Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Which collection of Beethoven's Symphony Performances is best?
I am looking to buy a set that contains all 9 of Beethoven's symphonies. Which would you recommend?
In particular I am looking at:
Beethoven: Les 9 Symphonies conducted by André Cluytens
Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies conducted by Josef Krips
Claudio Abbado: Beethoven - Symphonies 1-9 conducted by Claudio Abbado
I have read that the first I listed is best and am leaning towards that one. Any suggestions?
First of all you have to accept that we all have different tastes. What I might like, you might hate and vice versa. So, it is quite dangerous to act on other people's recommendations - especially in a context such as this Where You know nothing about the person or their taste and judgement. One person's 'best' might be another's 'no thank you very much'.
That having been said, I was prompted to answer your question because I was interested in your 'short list'. I have recommended the old Cluytens Berlin Phil recordings to people in the past. It's a very old set now (50 years old), but the recordings were always exemplary for their time and still sound pretty good today. It was a set I was delighted to see re-released on CD a few years ago (I had previously been the proud owner of the set on vinyl for about 30 years).
Bernstein's Beethoven isn't for me. Bernstein's style is too eccentric, too overtly emotional and too prone to odd interpretation for me to be able to live with his performances of this repertoire.
The second LP I ever bought (in around 1966-67) was Josef Krips' Beethoven 5 coupled with the glorious Egmont Overture. This is also an old set well worth getting to know. Do make sure, however, that it is a decent transfer. These recordings existed in mono and stereo versions and around 15 years ago there was a CD set available which had the mono versions 'electronically enhanced' for phoney stereo. Awful! make sure you get the REAL stereo recordings if you opt for this.
So far, there's little to choose between Cluytens and Krips.
I am not particularly familiar with the Abbado set, but it's a relatively recent Deutsche Grammophon set and so the sound will be the best of those you have listed. Great hi-fi sound isn't everything, however. Abbado seldom makes a bad recording, though.
Whichever you choose, I would urge you also to invest in the supreme classic recordings of the 5th and 7th symphonies conducted by Carlos Kleiber. This recording can now be found on Amazon and similar sites for a very cheap price and the performances are among the finest Beethoven recordings ever laid down.
Leonard Bernstein
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Leonard Bernstein