Recordings that you enjoy: Beethoven Symphony #9

[Scarpia]

Well, this is a good thing. As I say, I certainly don't want anyone to think that just because something doesn't appeal to me, I think it shouldn't appeal to them too. But see, girls are more attractive underneath the makeup...   0:)

And a real beauty doesn't need make-up.

[Gurn Blanston]

Today it is a conductor about whom I know very little. This is my only recording by him, but I am quite fond of it. The Staatskapelle Berlin are on the list of Central Euro orchestras who seem to play Beethoven like he was their own. a style I admire, I must say.



We are just now beginning the recitativo for the basses, so I must leave off writing for a bit...

[kishnevi]

Today it is a conductor about whom I know very little. This is my only recording by him, but I am quite fond of it. The Staatskapelle Berlin are on the list of Central Euro orchestras who seem to play Beethoven like he was their own. a style I admire, I must say.



We are just now beginning the recitativo for the basses, so I must leave off writing for a bit...

A lot of people here on GMG like his Dvorak symphony set.  And when I say "like", I mean seriously like it.

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, today started out with getting rained off the golf course, but a recovery is in the offing now, as the Philadelphia Orchestra visit for my weekly pleasure;



Recorded in 1988, this is still a classic traversal, Muti gets the goods from the Philadelphians and his soloists, including Cheryl Studer.

[Reverend Bong]

Gurn, I was wondering, if you had time, whether you could make a short list of recommended recordings of the 9th?  I gather you have dozens (scores? hundreds??) of different interpretations...

I'm not in any sense a completist, and I have no desire to have shelves and shelves of the same work.  However Beethoven is a serious matter, to me the most serious of all, and one certainly needs a range of recordings of the great works because they are capable of such variety of interpretation.  I could not for example live without any of Krebbers, Schneiderhan, Hubermann or Zehetmair playing the Violin Concerto, because all of these recordings has a completely different and unique quality to it - particularly the first three who are so different they can hardly be compared.

So my appeal to your greater experience of the 9th is this:  which 6 or 8 or so recordings do you feel are most essential in terms of representing the diverse possible interpretations of the work?

We can agree to ignore Furtwangler, I have all of them, and as I think you said yourself somewhere, they are almost Furtwangler's 9th. I also have von Karajan's 1962/3 BPO.  I've got a few others too, lurking about, but have not listened to most of them critically, and I don't want to prejudge the issue...

Bong

[Karl Henning]

Gurn, I was wondering, if you had time, whether you could make a short list of recommended recordings of the 9th?  I gather you have dozens (scores? hundreds??) of different interpretations...

I am guessing scores, though I should not be surprised if he is trending towards hundreds ; )

[Carnivorous Sheep]

Gurn, I was wondering, if you had time, whether you could make a short list of recommended recordings of the 9th?  I gather you have dozens (scores? hundreds??) of different interpretations...

I'm not in any sense a completist, and I have no desire to have shelves and shelves of the same work.  However Beethoven is a serious matter, to me the most serious of all, and one certainly needs a range of recordings of the great works because they are capable of such variety of interpretation.  I could not for example live without any of Krebbers, Schneiderhan, Hubermann or Zehetmair playing the Violin Concerto, because all of these recordings has a completely different and unique quality to it - particularly the first three who are so different they can hardly be compared.

So my appeal to your greater experience of the 9th is this:  which 6 or 8 or so recordings do you feel are most essential in terms of representing the diverse possible interpretations of the work?

We can agree to ignore Furtwangler, I have all of them, and as I think you said yourself somewhere, they are almost Furtwangler's 9th. I also have von Karajan's 1962/3 BPO.  I've got a few others too, lurking about, but have not listened to most of them critically, and I don't want to prejudge the issue...

Bong

I too would be interested in seeing this list;

In addition, you wouldn't happen to have a list of all the 9th recordings you have lying around somewhere, would you? I'm extremely curious to see the extent of your collection 

[Gurn Blanston]

I too would be interested in seeing this list;

In addition, you wouldn't happen to have a list of all the 9th recordings you have lying around somewhere, would you? I'm extremely curious to see the extent of your collection 

I've only got about 90 or so. I know there are people who do literally have hundreds, but other than some for representational purposes, I avoid the pre-stereo era. And not just for sound quality!  But I do have a spreadsheet at home, I'll copy/paste it tonight.

[Reverend Bong]

In addition, you wouldn't happen to have a list of all the 9th recordings you have lying around somewhere, would you? I'm extremely curious to see the extent of your collection

not only does he have 90 9ths,  we have reason to believe he has pretty much every Haydn disc in existence...

[Opus106]

I've only got about 90 or so. I know there are people who do literally have hundreds, but other than some for representational purposes, I avoid the pre-stereo era. And not just for sound quality!  But I do have a spreadsheet at home, I'll copy/paste it tonight.

I know it's two years old. But I expect a silver star at the least.

not only does he have 90 9ths,  we have reason to believe he has pretty much every Haydn disc in existence...

Every PI recording, to be sure.

[Gurn Blanston]

I know it's two years old. But I expect a silver star at the least.

Every PI recording, to be sure.

You da man, Nav!  Yes, there are some additions since then, but that's a start.

And right there, too. Every PI recording, to be sure.   0:)

[xochitl]

i'm curious, does anyone know the Mehta/NYPO live recording from the 80s?

it was my first 9th, and i still have a bit of a soft spot for it.  the first movement is still one of my favorites

[Gurn Blanston]

i'm curious, does anyone know the Mehta/NYPO live recording from the 80s?

it was my first 9th, and i still have a bit of a soft spot for it.  the first movement is still one of my favorites

I have this one;

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but I don't remember that it was 'live'. Which means only that I don't remember, not that it isn't. I quite enjoy it. One of our members here rec'd it to me and quite rightly.

[Reverend Bong]

I've only got about 90 or so.

And...?  Is it possible to pick out half a dozen that are the cream of the 90, the finest examples of various styles of interpretation?

[Wakefield]

And right there, too. Every PI recording, to be sure.   0:)

... the new Bruggen too, Gurn? 

[Gurn Blanston]

And...?  Is it possible to pick out half a dozen that are the cream of the 90, the finest examples of various styles of interpretation?

Not sure that it is, but I'll give it a try over weekend. Like a few others here, I'm not too competitive that way. Certainly there are favorites though.

[Gurn Blanston]

... the new Bruggen too, Gurn? 

Which would that be, Gordo? Certainly I made an exaggeration, since there are recordings I never even heard of. I always try to correct small slip-ups  as I go, though.

[kishnevi]

Ha! On that 2011 list, I see (or more accurately, don't see) a couple of performances I have that you don't.

Most importantly,  Sawallisch conducting the Concertgebouw in December 1992  (unless you've gotten it since then).  There's also Rattle and Thielemann each conducting the VPO, but it's only Sawallisch I would suggest.

ETA: going to find an image to add to this post from Amazon,  I don't see the re-issue I have (an EMI double with the second CD being piano concertos--Beethoven Fifth and Mozart Twentieth), but I do see a complete cycle re-issued by Brilliant back in 2005

[Gurn Blanston]

Ha! On that 2011 list, I see (or more accurately, don't see) a couple of performances I have that you don't.

Most importantly,  Sawallisch conducting the Concertgebouw in December 1992  (unless you've gotten it since then).  There's also Rattle and Thielemann each conducting the VPO, but it's only Sawallisch I would suggest.

ETA: going to find an image to add to this post from Amazon,  I don't see the re-issue I have (an EMI double with the second CD being piano concertos--Beethoven Fifth and Mozart Twentieth), but I do see a complete cycle re-issued by Brilliant back in 2005

I do have this Sawallisch now;



It's very good. I think it's the same one as yours. I've always avoided Rattle, although not for any good reason other than I don't like his name or his hair.   Thielemann I would like, just haven't run across it, although I know I could find it if I looked. I just like to get them as I find them rather than shop hard, which is what I do with Haydn, for example. The Ninth is more relaxing than that.

[kishnevi]

I do have this Sawallisch now;



It's very good. I think it's the same one as yours. I've always avoided Rattle, although not for any good reason other than I don't like his name or his hair.   Thielemann I would like, just haven't run across it, although I know I could find it if I looked. I just like to get them as I find them rather than shop hard, which is what I do with Haydn, for example. The Ninth is more relaxing than that.

Yes, that's the same one I have.

EMI put the Rattle out on its budget re-issue line, so you can snap it up if you want as an unconsidered trilfe.  I've got the Thielemann as part of his full cycle, and it's really the full set that bores me; I don't remember any details about the Ninth in particular, but from that lack of memory I'd presume it left me as unenthused as the rest of the set. It's like Glenlivet--not really bad, just bland and boring when it could be so much more.   (And if you want a truly negative opinion of that set, look up what Harry wrote about it!)