gayde (03/11/83)
Sorry to have taken so long to reply. There were only 4 responses to my query about favorite Beethoven symphony recordings. The recordings mentioned most often are: 1) Mono: Toscanini 2) Stereo: Karajan and Szell 3) Overall: A virtual tie among the above 3 conductors My own personal preferences include the following: Symphony Conductor/Orchestra -------- ------------------- 1,4,8 Many good performances, including: Bernstein/Vienna Phil. Karajan/Berlin Phil. Szell/Cleveland Orch. Jochum/London Symphony or Concertgebouw Orch. Toscanini/NBC Symphony 2 Haitink/London Phil. Bernstein/Vienna Phil. Karajan/Berlin Phil. Monteux/London Symphony Toscanini/NBC Symphony 3 Toscanini/NBC Symphony Haitink/London Phil. Giulini/Los Angeles Phil. (very different) Szell/Cleveland Orch. 5 Carlos Kleiber/Vienna Phil. Jochum/London Symphony Toscanini/NBC Symphony Szell/Cleveland Orch. 6 Haitink/London Phil. Karajan/Berlin Phil. 7 Casals/Marlboro Festival Orch. Toscanini/NBC Symphony " /New York Phil. 9 Karajan/Berlin Phil. Weingartner/Vienna Phil. Jochum/London Symphony Bernstein/Vienna Phil. Stokowski/London Symphony Furtwangler/Bayreuth Festival Orch. Szell/Cleveland Orch. Complete Set Karajan/Berlin Phil. Toscanini/NBC Symphony Szell/Cleveland Orch. Bernstein/Vienna Phil. Furtwangler/Various orchestras (mainly Berlin Phil.) Weingartner/Various orchestras (mainly Vienna Phil.) Sets to AVOID Bernstein/New York Phil. Ormandy/Philadelphia Orch. Ansermet/Suisse Romande Orch. These are all that come to mind now. I have heard most of these recordings and I own many of them. Some of these choices are based on reviews I have read. If anyone wants to discuss my choices or add his/her own preferences either mail to me or post to the net if it is of general interest. Peter Gayde Western Electric Naperville, IL ..!ihuxp!gayde ..!iwu1c!gayde