Customer Reviews

Complete Beethoven Edition, Volumes 1 to 20

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Expensive? Yes, but worth more than its weight in gold. Here's your chance to own the ENTIRE Beethoven oeuvre with an eclectic and remarkeable range of recordings. Sure, some may argue that not all the finest artists are represented (impossible anyway) but what you get will last a lifetime and then some. You get it all, I mean ALL -- from obscure and rare Leiders to the complete Karajan cycle of symponies, from the first studio recording of the maestro to elegant secular vocal works, from two complete versions of his opera, fidelio to the gamut of concertos, sonatas & quartets -- you simply can not dry up this well of soul-enhancing music. 87 cds in all! (not 8) Beethoven was the greatest and this is the greatest compiliation of his works. Miss this and you miss an EVENT. A beautifully bound book and shelving unit plus a myriad of essays from musicologists is included. So if you ain't got the dough, you best save up and you'll have something substantial to pass on to your kids. In all honesty though, I got mine at a cheaper price direct from Germany. Look up Deutsche Grammaphon and see what they can do for you.

This is a superb collection! It contains first-class performances by first-class artists of the complete works of Beethoven. That's a tall order, but it's fulfilled. CD's appear to lend themselves to complete editions, such as this. There is also a complete Mozart and a complete J. S. Bach.

One may argue that some of the performances may not be the best performance of that particular work, but even conceding that (which I'm not necessarily prepared to do), there is no arguing with the consistently high quality throughout this vast, complete collection of Beethoven's compositions. Further, knowing that it's all here, well-packaged, well-organized, and that you have missed nothing, is quite a valuable consideration. You don't have to buy your fourth copy of the fifth symphony because it also contains the only available recording of something you are missing.

If one intends to build a significant music library, this is a major building block.

While I don't own this collection, I have access to it through a library. At 87 CDs, it's hard to know where to start. I started at the beginning, and have been enjoying it immensely. I started by going through the nine symphonies, all conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Now, I've heard many versions of the nine symphonies, and I've heard some pretty crappy renditions. This isn't one of them. This is a top-quality recording of Beethoven's greatest legacy.

I have to admit listening to the next few volumes somewhat absentmindedly, not giving serious attention to it until I got to the 32 piano sonatas, which are arguably the heart of the collection. As a pianist myself, I've chugged through plenty of these sonatas, and I've listened to dozens of versions of some of them. The only complete edition I've listened to is the Arthur Schnabel edition. I have to say that the Kempff edition is at least as good. This is his third recording of the Cycle (although the first, lost to time, wasn't complete), and he's a true master of these wonderful works.

One of the unexpected pleasures I've gotten from this set is getting to know the wonderful Deusche Grammerphone performers. This ISN'T just a collection of everything Beethoven wrote; it's a collection of great recordings from a great studio that I'm just learning to enjoy. I hope someday DG will put this collection on the internet, for everyone to enjoy.

This set is well worth the price. The set has consistently high quality and the information provided is very helpful. Highly recommend this investment in beautiful music for a lifetime.

Apprezzare la musica di Beethoven è notoriamente un grosso traguardo, che in genere arriva a valle di un percorso educativo-musicale fatto di scoperte ed ascolti di autori un po' più 'immediati'.

Ma quando si arriva a comprendere -anche solo in parte- la grandezza del titano di Bonn, si è tentati di considerarlo insuperabile, non riuscendo infatti a provare sensazioni paragonabili quando si ascolta la musica di altri compositori, appartenenti alla stessa epoca -ma anche precedente o successiva- a quella in cui il nostro è vissuto, soprattutto per alcune tipologie particolari di composizioni (come per esempio le sinfonie, le sonate per pianoforte ed altro).

Ciò premesso, nella presente edizione la Deutsche Grammophon non solo ha messo insieme le incisioni di (quasi) tutto il catalogo delle opere beethoveniane ma ha anche selezionato le più belle, tra quelle esistenti, sia dal punto di vista artistico che tecnico.

Ogni cofanetto dell'edizione è accompagnato da un booklet con dettagliate esegesi anche in italiano.

Se siete dei collezionisti (oltre che appassionati) quest'opera non dovrà mancare nella vostra discoteca: ovviamente, vi consiglio di comprarla un po' alla volta, per singolo cofanetto. In questo modo, seppur con un po' di pazienza, riuscirete a procurarvela tutta spendendo al massimo un migliaio d'euro circa.

Per completare il catalogo delle (poche) opere mancanti nella presente 'integrale', vi consiglio di acquistare le relative incisioni delle etichette 'Inedita CD' e 'Monument Records'.