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I listen to Beethoven frequently during the year (these days, more piano sonatas and string quartets, but still manage the other works as well). He is simply my favorite composer and I have close to everything he ever composed - the songs are the major exception. Beethoven was quoted as saying that he didn't like writing them....so not sure why we might want to listen.
On his birthday I decided to listen to the 9th, and the version I chose was the Columbia Symphony Walter version. I have had the complete set for some time but hadn't gotten around to listening to the 9th. IMO, it is a very fine reading -powerful and masculine where it needs to be, warm and touching in the adagio- but the orchestra is clearly not one of the great ones, the sound is a bit harsh, and there are times that the balance isn't what it should be - the wind choirs in the 4th movement are barely audible at times - don't know if that is the recording or Walter. In summary, a reading I'm happy to own but not my first choice.
Without doing a significant in-depth comparison of all of the LP 9ths I own or have owned (I dumped my Seraphim version of the Bayreuth Furtwangler many years ago, for example) - out of memory my top 3 might be Karajan 62 (and I am by no means a believer that the early 60s Karajan set is top notch all the way through - a poor 8th, a too fast Pastorale, and an overwrought finale to the 7th), Fricsay (although I would like to have the 2 LP disc instead of the onefer I have) and, yes, Stokowski, who delivered a powerful reading on Phase 4 marred by a side break in the Adagio. I also have that one on tape. I'm curious, though, if others have found 9ths with a combination of great sound, performance and orchestral execution.
Follow Ups:
My favorite is Sir Georg Solti conducting Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus on Decca 6BB 121/2 (1972). (I believe London CSP-8 is the US equivalent.) Not sure whether I love it for its sound, space and soaring impact in "Ode to Joy" or because I saw many of the same performers present in at Orchestra Hall in the 1980s.
Opus 33 1/3
nt
Karajan's 3rd Berlin recording with with Baltsa, IIRC. The the sound in the Finale is often painful, but what a rapt slow mov't!
If Bruno Walter is your guy, I'd suggest his Beethoven 9th with the NY Philharmonic, Mack Harrell, Martha Lipton, et al. This is a famous recording, though mono and the sound quality is mediocre.
Otherwise, Ferenc Fricsay and the Berlin Philharmonic on DG is a great choice. Excellent stereo sound for its day, and the soloists are Seefried, Forrester, Haefliger, and Fischer-Dieskau. I consider this one of the all time greatest orchestral records. The original usually sells for big bucks, but DG reissued it in the 70s and that one can be had for a couple of bucks. Though the reissue is crammed onto one LP rather than two, it is still spectacular.
Milnes steals the show and the always under-rated Leinsdorf is in control.
That old nag the Fifth gets trotted out once in awhile, too. I wish I could listen to the Schoenberg all the way through, but...
At the request of the Moderators,
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I have an RCA Red Seal set with Reiner/Chicago with Symphonies 1 & 9 that is my favorite of the bunch. Great sonics and performance.
Whenever I come across a different version of the 9th, I get it since they are cheap and most of the time in great condition.My latest and IMO the nicest overall version is this one. Overall meaning
the actual performance then the sonics.This is comparing a 58 sealed Masterworks and others.
My .02 cents below
Edits: 12/19/14
René Leibowitz conducting Royal Philharmonic Orchestraand Beecham Choral Society is as good as any I have heard, but the 9th isn't my favorite of Beethoven anyway so WTF do I know?
Quite like this cycle for a number of reasons.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
I like Munch/BSO recorded around 1960 on RCA Victrola with Leontyne Price, Tozzi,
Forrester and Poleri. Wonderful pacing, fine balances and certainly top drawer soloists.
Opus 33 1/3
nt
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