Customer Reviews

Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies [Box Set]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Josef Krips (1902-1974), Vienna born, was among the most eminent conductors of his time, especially praised as interpreter of Mozart and Schubert. Krips' manner in Mozart, so gracious and elegant, didn't prepare me for the way he conducts the Beethoven symphonies! A student of the conductor Felix Weingartner Krips presents these great works with blazing intensity and Herculean energy and dynamism. Tempi are consistently fast, even in the tremendous Funeral March of the Eroica (Symphony 3). Where Karajan (1960's) needs more than 17 mins. for this movement Krips takes under 13! But despite the fast speeds (which only reflect what Beethoven asks for) Krips is not insensitive (remember his Mozart).

These Beethoven deserve to be better known They remind us that the 'new' swift way with Beethoven is in fact not new at all. But there are other virtues to Krips' Beethoven. His pointing of detail, sense of a movement's structure, its climaxes and shape, give these performances substance and depth.

The LSO, of course, play well but the recording (from the late 1950's) is only serviceable, there is some harshness in the treble and the bass is boomy - the finale of the 9th is a dreadful recording failure (and the very first part of the first note is missing from Symphony 1). But the performances are recommendable as distinctive and thoroughly 'sound'.

Josef Krips was a great conductor, and these exciting performances confirm that. The sound (genuine stereo)is full (really TOO full) except for the high strings, which are thin and harsh (especially in Symphony #3). I think these were recorded in the late 1950's. I thought at first that Nimbus, which mastered the cd's, had boosted the highs, but I drug out my old Everest LP record of NOS 2 & 4 and found the same sound on the high strings.

The sound is improved if you fiddle with the tone controls, but it is not as good as a more modern recording. Still, this set is a good bargain for the performances alone.

I have quite a few lps conducted by Krips and have these symphonies in a great boxed set with a very nice booklet on the Everest label. Krips and the LSO from 1960 were very able.

Some reviews posted comment about the sound quality on these cds. I would argue strongly against anyone knocking analog from circa 1960 when it was done right! I have a cd on the Yedang Classics label of Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting the USSR RTV Symphony Orchestra- Sibelius Sym 7, Prokoviev Andante for String Orchestra, & Glazunov Scene's de Ballet that is a early 60s analog ported over to CD. This CD SOUNDS tremendous and for it to do so it needed a tremendous analog recording source to start with. This Beethoven 9 by Krips is only a couple of years earlier than Karajan's famous Beethoven 9 recorded in 62 that sound great.

I picked up Krips LSO cd set Christmas 2006 in a tin box at Fred Meyer's for $9.99. The big problem with these CDs is the db levels. They are way too low! I put these files into my wav editor program and compared them to Karajan and Bohm. Karajan is about 1 db too low, Bohm 2 dbs too low and Krips is 3 dbs too low. I have a batch process equilizer program and bumped the master db by 3 (25% increase).

Try listening to the 2nd movement funeral march while driving. The first 3rd and final 3rd have very low levels while the middle has higher levels. I got that woeful classical sound drop off niggly with these cds before I bumped the db levels. These disks have the worst db levels I have seen on a professional classical recording.

PS additional comments:

I just bumped the master db plus three with my computer software and this really helped! In the process I listened all the way thru a couple of times. While there may be no standouts (all time best recordings of individual symphonies) overall this is a great set, especially for $10. I enjoyed listening to every symphony! I especailly enjoyed the 5th and the 9th. The tempos are a little slower than Karajan and faster than Bohm's. The sound is often more majestic like Bohm rather than the dynamic Rene Leibowitz and the Royal Philharmomic (1961) or the recent Abbado BPO live DVDs. I especially enjoyed the wind and brass not being run out of town by the strings. Of all the Beethoven 9s I have heard, Rene Leibowitz has the most dynamic brass. The brass on these cds is almost as dynamic as Leibowitz. The French horns sound very sweet! You will hear the brass section!

I just bought this 5-CD box set in a local store. I disagree with some of the reviewers' comments on the sound quality of this recording.

Despite the fact that this was recorded in the early 1960s, the sound is in vivid stereo with very little hiss in the background.

I think this recording is valuable because this is Prof. Josef Krips's only recording of Beethoven's symphonies.

The only issue is the packaging; there is not a single paper in the box and no information of the recording. (Some websites stated this is a bootleg issue of the recording)

So this is not a boxset for serious collectors because of its low price and lack of information. But for fans of the great conductors, this is a good buy.

I think M.A.Scott must have let his dissatisfaction with the sound quality cloud his artistic judgement. The sound is quite tolerable and certainly better than anything we get in recordings by Pfitzner, Furtwangler or Weingartner - would he dismiss those out of hand? Setting aside the sound, I don't understand how he can be so dismissive of Krip's performances: to me they sound as though the conductor has taken his Viennese style and rethought it. These performances are very, very Viennese: witty, urbane, wise and unforced - they present the music, not the conductor. Mr Scott recommends four Karajan cycles. I have heard two, and attended several performances by him; they told me more about Karajan than they did about Beethoven.

There are many great artist-conductors who were overshadowed by others who were much less a musicain but received far more publicity, such is the music buisness. These great conductors have included Ferenc Fricsay, Carl Schuricht, Josef Krips, Paul Kletzki, to name just a few.

It's truly wonderful to see the Krips' set of Beethoven symphonies available on CD and at such a low price even though they are completely worth of a full priced set.

Krips generates truly spirited performances from LOS, the balance between winds and strings are absolutely perfect. His understanding of the score is complete so that every theme and motive is clearly presented and never overpowered by accompaniment figures which sometimes is very tempting. The choices of tempi are always the right ones which means the music has time to breath and all the intensity has room to be generated and released. And most important of all, there is such warmth and humanity in these and all of Krips's performances that the passion and love he had for music is evident and infectious.

Glorious recordings, don't hesitate to grab this set!!

If memory serves, Krips' late 1950s Everest recordings of the complete Beethoven symphonies were the first integral cycle recorded in stereo, followed shortly by stereo sets from Herbert von Karajan and Bruno Walter. (Andre Cluytens recorded the symphonies for EMI with the Berlin Philharmonic at about the same time, but his set didn't reach the States until the early 1970s.) In the early 1960s, Deutsche Grammophon used the von Karajan set to introduce the label to the American public by pricing the set at around $20 for the monophonic version and $25 for the stereo version-- bargains at the time. (Previously, DGG recordings were issued by MGM on inferior domestic pressings.) By then Belock Instrument Corp., the parent of Everest, was in financial and legal difficulty after having been found guilty of defrauding the government in its military contracts, and it was now easy to find Everests selling for $1.99 each. This is how I accumulated the Krips recordings, although it was also possible to buy the boxed set for around $15. (In a marketing oddity, Everest originally priced its records at $4.40 per disc retail, while the standard retail price for a stereo classical record in the 1950s and 1960s was $5.98.)

Everest started out as an audiophile label. This was no surprise since Belock specialized in designing and building undersea microphones used in submarines. Many of the Everest issues were recorded by Bert Whyte, who was considered one of the best recording engineers of the time. Everest was a pioneer in the use of 3-track 35mm magnetic tape, and the recordings were well-received by critics, although the interpretations and performances were less highly regarded. The London Symphony and the London Philharmonic were not particularly good orchestras at the time, and the conductors were second-rank, at least in terms of public recognition in the States. Although Everest eventually accumulated a fairly sizable catalogue, only the first 60 issues are true Everest recordings. As the label passed from owner to owner, Everest became a reissue label, occasionally issuing bootlegs and recordings of dubious origin on substandard pressings. Furtwangler's widow threatened suit over the Everest/Olympic Furtwangler set of the nine Beethoven symphonies, alleging among other transgressions that the second symphony was not conducted by her husband. I once owned a fair number of the latter Everests, including the suspect Furtwanglers, and can attest to their mediocrity.

All this is a prelude to my opinion of the Bescol set: it is horrid. I bought it in the early 1990s hoping to at last have Krips' Beethoven cycle on cd. And although the set can still be found selling for $10, it is no bargain. The culprit is over-use of No-Noise hiss reduction, which alternates dead silence in rests with hissy sound when the orchestra is playing. The curious result is that the music sounds severely distorted. Far better for Bescol to have left the hiss untouched, giving the ear a chance to adjust to it as background noise. The hiss, not so noticeable on the master tapes, is the result of the numerous repressings from the same masters after the original issues.

In the mid-1990s, Omega/Vanguard rescued and remastered the original Everest tapes and reissued much of the original Everest catalogue on cd. Restored to their sonic splendor, the Everest recordings were warmly received by the critics. The Beethoven symphonies were among the reissues, and although it appears the Everests are again out of print, if you are a fan of Krips' interpretations--the second and fourth symphonies in particular once received glowing reviews-- I would suggest tracking down the Omega/Everest set. The Bescol is acceptable on a cheap stereo or in an automobile, but for critical listening it is a travesty of the originals. I have no idea why the Bescol set is even still around.

Finally, for the last couple of years I've noticed the Krips set selling in a metal tin from Madacy for $9.99 at FYE, Wal-Mart and other retailers. Madacy is a Canadian reissue label of often marginal quality product, but if the source of the set is the remastered Krips, then it is, at last, a true bargain.

I can't believe this is still around. This set on the Bescol label is the poster child for what not to do when you release beautiful old recordings. It is terrible from beginning to end. Do yourself a favor and do not waste your money and time on the Bescol set.

The recordings themselves actually sounded very good when they were made, and they are wonderful performances. Look around and you can find these same recordings in much better presentations than this Bescol travesty.

Josef Krips once asserted that "Beethoven's symphonies demand a special insight, a particular level of maturity of their conductors" ; in the booklet of the original EVEREST issue of this recording someone added that a "similar special insight Beethoven demands not only of his conductors, but his listeners as well".

Some comment on what I read on this recording: as said, this set was originally issued in August 1960 as EVEREST SDBR3065-8, and recorder on a 35 mm three-track magnetic film, exactly as the universally acclaimed Mercury records. The cd transfers, re-mastered with 20-bit digital technology, were issued by Vanguard (on Everest lable) in 1994.

For anyone interested, this issue is still available in Japan.

I have not listened to the issue reviewed here below, and no doubt that some reviewer had their reasons to comment negatively on sound quality.

I can only assure that the original recordings and transfers are nothing less than excellent, remarkably good also in comparison to present standards.

The performance of Mr.Krips and the LPO is - in my opinion- outstanding, charming, eminently classical, discretely elegant and certainly one which stands comparisons with any of the ones usually taken as references (oddly, we always need references, as we couldn't evaluate anything simply for its own value....is that lack of insight?).

For those eventually interested in knowing the conductor's vision on Beethoven's symphonies, the program's notes on the original Everest issue were written by Mr.Krips himself.

It's sad to notice that one of the very best achievements of a truly great Maestro can be so heavily damaged by the poor job done by some record company .....how to cope?

More insight, maybe.....and few more bucks, it might be worth, after all.

Back in 1960 when this set was recorded, stereo was still a rather new technology. In the late 70's, digital recordings began making their appearance with somewhat superior sound. Some people only like their recordings made with digital technology. However, recordings made prior to digital still have pretty good sound, even those made in mono. This set does not have great sound, but it is more than adequate.

The performances, however, are simply magnificent. Maestro Krips was born to conduct Beethoven. Just listen to the 2nd movement of the Pastorale. The phrasing is absolutely perfect in my opinion. And the orchestra sounds so inspired, a true labor of love. The Pastorale is the best performance, the 2nd is the weakest. The 9th has incredible momentum and great soloists. And he does not take the repeats in the scherzo. That movement is already too long without the repeats. Another special movement is the finale of No. 4 where the London Symphony plays with incredible precision and fire.

Movement after movement, these performances are really satisfying and the music sounds fresh, even though I have lived with this music for close to 50 years. This set came out around the same time as the Bruno Walter, George Szell and Herbert Von Karajan sets. It really had to no chance in the marketplace. Now it has a very, very low price. Don't miss it, it could easily disappear.