Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (National Public Radio Milestones Of The Millennium)

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I am a high end audio salesman and I bring this recording to work every day. Highly recomended.

This has been my favorite recording of Beethoven's 9th! I love listening to it as I travel and love sharing it with others. Maybe I shared it too much as my recording is missing and I am buying another one just like it.

My Dad had Szell's performance of Beethoven's 9th on cassette which I listened to over and over again when I was in my mid teens. Then the cassette was misplaced (or used up) and I purchased some other recordings of the 9th. None of them impressed me nearly as much as Szell's. Then last year I found this CD (with great excitement) and it brings back all the memories. No other performance I have heard gives it the same power and intensity. The third movement is played so beautifully, and the fourth is an outstanding performance by the choir. And just like I when I was a teenager, I still enjoy turning the volume way up for the opening measures... ((( )))

This recording is very inspiring. A must for any Beethoven lover, Classical music lover, or anyone who has ears.

This 1961 performance of Beethoven's 9th is an audiophile's dream. It will put your high-end stereo system through its paces, creating new highs and bass lines that you never knew existed. Find that sweet spot in your listening room, relax, and be prepared to become totally absorbed in one of the most remarkable performances of this symphony ever recorded.

The Szell Beethoven cycle from the sixties seems to have alot of fans. The reviewers at Amazon are almost unanimous in their praise. It is not that good. Certainly Szell was a good conductor and his orchestra was very accomplished, but when it comes right down to it, everything is just too cerebral. The way in which they were recorded really is its undoing: too close microphone placement means you don't hear the sound of the hall enough and the players don't blend into a convincing image. This isn't just a minor problem. Szell's exacting style has already put Beethoven under a microscope and then the recording puts Szell under a microscope. That's at least a half microscope too many. Do buy the disk with the No. 3 and No. 8. Szell's Eroica is excellent and curiously almost thrives on the incisive recording and the 8 is good. But for the ninth symphony, lean and mean and taut and flat are not the adjectives you want. Karl Bohm's 70's recording with the VPO is a wonderful starting place. Blomsted/Dresden is wonderful, and for contrast consider Reiner with the Chigago Symphony. You will never miss the Szell.