Collecting Beethoven

[MN Dave]

I know this is hard for some of you to fathom, but if someone wanted a balanced, satisfying collection of Beethoven without too many multiple recordings—no more than two or three of each work—and not including unessential works, what would you recommend as a solid collection of in-print recordings? Please include any tips on accumulating them.

I'm curious to see what you come up with.

Thank you.

[Don Isler]

Well, I think I'd get:

Piano Sonatas played by Schnabel and/or Hungerford,

Symphonies with Furtwaengler,

Violin Sonatas with Pamela and Claude Frank,

Piano Concerti with Fleisher, and

The complete String Quartets with the Amadeus Quartet.

I would think that most, or all of the above would be currently in print.

[ChamberNut]

Complete String Quartets - Quartetto Italiano

Complete Piano Trios - Beaux Arts Trio

Complete Symphonies - Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Complete Piano Sonatas - Daniel Baremboim

[Todd]

Piano Sonatas: Annie Fischer, Friedrich Gulda (Amadeo), Wilhelm Kempff (mono, DG)

String Quartets: Vegh (Valois); Budapest (mono, United Archives)

Symphonies: Abbado (w/ BPO); Toscanini (RCA)

Piano Concertos: Bronfman / Zinman (Arte Nova); Sherman / Neumann (Vanguard, may not be to all tastes)

Violin Sonatas: Francescatti / Casadesus (CBS/Sony); Haskil / Grumiaux (Philips or Brilliant Classics); Frank / Frank (Music Masters)

Cello Sonatas: Kempff / Fournier (DG); Schiff / Perenyi (ECM)

Piano Trios: Beaux Arts Trio (analog cycle if you can get it, otherwise digital)

Violin Concerto: Ferras / Karajan (DG)

Missa Solemnis: Klemperer (EMI); Schermerhorn (Naxos)

[Holden]

Symphonies - Cluytens or Szell

Piano Sonatas - Annie Fischer or Kempff or Barenboim

Violin Sonatas - Grumiaux/Haskil or Perlman/Ashkenazy

Cello Sonatas - Richter/Rostropovich

Piano Concertos - Perahia/Haitink or Rubinstein/Krips

Piano Variations - Brendel (VOX)

Overtures - Szell/Cleveland

Violin Concerto - Francescatti/Walter

String Quartets - Alban Berg or Italiano Qts

[Mark]

Piano Sonatas: Annie Fischer

Symphonies: Abbado (w/ BPO)

Piano Concertos: Bronfman / Zinman (Arte Nova); Sherman / Neumann (Vanguard)

Violin Sonatas: Haskil / Grumiaux (Philips or Brilliant Classics)

I'll happily go along with all of these, but will add that for the Symphonies, you might also want to consider one of the following:


Karajan - '63 or '77 cycles (both on DG)

Abbado - His DG cycle with the VPO from the mid-to-late '80s is a real contrast to his later BPO cycle


You might also want to at least hear:


Blomstedt/Staatskapelle Dresden - Fifth Symphony - Brilliant Classics

Davis (C)/Staatskapelle Dresden - 'Pastoral' Symphony (No. 6) - Philips

Masur/Gewandhaus Leipzig - 'Pastoral' Symphony (No. 6) - Philips, Pentatone or Brilliant Classics

Rattle/VPO - 'Choral Symphony (No. 9) - EMI

Herreweghe/Champs-Elysees Orchestra - 'Choral Symphony (No. 9) - Harmonia Mundi

[George]

Sonatas - Annie Fischer, Gulda (Brilliant), Gilels (DG)

Symphonies - HvK '63, Szell, Barenboim

SQ - Vegh (stereo), Italiano

Cello Sonatas - Richer/Rostropovich

Violin Sonatas -  Francescatti/Casadesus

Piano Concertos - Sherman/Nuemann, Serkin/Bernstein/Ormandy

[Mark]

Symphonies - Barenboim

Apologies, George, but ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[George]

Apologies, George, but ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[hornteacher]

My personal choices (all of which can be purchased as sets) -

Symphonies - Mackerras/Royal Liverpool

Piano Concertos - Bronfman

Piano Sonatas - O'Connor

Quartets - Tackas

Violin Concerto (1 CD) - Hahn

Overtures (1 CD) - Zinman

[BorisG]

Symphonies - 1977 Karajan (newest remastering)
Overtures - Szell
Piano Concertos - Ashkenazy/Solti
Violin Concerto - Mutter
Piano Sonatas - Gulda (Brilliant Classics)
String Quartets - Takacs
Piano Trios - Istomin/Rose/Stern
Violin Sonatas - Stern/Istomin
Cello Sonatas - Gastinel/Guy

[Mark]

Symphonies - Mackerras/Royal Liverpool

Forgot to give these the praise they deserve. Excellent cycle.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Symphonies: Kletzki or cobbled bits of Wand, Sawallisch, Tennstedt

Piano sonatas: Gilels or Goode

String quartets: Vegh (stereo) or cobbled bits of Vlach, Hollywood, Takacs, and Hagen

Cello sonatas: Rostropovich/Richter or Gastinel/Guy

Violin sonatas: Grumiaux/Haskil or Kremer/Argerich

Piano trios: Parnassus Trio or Beaux Arts

Piano concertos: Katchen/Gamba

Violin concerto: Suk/Boult or Kyung-Wha Chung/Tennstedt

Missa Solemnis: Jochum/Concertgebouw

Fidelio: Haitink or Mackerras

[Mark]

Piano sonatas: Goode

Violin sonatas: Kremer/Argerich

More superb choices, the Kremer Argerich in particular.

[alkan]

Sorry to hear about your drastic choice of taking a GMG sabbatical leave for 3 months.      I always enjoy your posts.     Does it have to be "all or nothing" ?   Why not go for something a little less drastic, so that you keep posting, but spend less time on it ?     

[Mark]

Sorry to hear about your drastic choice of taking a GMG sabbatical leave for 3 months.      I always enjoy your posts.     Does it have to be "all or nothing" ?   Why not go for something a little less drastic, so that you keep posting, but spend less time on it ?     

Why, thank you.

I'll still be popping back from time to time. And while I probably won't be posting much for a while, I'll certainly be checking in ... in case you f&*@@ers are saying something rotten about me.

[MN Dave]

This is more what I own than what I'd recommend:

Piano Sonatas: Schnabel; Arrau

String Quartets: Talich

Symphonies: Various, but if I went for a box right now it would be Wand

Piano Concertos: Fleisher/Szell

Cello Sonatas: Kempff / Fournier

Piano Trios: Ashkenazy, et al

Violin Concerto: Grumiaux

Missa Solemnis: Bernstein

[BorisG]

More superb choices, the Kremer Argerich in particular.

Their 4 & 5 are heavenly, but the set is a tough swallow.

[Bogey]

Ones that I would hate to be without, and please note the wind music....wonderful stuff:

Symphonies HvK/BPO (DG '63)

SQ's Végh String Quartet (Naive-Stereo)

Piano Sonatas Kempff (DG-Stereo) (Many prefer the mono)

Cello Sonatas Casals/Horszowski (Pearl)

Violin Sonatas Kremer/Argerich (DG)

Chamber Music for Winds Consortium Classicum (CPO)

Piano Trios Beaux Arts Trio (Philips)

Choral Fantasy Harnoncourt/COE (Warner Classics)-Just maybe my favorite Beethoven recording on the shelf.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

More superb choices, the Kremer Argerich in particular.

Thanks, Mark!