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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
165 of 174 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
At the special deal price of $1.99 (as the MP3 Deal of the Day on 12/30/08), this is a very good introduction to Beethoven's music for those who are not into classical music, or who aren't sure if they are or not, or who are curious and want to try something out. Go for it! It's all to the good.
However, if you have already decided you like classical music and are looking at this set as a quick collection builder, you might want to keep looking elsewhere. It is still a bargain, but a more questionable one, at the "standard" price of $7.99.
My main gripe is that this is a collection of "best of" excerpts -- almost no complete works, just individual movements and snippets cut and pasted together in a kind of hodgepodge. Maddening is that even when multiple movements are presented from the same work, they are not together, but scattered around separately in various places.
I am particularly puzzled by the 9th Symphony. This is the only one of the nine that is actually fully present, with all four movements included in the set. But they are not in order, scattered all around the place. For Pete's sake, why?
The performances themselves are good, sometimes even excellent. There are some world-class orchestras present. I was particularly surprised and pleased to find the "Grosse Füge" in a string symphony version with the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwangler. I would have bought that for $0.89 alone -- which supports the argument that the set is a great bargain.
The second and third movements of the Violin Concerto feature Christian Tetzlaff, a top-rate Swiss soloist, on violin, in an outstanding performance -- it's just a shame that the 1st movement, which is the real heart of the Violin Concerto, is not included. (The X5 Music Group eventually put this full performance of the Violin Concerto on its great set The 99 Most Essential Violin Masterpieces.
Some symphony excerpts are from a set from the mid-1990s with the London Symphony Orchestra under Josef Krips. These performances have maybe a little non-standard interpretations, but that's what makes them interesting.
The soloists in the sonatas and elsewhere are strong players but not "superstars". It is the strong playing we have since become used to in sets from X5's "99" collections.
If the $1.99 bargain price comes around again, this set is worthwhile without question. But there is a lot of bargain music out there, and listening to the movements these people have cut out -- going beyond the "greatest hits" mentality and listening to full works from start to end, so you can hear the complete vision and logic of the composer -- is one of the real joys of classical music. That being said, this set has great music and should satisfy those who only want "greatest hits".
However, if you have already decided you like classical music and are looking at this set as a quick collection builder, you might want to keep looking elsewhere. It is still a bargain, but a more questionable one, at the "standard" price of $7.99.
My main gripe is that this is a collection of "best of" excerpts -- almost no complete works, just individual movements and snippets cut and pasted together in a kind of hodgepodge. Maddening is that even when multiple movements are presented from the same work, they are not together, but scattered around separately in various places.
I am particularly puzzled by the 9th Symphony. This is the only one of the nine that is actually fully present, with all four movements included in the set. But they are not in order, scattered all around the place. For Pete's sake, why?
The performances themselves are good, sometimes even excellent. There are some world-class orchestras present. I was particularly surprised and pleased to find the "Grosse Füge" in a string symphony version with the Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwangler. I would have bought that for $0.89 alone -- which supports the argument that the set is a great bargain.
The second and third movements of the Violin Concerto feature Christian Tetzlaff, a top-rate Swiss soloist, on violin, in an outstanding performance -- it's just a shame that the 1st movement, which is the real heart of the Violin Concerto, is not included. (The X5 Music Group eventually put this full performance of the Violin Concerto on its great set The 99 Most Essential Violin Masterpieces.
Some symphony excerpts are from a set from the mid-1990s with the London Symphony Orchestra under Josef Krips. These performances have maybe a little non-standard interpretations, but that's what makes them interesting.
The soloists in the sonatas and elsewhere are strong players but not "superstars". It is the strong playing we have since become used to in sets from X5's "99" collections.
If the $1.99 bargain price comes around again, this set is worthwhile without question. But there is a lot of bargain music out there, and listening to the movements these people have cut out -- going beyond the "greatest hits" mentality and listening to full works from start to end, so you can hear the complete vision and logic of the composer -- is one of the real joys of classical music. That being said, this set has great music and should satisfy those who only want "greatest hits".
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download
Although I would tend to agree with others in writing that this collection is lacking in that it's only bits and pieces of Beethoven's music that we love, but it makes up for it in quantity and quality. Yes, we may not have entire symphonies, sonatas, or quartets, but we have many parts from great ones! Although I own most of this music in its complete form, it's worth buying this because I don't have digital copies of that music. Also there's some fabulous recordings here. Definitely worth 2 dollars.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
Plusses: Lots and lots of music, well more than 15 hours (!); excellent performances
Minuses: It's all disorganized. Most of the longer works are incomplete. The 9th Symphony (great performance by the London Symphony under Krips) is complete, but incomprehensibly the movements are all scattered about. (In iTunes, sort the album by song name -- that will put things in the right order again.)
But hey, for 15 hours of nice music, what's to complain about?
Minuses: It's all disorganized. Most of the longer works are incomplete. The 9th Symphony (great performance by the London Symphony under Krips) is complete, but incomprehensibly the movements are all scattered about. (In iTunes, sort the album by song name -- that will put things in the right order again.)
But hey, for 15 hours of nice music, what's to complain about?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great music!
No problem with downloading it, it does take a bit longer to download because of so many tracks, but just a couple of minutes if you have a fast connection. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jay Dog
arrangement
I wanted to here the Symphony No.9 on its entirety, i couldnt because they were all over the place. If you are making a selection of an entire Symphony put them together. Thanks
Published 9 months ago by Gtosch
LOUSY download service - great music
For the second time in two days the download of this product shut down on me. It's almost 1.5 gigs and it takes nearly an entire afternoon and evening to download - BUT THEN IT... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Peter Galamaga
Great
Perfect collection for the casual listener. Purchased through AmazonMP3 without any issues - much better than the Apple iTunes store.
Published 15 months ago by Reviewer
Five-star music with zero-star track arrangement
This album contains some of the most sublime, beautiful music ever written, all for a bargain price. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Agilityman
A Downloading Nightmare
This is an enormous file. My laptop timed out after the 26th selection. By the time I returned to check it my download time had expired. Read more
Published 16 months ago by fellwalker13
Amazing
I just downloaded this CD and I'm in love with it. I may be biased because I absolutely love Beethoven but I suppose that's why one would download 99 Most Essential Beethoven... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Christa
Download Failure
Hey! I tried to buy this for 5.00 but it wouldn't download. I had just bought and downloaded Mozart 99 so that's not the problem. Read more
Published on January 24, 2010 by L. Kaplan
You get what you pay for
Pro: That's a lot of Beethoven. A lot of clips from Beethoven, incomplete symphonies (it says "essential," you get the "essence".)
Con: It's not re-engineered. Read more
Con: It's not re-engineered. Read more
Published on July 30, 2009 by pen
Amazon download for MP3 has outdid themselves! This is the ultimate...
Thank you Amazon for this MP3 download! It is the ultimate Beethoven album ever. I'm surprised it has hidden from me this long. Read more
Published on July 15, 2009 by Sylvia Quinn
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