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List Price : $33.98 Price : $22.81
Beethoven: 9 Symphonies / Karajan (1963) Reviews
Beethoven: 9 Symphonies / Karajan (1963) Reviews
| 23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:  Let's just say it's among the best handful of Beethoven Symphony cycles, By This review is from: Beethoven: 9 Symphonies / Karajan (1963) (Audio CD) To my mind, of the fifty or so versions of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony I've enjoyed over 40 years listening, this is one of the very best. The other eight symphonies in this set rate just as highly. It is a fun set to hear, a young star ("Wunderkind") conductor with the first important recording cycle for the re-emerging Berlin Philharmonic - soon to be, and ever since generally recognized as the world's finest ensemble. This particular, long lived marriage of star conductor and brilliant orchestra produced many of arguably the best performances ever recorded. Not among those who insist on winners always, I would say this set is unsurpassed, if equalled. Its main attractions are the quick and agile, often fiery tempi, perhaps outdone only slightly at times by Karajan's even more youthful Philharmonia Orchestra set from the fifties on EMI which is technically inferior, and by the rather italianate renderings by Toscannini and the NBC Symphony, less satisfying technically and... Read more 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:  --1 STAR FOR THE RE-MASTERING, This review is from: Beethoven: 9 Symphonies / Karajan (1963) (Audio CD) Although this is one of the best cycles out there, the remastering job DG did on it does more hurt than help (in my opinion). You get quite a bit of digital edginess throughout it, and a loss of the natural warmth and wonderful bloom from the original recordings. It's very difficult to prove this in a review but if you compare the original recordings to the re-mastered versions, you'll begin to see what I'm saying. Mind you, I love Karajan and his '63 Beethoven cycle (I give it 5 stars!), but I would say, stay with the original recordings in the gold and red box set...plus the packaging is so much more beautiful and is perfect for shelf display! 22 of 30 people found the following review helpful:  Karajan's Best Beethoven in new budget packaging, By This review is from: Beethoven: 9 Symphonies / Karajan (1963) (Audio CD) Music critics and fans alike agree that Herbert von Karajan's first Berlin Philharmonic Beethoven symphony cycle was his best; this imported Deutsche Grammophon CD set is a new, slimmer, budget version of these recordings. These are exhilarating performances of most of Beethoven's symphonies, with the finest performances probably those of the 7th and 8th symphonies. I also admire the glorious sound of his recording of the 3rd Symphony, replete with ample tension and drama, that is only excelled by the recording of this symphony in his final Deutsche Grammophon Beethoven symphony cycle. His 5th symphony is almost as exciting as Carlos Kleiber's celebrated Vienna Philharmonic recording which Deutsche Grammophon recorded over a decade later. If one wishes to acquire this CD set, then it is really only for these recordings only. Although the sound quality in this set is very good, those interested in hearing the finest version of this cycle should find a copy of the... Read more |
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