to over-emphasize the strings almost to the point of drowning out the brass. Even with these weaknesses the set is one of the best available for the drama alone.

David Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle - This is the recording I am listening to tonight. It doesn't quite have the dramatic impact of Karajan, but the performances and recordings (from 1999 I believe, very recent) are still top notch. Zinman tends to keep the tempos very quick, almost to the point of distraction in a couple of places, but overall to very good effect (And likely closer to Beethoven's intentions). These are excellent performances and recordings and for $20.00 on Amazon, you really can't go wrong with them.