If You Decided To Make The Nicest Collection With All The Works of Beethoven?

[Makis]

Hello,
i would like make one difficult quenstion (because is for me).
I decide to make a complete and the most nice is possible collection of Beethoven's works(and Vivaldi's, but lets  i stay only at Beethoven's).
So i started read, look forums, opinnions, amazon e.t.c.
With a fast look and after visits at various forums and pages about it, i see that opinnions change from people to people(is normal i think), but also that from the thousands performences which you can find(and make you lost your mind), just some of them are little good.
So here is my quenstion exactly: IF YOU DECIDED TO MAKE THE MOST NICER COLLECTION WITH ALL THE WORKS OF BEETHOVEN WHICH YOU WOULD CHOOSE?
Here is a list what i did, after what i read:
Symphonies
Or Abaddo,or Karajan
Piano concertos
Fleisher, or Murray-Perahia
Piano sonatas
Schnabel, or Gilels, or Pollini, or Arrau
String Quartets
Vegh's, or Talich's, or Takacs's
Violin Sonatas
Oistrakh-Oborin, or Anne Sophie Mutter
Violin Concertos
Francescatti
Cello and Piano Sonatas
Wispelwey-Lazic
Opera (Findelio)
Klemperer
It will be nice?I'm interesting for every opinnion, for people which love this music.
And something last:Did i missed some work at the collection? Or isn't right?
P.S. The string quartets i have them from the Wihan Quartet.I never see yet some recommendation about it, so i m wonder if is really nice same like Vegh's or the others what i wrote.
Same and the Symphonies 2, 3, 4 from Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Lovro Von Mataci (Supraphone).

[Sergeant Rock]

If I understand your question correctly, these would be my choices:

Symphonies: Szell/Cleveland

Piano concertos: Klemperer/Barenboim

Violin Concerto: Brueggen/Zehetmair

Piano Sonatas: Barenboim

String Quartets: Gewandhaus Quartet

Piano Trios: Beaux Arts

Violin Sonatas: Mutter/Orkis

Cello Sonatas: Rostropovich/Richter

Opera (Findelio): Klemperer

Missa Solemnis: Klemperer

[Makis]

Nice, i ll look rattings and comments for your recommendations. Thanks

[mc ukrneal]

THere are two ways to go about it: 1) Buy one set that has everthing (advantage: much cheaper and faster; disadvantage: may not be the performances you want for various pieces), or 2) Go about it the way you suggested.

The first way should be a serious consideration. There is a pretty good box on Brilliant that has pretty much everthing, with mostly good to excellent perfromances on the whole. Nesf has been working his way through the box and can provide more feedback, but there is a good review on Amazon that will give you a rundown.

As the second way, well: First, you are missing works (choral works like the Mass and Missa Solemnis, piano trios, Songs, and other works). Thus to truly get the 'complete Beethoven' will require more purhcases than you listed. Seond, It will be more expensive for sure. But, it can be fun looking and carefully deciding on each piece/disc if you enjoy that process. And third, most of your suggestions are fine too. I might choose something else, but for the most part you have pretty good to great choices. We can certainly provide our opinions, but many of these pieces already have threads (often long) dedicated to many of these pieces separately. Those threads should be a good place to check as well.

Some chocies might be (if separate):
Symphonies: Karajan ('63, he made multiple recordings)
Piano Concertos: Perahia/Haitink (very much like this one)
Violin Concertos: Schneiderman/Jochum
Piano Sonatas: Kempff (mono) (but there really are so many good versions - one of the Brendels, Barenboims, etc; your Gilels choice is excellent, just keep in mind it is not complete by a few (3?) sonatas)
Opera: Klemperer (though Bernstein is nice and the one on Naxos is good too)

[Sergeant Rock]

...your Gilels choice is excellent, just keep in mind it is not complete by a few (3?) sonatas)

Five missing:

1   op.2/1
9   op.14/1
22 op.54
24 op.78
32 op.111

It is an excellent cycle though, and should be in any serious Beethoven collection.

Sarge

[Makis]

Yes i know what you mean. Sure is the most cheaper and easy way to take a box set with everything. But i m not sure if change my mind after.i mean that will be cheaper, but are many works and still money. I think i ll colected piece by piece every work, and this it needs realy advances from people which know about it, and try listen some before buy them.
So what you ll choose? The box set, or the other way?

[mc ukrneal]

Yes i know what you mean. Sure is the most cheaper and easy way to take a box set with everything. But i m not sure if change my mind after.i mean that will be cheaper, but are many works and still money. I think i ll colected piece by piece every work, and this it needs realy advances from people which know about it, and try listen some before buy them.
So what you ll choose? The box set, or the other way?

While I prefer to savor each purchase and am not a big fan of boxes, I think the price difference is just too much here unless you won't enjoy the versions in the big box or have your heart set on the other way.

If budget is a prime factor - it (the big box) is EUR 49.99 at jpc. I think if you price all the others separately, you will be at least $200-300. The Gilels set, for example, is $40 for just that. And there are lots of pieces to buy. Here is an example just with your works (using Amazon, which may not always be the cheapest):

Abbado/Symphonies: $35.29
Perahia/Concertos: $14.37 (MP+shipping)
Sonatas/Gilels: $40.69 (MP+shipping)
Takasc/String: $33.69+$24.36+$21.97= ~80 (but you could go for Sarge's set, which is even more at Amazon)
Sonatas/Muller: $39.97 (MP + shipping)
Concerto/Francescatti: $6.87 (MP + shipping)
Cello/Wispelwey-Lazic: $17.78 (MP+ shipping)
Fidelio: $17.12

Add to this the Missa Solemnis, Mass, Lieder, Other Piano Works (Bagatelles, Variations, etc.), Cantatas, Creature of Prometheus, Overtures, Wellington's Victory, Trios, Triple Concerto, etc.). Well, this must be $400 or more, even if you choose a few cheaper versions. Compare that to ~$75 for the big box and that gives you $325 to supplement or buy new things. Not bad.

Which leads to a third way actually. Buy the box and supplement with the works you think you might like a different version or don't sound as good as you would like. This gives you completeness and let's you buy works once you are already familiar with them. Best of both worlds.

[Antoine Marchand]

Some period instruments won't hurt:

Symphonies: Hogwood/ Academy of Ancient Music

Piano concertos: Steven Lubin/ Hogwood/ Academy of Ancient Music

Piano sonatas: Paul Badura-Skoda or (modern piano) Annie Fischer

String Quartets: Quartetto Italiano or Alban Berg Quartet, preferently its live recording (no PI choice here)

Violin Sonatas: Jaap Schroeder/ Jos van Immersel or Terakado/ Vodenitcharov

Violin Concertos: Thomas Zehetmair/ Frans Brüggen / Orchestra of the 18th Century

Cello and Piano Sonatas: Anner Bylsma/ Malcolm Bilson or Bylsma/ Immerseel or (modern instruments) Zuill Bailey/ Simone Dinnerstein

[Shrunk]

One question:  How important is sound to you?  Several IMHO indispensible performances are in the "historical" category, so will not have modern sound quality.  OTOH, they will usually be available at budget price.  These would include Schnabel and Solomon (incomplete) in the piano sonatas, the Busch Quartet in the string quartets, Toscanini and Furtwangler in the symphonies, etc.

[DavidW]

Symphonies-- Harnoncourt, Barenboim, Blomstedt
Piano concertos-- Fleisher
Piano sonatas-- Kempff (doesn't matter if it's mono or stereo really it doesn't)
String Quartets-- Takacs, Gewandhaus, Vegh, Talich, Smetana for the lates

[Bulldog]

I don't have any list to offer, but I would like to mention the one Beethoven recording I turn to before all others.  It's the Op. 5 cello sonatas performed by Patrick Cohen and Christophe Coin on Harmonia Mundi.  It might well be out-of-print, but I urge folks to seek it out.

[Scion7]

For the symphonies - as far as a boxed set - I'd recommend Gardiner /  Orchestre Revolutionanaire Et Romantique  - a mouthful that has always somewhat bemused me, but they play very well.

For the violin concerto - Perlman / Giulini / Philharmonia Orchestra

For the triple concerto - Beaux Arts Trio / Haitink / London Philharmonic Orchestra

For the piano concertos - #5 - Brendel / Haitink / London Philharmonic Orchestra
                                    #4 - Pollini / Bohm / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
                                    #3 - Pollini / Bohm / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
                                    #1 & 2 - Lupu / Mehta / Israel Philharmonic

For the late string quartets - the Guarneri Quartet, their FIRST edition that was done for RCA 1969/1970 - not the later edition, which is inferior

For the middle and early string quartets - the Quartetto Italiano

For the late piano sonatas - I like the Pollini and Brendel editions on DG and Philips respectively, also the Horowitz set of the 'Moonlight,' 'Appassionata,' and 'Pathetique'

For Wellington's Victory - Ormandy / Philadelphia Orchestra

For a nice set of the various overtures - Bernstein / Vienna Philharmonic

For the Missa Solemnis - either Gardiner again or Ormandy / Philadelphia Orchestra / various singers

You probably can't find it - but if you can track down Quadrophonic Candide QCE 31111, you'll have a neat little collection of the Choral Fantasy, the Rondo in Bb, the Elegaic Song, and Calm Seas...

The violin sonatas I have are the Zukermann/Barenboim set that I like quite a bit.

The "Archduke" piano trio - the Beaux Arts Trio

for the rest of the piano trios, try to find a not-too-ancient fairly priced set

For the cello sonatas, Shafran/Ginzburg

For the Quintet in C, Zukermann with the Guarneri Quartet

Beethoven wrote much chamber music in his early and middle periods for winds that are enjoyable that DG collected together in a single set if you can find it - mostly by members of the Berlin Philharmonic

His string trios are solid - you can find them nicely priced via the Musical Heritage Society on disc

For the piano quartet - Emmanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, etc.

There's a lot of piano music outside of the sonatas, much from the late period, that is essential - Brendel recorded much of them.

Also, the piano trio in Eb (after the septett) - Beaux Arts Trio - great piece of music

No clear recommendation for Fidelio - opera is not my forte, so I'll defer that tip to others on here.

[Makis]

Mc Ukrneal what you said it listen realy the best way.To buy the set and then after what realy yo dont listen right buy some better version.The problem is if realy be dissapointment with the box set, if you listen after the works.Anyway is complicated, and i think if you realy believe that the box set that you recommened i ll go for it.

[Makis]

Mc Ukrneal what you said it listen realy the best way.To buy the set and then after what realy yo dont listen right buy some better version.The problem is if realy be dissapointment with the box set, if you listen after the works.Anyway is complicated, and i think if you realy believe that the box set that you recommened i ll go for it.

While I prefer to savor each purchase and am not a big fan of boxes, I think the price difference is just too much here unless you won't enjoy the versions in the big box or have your heart set on the other way.

If budget is a prime factor - it (the big box) is EUR 49.99 at jpc. I think if you price all the others separately, you will be at least $200-300. The Gilels set, for example, is $40 for just that. And there are lots of pieces to buy. Here is an example just with your works (using Amazon, which may not always be the cheapest):

Abbado/Symphonies: $35.29
Perahia/Concertos: $14.37 (MP+shipping)
Sonatas/Gilels: $40.69 (MP+shipping)
Takasc/String: $33.69+$24.36+$21.97= ~80 (but you could go for Sarge's set, which is even more at Amazon)
Sonatas/Muller: $39.97 (MP + shipping)
Concerto/Francescatti: $6.87 (MP + shipping)
Cello/Wispelwey-Lazic: $17.78 (MP+ shipping)
Fidelio: $17.12

Add to this the Missa Solemnis, Mass, Lieder, Other Piano Works (Bagatelles, Variations, etc.), Cantatas, Creature of Prometheus, Overtures, Wellington's Victory, Trios, Triple Concerto, etc.). Well, this must be $400 or more, even if you choose a few cheaper versions. Compare that to ~$75 for the big box and that gives you $325 to supplement or buy new things. Not bad.

Which leads to a third way actually. Buy the box and supplement with the works you think you might like a different version or don't sound as good as you would like. This gives you completeness and let's you buy works once you are already familiar with them. Best of both worlds.