Complete Sets of Beethoven's Symphonies

[kishnevi]

It might be helpful to put in some symbol or other to identify PI sets here,

Speaking of PI sets,  I think you missed
[asin]B074C1PVNV[/asin]

It was just released last month so you don't need to beat yourself up over missing it.

[prémont]

A Survey of Beethoven Symphony Cycles: Alphabetical Index


Any and all help is much appreciated.

What happened to Masur?

[SurprisedByBeauty]

FIXED / ADDED!

What happened to Masur?

good question. I have two sets in my Excel list... must have been one of those sloppy mistakes transferring into the list. Thanks for catching this.

It might be helpful to put in some symbol or other to identify PI sets here,

Speaking of PI sets,  I think you missed Weil / Tafelmusik

It was just released last month so you don't need to beat yourself up over missing it.

Thank you thank you thank you. Shouldn't have missed that... I translated some of those booklets. (1-4) But yes, it hadn't been finished by then.

PI-Identifier might be interesting -- but in the real overview (with covers and much more information; recording dates, singers et al.), mention will be made. Might get tricky with hybrid-sets... but I suppose one could limit one to true HIP.

[david johnson]

Felix Weingartner/VPO was the first complete set ever recorded...I think.

[mc ukrneal]

It's been a couple years, but I've finally put the information I have collected into a preliminary shape of an alphabetical index (with links) of every (?) Beethoven Symphony Cycle ever recorded. (And some that aren't really cycles, but you'll pardon that. Tricky cut-off line and I'd rather be too inclusive than exclusive.)



A Survey of Beethoven Symphony Cycles: Alphabetical Index


Any and all help is much appreciated. Obviously many details are not included in this listing, but will in the final form -- such as soloists of the 9th, choirs, and to which extent some cycles are not complete or cobbled together or partially identical.

Doesn't matter much, but there is re-issue of some sort for the Bernstein DG coming out later this year.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Doesn't matter much, but there is re-issue of some sort for the Bernstein DG coming out later this year.

to the contrary! I'm always trying to keep up with the latest re-issues. May not matter much for the Alphabetical index -- but does for the more thorough survey I'm working on.

Meanwhile: ADDED both Masurs (which I forgot to copy over), added R.Fruhbeck de Burgos, Celibidache will be added soon... and a few others. Thanks again for every hint and help.

[kishnevi]

Re Klemperer
I have this
[asin]B005DCMVOI[/asin]
Which Membran stitched together from various performances, at least some of which are those included in the M&A set (1,2,6,8)--and on inspection the Fifth and Seventh are from the Philharmonia cycle.

[Jo498]

I would not call the Membran patchwork a "cycle". 5 and 7 are, as far as I see, not from the slightly later complete EMI cycle but 1955 (EMI studio) recordings. 3,4 and 9 are live from Cologne (1954 and '58, with the Cologne Radio Orchestra), the rest are live from Vienna 1960 (with the Philharmonia). I don't know if there was a complete cycle preserved from these Vienna concerts.

[Christo]

Good one. Amsterdam or Bruges? :-)

Haarlem! https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philharmonie_Haarlem 

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Good one. Amsterdam or Bruges? :-)

Haarlem! https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philharmonie_Haarlem 

I would not call the Membran patchwork a "cycle". 5 and 7 are, as far as I see, not from the slightly later complete EMI cycle but 1955 (EMI studio) recordings. 3,4 and 9 are live from Cologne (1954 and '58, with the Cologne Radio Orchestra), the rest are live from Vienna 1960 (with the Philharmonia). I don't know if there was a complete cycle preserved from these Vienna concerts.

Yes -- I think inclusion of legitimate cycles where there are such ones available (Klemperer's studio and Vienna cycles, in that case) makes it easy to ignore this one. (I also like to boycott that particular label, because of its shady business practices... but I suppose I wouldn't make that an overriding factor if they had to offer something that genuinely needed including.) That said, I have included many cycles where that's really stretching the meaning of the word. Especially historic releases on "Memories".

Meanwhile, I've added Celi and will add Keilberth soon; realized late that I've even had that cycle in my hand, briefly, before deciding against a purchase.



(For newcomers to this thread: This is what it's currently about)

It's been a couple years, but I've finally put the information I have collected into a preliminary shape of an alphabetical index (with links) of every (?) Beethoven Symphony Cycle ever recorded. (And some that aren't really cycles, but you'll pardon that. Tricky cut-off line and I'd rather be too inclusive than exclusive.)



A Survey of Beethoven Symphony Cycles: Alphabetical Index


Any and all help is much appreciated. Obviously many details are not included in this listing, but will in the final form -- such as soloists of the 9th, choirs, and to which extent some cycles are not complete or cobbled together or partially identical.

[ritter]

....
Meanwhile, I've added Celi and will add Keilberth soon; realized late that I've even had that cycle in my hand, briefly, before deciding against a purchase.

Good day, Jens. Thanks for the work in updating this (very useful) survey.

Justy one question: Is that Keilberth a complete set? I thought symphonies No. 4, 8 and 9 were missing...

Regards,

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Good day, Jens. Thanks for the work in updating this (very useful) survey.

Justy one question: Is that Keilberth a complete set? I thought symphonies No. 4, 8 and 9 were missing...

Regards,

Cheers! Keilberth is NOT complete: Symphony No. 9 is missing. (4 & 8 are part of it). It's split across three orchestras: Hamburg (4 Sys.), Bamberg (3 Sys. & Overtures), and Berlin Phil. (4th & Overtures).
When Telefunken originally released the set (you may be referring to that), they combined Keilberth's performances with those of Erich Kleiber to make it a complete set.
However, if one really wanted to, one could complete this with a Keilberth performance by adding his NHK SO Tokyo 9th. (King Records)

[ritter]

Cheers! Keilberth is NOT complete: Symphony No. 9 is missing. (4 & 8 are part of it). It's split across three orchestras: Hamburg (4 Sys.), Bamberg (3 Sys. & Overtures), and Berlin Phil. (4th & Overtures).
When Telefunken originally released the set (you may be referring to that), they combined Keilberth's performances with those of Erich Kleiber to make it a complete set.
However, if one really wanted to, one could complete this with a Keilberth performance by adding his NHK SO Tokyo 9th. (King Records)

Thanks! Very useful. 

This set is rather elusive. The Japanese releases are IIRC on the expensive side, and the cheap Ultima reissues are not that easy to find. I am keeping an eye on it...

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Thanks! Very useful. 

This set is rather elusive. The Japanese releases are IIRC on the expensive side, and the cheap Ultima reissues are not that easy to find. I am keeping an eye on it...

if you follow the link on the index (just fixed; or this one), you should get a fairly reasonably priced amazon listing. (~40,-, depending on which market you are in.)

[kishnevi]

I would not call the Membran patchwork a "cycle". 5 and 7 are, as far as I see, not from the slightly later complete EMI cycle but 1955 (EMI studio) recordings. 3,4 and 9 are live from Cologne (1954 and '58, with the Cologne Radio Orchestra), the rest are live from Vienna 1960 (with the Philharmonia). I don't know if there was a complete cycle preserved from these Vienna concerts.

The complete Vienna cycle was issued by Music & Arts in 2011. It is on Jens's list.  The current Klemperer Beethoven set on Warner includes both the 1955 and 1959 studio recordings.

[Jo498]

Right, so the Documents is basically "parasitic" on the Vienna M&A with some fillers from elsewhere (probably to make the piracy not too obvious...). The mid-50s EMI were not a cycle but 3,5,7 only, AFAIK.
I don't know if there is a complete cycle live from Cologne in the WDR archives.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

fixed some links (Mengelberg), added Matacic (!) & Celi.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Added Philippe Jordan. Started on the proper survey which will include a sortable table.

[Brian]

The new Adam Fischer/Danish Chamber Orchestra cycle on Naxos is f*%)@!in' WEIRD, man.

[Sergeant Rock]

The new Adam Fischer/Danish Chamber Orchestra cycle on Naxos is f*%)@!in' WEIRD, man.

Weird good...or weird bad?

Sarge