Beethoven: The Symphonies [Box set, Extra tracks, Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Gundula Janowitz (Artist), Waldemar Kmentt (Artist), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Herbert von Karajan (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Audio CD (November 25, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 6
• Format: Box set, Extra tracks, Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B0000C03AH
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,157 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: SACD
Artist: KARAJAN,HERBERT VON
Title: SYMPHONIES
Street Release Date: 11/25/2003
Domestic
Genre: CLASSICAL ARTISTS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Upgrade, August 21, 2004

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kakistocracy "kakistocracy" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Beethoven: The Symphonies (Audio CD)

To my knowledge this is the third appearance of Karajan's 1963 Beethoven cycle available domestically on digital disc. You can still buy the previous boxed set issues DG429036 and DG453701. The latter is Volume 1 of DG's Complete Beethoven Edition issued in 1997. The recordings in that set are Original Image Bit Processed and represent a considerable improvement in sound quality over the previous one. There is also boxed edition with paper sleeves available as an import, which I assume contains the same 1997 remasters.

I approached the purchase of this Hybrid SACD set with some trepidation because I couldn't find a pertinent review and because I had tried DG's SACD remastering of Karajan's 1977 performance of the 9th (in my opinion, the greatest on disc), but the sound was terrible. (If you want Karajan's 1977 9th, get the recent 2-CD reissue containing symphonies 5, 6 and 9--they are all great performances and excellent remasterings.)

Anyway, I am relieved to report that these new transfers are a major improvement in sound over the previous issues. On the (stereo) SACD layers, the bass is full and balanced in relation to the other registers, and there is considerably more instrumental color and solidity of tone as well as spatial differentiation within the orchestral fabric. There is still noticeable hiss, but it is overshadowed by the enhanced vibrancy of the sound. In effect, these SACD remasterings bring the sound quality up to nearly modern recording standards.

The CD layers sound much like the SACD layers, but with slightly less spatial differentiation and solidity. Even if you don't intend to play the discs on an SACD player, I still recommend purchasing this set over the other issues, unless your level of interest in the performances doesn't justify the additional expense.

In the future, I hope that DG will do as well remastering more of Karajan's great performances for SACD. In particular, I would like to have his 1976-1982 Bruckner cycle in this format.

46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb SACD cycle, but the CD layer is phenomenal also., August 28, 2004

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Alexander Leach (Shipley, West Yorkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beethoven: The Symphonies (Audio CD)

I've never fully heard these recordings in any previous incarnation, so can't comment on improvements in the CD layer (of the 3 CD issues, the middle one, in DG's Beethoven Edition is the only one with Original Image Bit-Processing).

I am not really a 'Kara-fan', certainly not in Beethoven although I do enjoy his digital Leonore III Overture - I feel Karajan is at his finest in Sibelius and Richard Strauss, particularly his 1960s DG recordings.

For this set I started with the Eroica and did compare the SACD (stereo only of course) with the first CD incarnation of the cycle (in the maroon box). The old CD sounded fine with a full rich bass, but there is a definite gain in clarity and detail with the SACD layer. Slightly less bass perhaps, but this sound is more vivid and realistic, and sounds phenomenal considering its 40+ year age.

As an interpretation this Eroica gains in distinction as it progresses: the lack of the exposition repeat in the first movement is a snag, but after an intense Funeral March the last two movement are very compelling with wonderful hunting horns in the Scherzo. In fact the playing throughout is pretty stellar. This one ranks alongside Kleiber, Scherchen, Klemperer and Rattle - as well as my own favourite, Abbado's VPO recording on DG.

I found the SACD of the first 2 symphonies to have very slightly inferior sound and the orchestral sound is slightly more robust in scale than we are used to on modern recordings (but never bloated or overblown), and Karajan's interpretation of the First Symphony is not as compelling as the others - the performance is fairly genial, and the finale is relaxed, without the crispness and hint of tension that, say, Wand or Rattle bring to it in their fine recordings.

With the Fourth, Karajan is really back on form: excellent playing, with a characteristically swift performance of the slow movement which otherwise can seem too long (Klemperer's on EMI seems to go on forever). Vivid detailed sound again - with the superb Eroica coupling this is perhaps the best CD to sample separately, especially with a playing time of over 80 minutes.

Karajan's Fifth is a phenomenally powerful performance: here as elsewhere throughout the set woodwind solos are very clear, belying the view that Karajan's recordings were string-dominated, at least at this point in his career. You hear more wind, brass and percussion here than in Carlos Kleiber's famous recording. The Andante is perfectly judged, and if Karajan can't quite inject the unique charge that Kleiber puts through the scherzo and finale, there are compensations: the impetus and weight of sound are thrilling here, with instrumental lines more clearly delineated.

Sadly, the Pastoral coupling is a write-off: devoid of charm and rather introverted, and there are far finer Sixths from Boehm, Klemperer and a host of others.

The Seventh and Eighth are predictably good (neither are favourite works of mine), but these are just a precursor to a wonderful Choral which ranks alongside the best I've heard. I never cared for Karajan's 1977 version which is perhaps the best regarded of his 5 recordings - but this early 1960s performance sounds superb to me: the quartet of soloists (particularly the men) are excellent and the chorus are well in the aural picture, in the modern style (if not quite as vivid as in Abbado's fine live CD on Sony). Fricsay's otherwise excellent 1958 version with the same orchestra is slightly flawed in this respect. Elsewhere the performance is very powerful with magnificent playing, with a wonderful sense of spiritual repose in the Adagio.

All in all a superb SACD cycle: the First is slightly less than compelling and you will need another Pastoral, but otherwise this is a wonderful set.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic Beethoven cycle--is the new SACD hybrid worth it?, February 6, 2006

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beethoven: The Symphonies (Audio CD)

DG has reissued their Karajan 1963 Beethoven cycle many times, and since it has been a front-runner for four decades, no doubt it will be updated any time a new technology appears. I have two versions, this new SACD hybrid, which I play through a regular two-channel system, and the "original image bit processing" that appeared in DG's complete Beethoven omnibus from the mid-Nineties, now available at mid-price. It was a decided improvement over the initial CD issue from the Eighties, still available as a budget box, which had nasty, edgy sonics.

The question is, how much improvement has SACD brought about? A lot if you have surround sound, of course. Through two-channel stereo I think there is noticeable improvment, too, in terms of a rounder, warmer orchestral tone--it's always good to eliminate as much digital glare as possible. I can't tell this new SACD hybrid from a modern recording, but the "original image" remastering was quite good in its own right. At Amazon the difference in price between the two boxes (new or used) is about 20%, so I would go with the SACD. Don't expect miracles, however; there is sitll a bit of glare in the upper ranges at loud volume, and the balance of the original tapes, which pushed brass and percussion to the rear, hasn't changed in two-channel.