Beethoven Symphonies Cycle: Which is your #1 pick?

[SurprisedByBeauty]

FYI: There's a list of every Beethoven cycle recorded here:
A Survey of Beethoven Symphony Cycles: Alphabetical Index

(A more proper presentation will follow, eventually, but it takes time to code.)

Having just re-listened to the Bernstein Vienna cycle, that one's taken a plunge. It now ranks among my least favorite cycles. Too much bloody absurdity.

These are some of my favorites... and they cover, on purpose, about three different general approaches.


Abbado III, Rome
Barenboim I, Berlin
Chailly, Leipzig
Gardiner, ORR
Harnoncourt, COE
P.Jarvi I, Bremen CP
Kletzki, CzPO
Pletnev, RNO
Vanska, MO
Wand, NDRSO

but I understand the like for the Karajan 70s cycle, too...

[Biffo]

FYI: There's a list of every Beethoven cycle recorded here:
A Survey of Beethoven Symphony Cycles: Alphabetical Index

(A more proper presentation will follow, eventually, but it takes time to code.)

Having just re-listened to the Bernstein Vienna cycle, that one's taken a plunge. It now ranks among my least favorite cycles. Too much bloody absurdity.

These are some of my favorites... and they cover, on purpose, about three different general approaches.


Abbado III, Rome
Barenboim I, Berlin
Chailly, Leipzig
Gardiner, ORR
Harnoncourt, COE
P.Jarvi I, Bremen CP
Kletzki, CzPO
Pletnev, RNO
Vanska, MO
Wand, NDRSO

but I understand the like for the Karajan 70s cycle, too...

Thanks for your posting and the link to the list of cycles. To my horror I found I had 25 cycles, I used to keep a spreadsheet but have let it lapse. I vowed never to buy another cycle then the Wyn Morris/LSO set emerged from the vaults and I succumbed. Trawling through the list made me realise there are still plenty of potentially fine cycles out there but I will have to give them a miss. It also reminded me of cycles I have sampled and rejected. Additionally I have numerous part-cycles and individual discs.

My head is spinning and I can't even compile a short list though I do think there isn't any one cycle that is recommendable for all nine symphonies.

[George]

but I understand the like for the Karajan 70s cycle, too...

I can't say that I do. I much prefer his '63 cycle.

[Karl Henning]

If I had 25 LvB cycles (not to speak against such a thing absolutely, but only in my own context) I should be horrified, as well.

[Karl Henning]

Very interesting that you rate the Gardiner/ORR so highly, Jens.  I am not sure that I have heard any of the LvB, which is a little strange, since their Berlioz Symphonie fantastique made such a positive impression when first I heard it.

[Biffo]

If I had 25 LvB cycles (not to speak against such a thing absolutely, but only in my own context) I should be horrified, as well.

I knew I had a lot but not as many as 25. In mitigation, I bought the first one (Jochum/Concertgebouw) in 1970 and only added 2 more in the LP era. I have accumulated them steadily since ca. 1984 when I started buying CDs. Some were bought out of curiosity and I am unlikely to listen to them again. I could dispose of them but I am reluctant to do so.

[Traverso]

I knew I had a lot but not as many as 25. In mitigation, I bought the first one (Jochum/Concertgebouw) in 1970 and only added 2 more in the LP era. I have accumulated them steadily since ca. 1984 when I started buying CDs. Some were bought out of curiosity and I am unlikely to listen to them again. I could dispose of them but I am reluctant to do so.

Why should you, as long as you have space enough .

[Biffo]

Why should you, as long as you have space enough .

Thank you for your solidarity! I am sure there are people out there thinking 'Only 25 cycles, barely constitutes a collection'.

The ultra-glossy 1977 Karajan cycle (on LP) should be near the top of the list for disposal but I can't bring myself to get rid of it. If I do I will want to check it out again (or at least part of it) for some reason within a few months.

[Karl Henning]

Why should you, as long as you have space enough .

There you are:  I could not have 25 LvB sets without the spatial element exciting disapproving remark from the woman of my dreams.

0:)

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Thank you for your solidarity! I am sure there are people out there thinking 'Only 25 cycles, barely constitutes a collection'.

The ultra-glossy 1977 Karajan cycle (on LP) should be near the top of the list for disposal but I can't bring myself to get rid of it. If I do I will want to check it out again (or at least part of it) for some reason within a few months.

I find the "1977" cycle to be fascinating on every return, because it's far less glossy to my ears than to my expectations... and it combines a LOT of the surprising spunk of the "1963" cycle with the ensemble-perfection that would lead to the 'Berlin Wall of Sound'. It is, in its way, the most "Karajan" cycles of them, without suffering from the detriments of the "1980s" cycle.

I didn't have any Karajan Beethoven cycle for decades of collecting... one of the many curiosities that collecting brings with it... a refusal to expend money/effort on 'the most obvious' choice? The idea to be different from the standard collector? Coincidence? Guided merely by BMG Record Club editorial policy? Now, that it's far too late in some ways, I have now found myself with all four of the 'mainstream' Karajan cycles. (None of the video ones, though, and not the Tokyo live cycle, either, though that remains intriguing.

Trimming it down and trying to keep diversity in my Beethoven, I might find these in my top three:


P.Jarvi, Bremen CP (All-Purpose, Swift, Modern, HIP-replacement)
Barenboim, Berlin (Varnish, Orchestral Might, Faux-Furtwangler)
"Joker"  (Something that's sufficiently different and kicks rear in its own way)

The joker currently is Pletnev, RNO, DG. Next week it might be Dausgaard or Schmidt-Isserstedt or something along those lines... or Gardiner or another really good hip-cycle.

[Baron Scarpia]

I find the "1977" cycle to be fascinating on every return, because it's far less glossy to my ears than to my expectations... and it combines a LOT of the surprising spunk of the "1963" cycle with the ensemble-perfection that would lead to the 'Berlin Wall of Sound'. It is, in its way, the most "Karajan" cycles of them, without suffering from the detriments of the "1980s" cycle.

I got one CD from the Karajan 80's cycle when it first came out and decided it was inferior to the 70's cycle (that was before I heard the 60's cycle). Haven't heard a note of it since then. Maybe I need to revisit (I have it in a box set).

What, specifically, are the "detriments" of the 80's cycle, in your view?

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I got one CD from the Karajan 80's cycle when it first came out and decided it was inferior to the 70's cycle (that was before I heard the 60's cycle). Haven't heard a note of it since then. Maybe I need to revisit (I have it in a box set).

What, specifically, are the "detriments" of the 80's cycle, in your view?

Pressed to it, I'm actually not prepared to be definitive even about my own reservations, for fear that I've not listened to it sufficiently to overcome dearly-held and stereotypical prejudices.
But for now, I would suggest something along the lines of: The loss of verve at the expense of polish... the aura of self-satisfaction.

[Baron Scarpia]

My memory (this is remembered from ~1987, mind you) is that I thought the interpretations were more or less the same but that the sound was "too digital." One of the recordings that was too brightly lit because they wanted you to be impressed by how clear it all sounded in a digital recording. Maybe they've dialed that back in the masters they are releasing these days. I listened to a brief clip of the 7th symphony finale and I thought it sounded fine.

[George]

I find the "1977" cycle to be fascinating on every return, because it's far less glossy to my ears than to my expectations... and it combines a LOT of the surprising spunk of the "1963" cycle with the ensemble-perfection that would lead to the 'Berlin Wall of Sound'. It is, in its way, the most "Karajan" cycles of them, without suffering from the detriments of the "1980s" cycle.

Thanks for explaining. I love the 63 set because of it's raw intensity.

[Baron Scarpia]

Just listened to Karajan's '82 recording of Beethoven's 7th. General impression is that the interpretation is basically identical to '77, the intensity is there, but I don't like the audio as much. Too dry, a bit shrill, lacking the concert-hall sound stage that I liked in the '77 cycle. And the basses don't have the colossal sound that they did in the '77 cycle.

[prémont]

There you are:  I could not have 25 LvB sets without the spatial element exciting disapproving remark from the woman of my dreams.

0:)

I own 58 cycles. I do not get disapproving remarks from her. She is clever enough to know how to remain the woman of my dreams. 

[George]

I own 58 cycles. I do not get disapproving remarks from her. She is clever enough to know how to remain the woman of my dreams. 

Did she conduct one of those 58? 

[prémont]

Did she conduct one of those 58? 

No, but she conducts herself in an exemplary way. 

[George]

No, but she conducts herself in an exemplary way. 

Touche! 

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Back to the basics:



#morninglistening to #Beethoven w/@KarajanMusic & @berlinphil on @dgclassics in THE classic #symphony #LvB cycle from 1963

: http://a-fwd.to/1YX0QjX

2nd of seven cycles he recorded.