Rudolf Serkin Beethoven Piano Sonatas FLAC @432hz

https://odysee.com/@CiboVivo:3/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-1-6-12-Serkin-1960:2

https://odysee.com/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-13-16-21-Serkin-1960:761182428f756b3da10ba98485938f3ab657c5bf

https://odysee.com/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-30-31-32-Serkin-1960:0a19008b4ac4b606f75e7204873e33a518e93b48

Rudolf Serkin never managed to record a complete set of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas due to his (impossibly?) high standards, but what we have in this set, along with two or three additional cds, is one of the greatest collections of this great music ever recorded. The additional discs, all on Sony, are: “Three Favorite Sonatas” with the “Les Adieux” added, the “Hammerklavier” with the Fantasy op. 77, and the Diabelli Variations on French Sony, if you can find it.

Only Sviatoslav Richter can equal Serkin’s interpretations

RS’s performance of the 31st sonata is simply breathtaking–you owe it to yourself to hear it. Listen out for the triple pianissimo at the end of the Arietta. As I wrote somewhere else, prepare yourself to be dragged through three world wars, before you reach an unsettled conclusion. Seriously, though, this is the definitive version.

Most of Serkin’s recorded output was chamber music and concertos. Why so little solo work, particularly Beethoven sonatas? Now we know — he consistently, year after year, vetoed his own recordings. But praise be, after his father’s death Peter Serkin was given the final say regarding the issue of these 9 sonatas. I have all Serkin’s currently available recordings, and the only duplication is op110, and that is a puzzle to me, because this performance strikes me as far better (the recorded sound could have a lot to do with this) than the one he did pass for issue. Indeed it is one of the greatest and most perfect Beethoven sonata readings I have ever heard. Or I think so — he must have preferred the other one, so what am I missing?
The recordings date from 1960 (op110) to 1980 (op27#1). Over that period Serkin’s style of playing underwent a change. The peculiar electricity of his earlier style, the pent-up energy held just in check by the fierce intellectual discipline, the occasional thrilling whiff of danger in the air — all this is less marked in his later years. We know that he ‘shuddered’ at some of his earlier recordings. Thank goodness he just recorded them and left the shuddering for later. And there are compensations too. From start to finish in all these 9 works there is not a single fluff, let alone wrong note. The technique remained superb — the finales of op2#1 and op10#2 are notable. Serkin retained his evenness of touch into old age better than many (e.g. Horowitz), and seemed concerned with aspects of tone-colour that had not interested him when younger. The first movement of op27#1
is simply gorgeous. The tone-production reminded me oddly of one of the several styles of Richter — the Richter of Schubert’s smaller A major sonata and the Wanderer Fantasy. Op27#1 and op31#1 are two of the least played and least regarded of the Beethoven set. Forget all that: Serkin makes them as interesting as the Appassionata. The prophetic feel of Serkin’s Beethoven is everywhere here. He is consistently illuminating as nobody else is, to my mind.
Not everything is guaranteed to be to your taste. Is there possibly too much pedal in the opening vivace of op109? Again, in the Funeral March sonata he sounds a little severe compared with Michelangeli and — especially — Richter. Richter takes the variations at a variety of speeds and races through the finale. I just love his performance, but it’s worth remembering that Tovey discourages this way of handling the variations, and better scholars than I am may have insights into whether the moderate speeds favoured by Michelangeli and even more so Serkin in the finale are moderate for some special reason. And to think we almost lost this monumental op111!
The booklet suggests that there was an earlier version of the Waldstein. I would sell my soul to get hold of that, fine though this one is. One curious point — all his career Serkin (like Backhaus, Horowitz and Michelangeli) favoured the device of ‘left-hand down’. It is oddly absent from these 3 discs, and that is a particularly striking difference between this op110 and
the later one that he agreed to let out. I thought political correctness had killed the style off, but I am delighted to find it revived for the new generation by Zacharias.
Well, now we have the Missing Beethoven Sonatas. What else was he suppressing and how can we get hold of it?

Beethoven Symphonies 9 / 5 + Schoenberg A Survivor From Warsaw – Erich Leinsdorf / Placido Domingo / Boston Symphony Orchestra @432hz

Free listening in FLAC quality and Free Download in FLAC:
https://odysee.com/@CiboVivo:3/Schoenberg-Warsaw—Beethoven-9th-Symphony—BSO,-Leinsdorf-1969:b

Join telegram classical music friends group: https://t.me/classicalmusicfriends

Erich Leinsdorf’s stint as music director of the Boston Symphony lasted from 1962 through 1969; these recordings were made at the very end of his tenure and they are glorious. The performance of the Ninth Symphony is lean, beautifully articulated and powerful, rather in the manner of Toscanini, Szell or Reiner. But unlike other, to my ears rather impersonal sounding Leinsdorf/BSO Beethoven symphony recordings, here the conductor seems thoroughly engaged with the music. And undoubtedly that is the result of the brilliant theatrical stroke of preceding the performance of Beethoven’s paean to triumphant humanism with Schoenberg’s shattering little cantata about the Holocaust. Leinsdorf insisted that this juxtaposition, one he had devised for his final public appearance as BSO Music Director at Tanglewood, should also appear on his recording of the Beethoven symphony. And it is positively chilling how the Schoenberg seems to fade into the opening string tremolos of Beethoven’s so-familiar first movement. Once you experience Leinsdorf’s performance of these two masterpieces you will never hear either the same way again. (I especially recommend the experience to those for whom the Ninth has become perhaps too familiar.) An amazing, unique experience. Sound quality is superb, completely living up to BMG’s promotional hype about its 96/24 remastering process.

Like another reviewer noted, Leinsdorf’s reading of this seminal work is lean and propulsive. It is far from routine as so many cookie-cutter performances are like Previn  Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ~ Previn  or Dohnányi  Beethoven: Symphony No. 9  , or overly brittle like much of Szell’s Beethoven can be. I owned this newer release of the performance but ended-up selling it because I had absolutely no interest in the Schoenberg discmate. Instead, I purchased the Victrola reissue very inexpensively and in very acceptable sound  Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 “Choral” . No one investing in this recording should be disappointed. Highly recommended.

This recording of the towering Ninth is a revelation–not in spite of, but BECAUSE of Leinsdorf’s ability to get out of the way and let Beethoven be heard! I’m sick to death of having overzealous conductors drop anvils on my head to demonstrate the effects of their supposedly “inspired” deep thoughts on this work. If there’s a composer whose work doesn’t require the conductor to turn to the listener as if to say, “See? This part right here is significant!”, it’s Beethoven. Leinsdorf neither pushes nor drags; he may not be trying to provide the greatest “depth”, but he also isn’t boring us to death–a trend that started with Otto Klemperer, a well-documented manic depressive who made far too many recordings during his depressive periods and far too few during his manic periods. I like the way Leinsdorf varies the dynamics in the cantabile passages in the second movement, which helps it move, and the tympani are FOR ONCE not suppressed! He keeps the third movement moving (if there’s one thing I hate, it’s passing out and waking up to find the third movement is STILL going on like a bad day at work). And then there’s the finale, where Sherrill Milnes and Placido Domingo blend like chocolate and darker chocolate (which they would do for next two decades), both because of the sounds they make and their incredible skill at ensemble. Their dark tones and careful shading cover the passages where some awful, discordant sounds often emerge when the soprano is suddenly exposed or the principals are scaling in different directions–painful if you have a rather dry, sharp-toned tenor and a too-dark mezzo coupled with a wooly basso and a screechy soprano. This is a very well matched, blended, highly skilled ensemble of principal singers who for once don’t sound like they met up ten minutes before the recording–the best sung Ninth you’re likely to hear. I’ve heard too many versions where the singers are singing well but sound like they are on different planets.

I don’t know what another reviewer was getting at in saying Milnes is not a good enough vocal actor to put Schoenberg’s Warsaw piece over. It’s not an operatic role nor a standard accompanied narration, it’s a cantata-like sprechstimme (speech-singing) piece meant to dramatize terrible events that are actually depicted by the music. “Acting” it adds little value for a lot of effort, and whatever there is to be added that supposedly isn’t provided by Milnes is not something I’d search the catalog for to in the hope of acquiring a mythical better version of this short piece. It’s not like Sherrill Milnes was muttering to himself in this version!

The remastering has excellent sound and adds a little boom to what was already a well recorded and spacious LP issue; the previous CD issue was a bit more remote in sound and cut the Schoenberg.

This recording was made in April 1969 following the farewell concert of Erich Leinsdorf as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra with the same programme. For that ocasion Maestro Leinsdorf choose Beethoven’s 9th preceded with Schoenberg’s short but dramatic and intense work. This is a demonstration of Leinsdorf as a smart concert scheduler: both works speak on freedom and human rights, besides the great differences in motivation and inspiration. The results are terrible. Sherril Milnes as narrator in A Survivor form Warsaw frezees one’s blood, exposing al terror from the nazis invading the Jewish ghetto (it is told that Schoenberg heard the story from an actual survivor and composed the work on it). Leinsdorf’s Beethoven is a well paced, classic performance. You will not find here spectacular sounds, just an honest and exact performance with great sound form the Bostonians in a very german style. Timpani have a great presence and execution, also the chorus and the soloists. Besides, this is the first Ninth sung by Domingo, then an ascending star in the opera arena who had just signed an RCA contract. Recording is clear, wide and detailed.

The only recording in which the great tenor Domingo sings the ninth solo. Furthermore, “The Survival of Warsaw,” which I don’t have a chance to listen to easily, has also been made up for it. The combination of a tragic chorus song and a “song of delight” is valuable. It’s the essential ninth performance, but it’s the ninth standard in the analog stereo era for me, who is a favorite of Rheinsdorf and Boston Hibiki.

From the first movement to the third movement, Rheinsdorf’s skills as a symphony conductor are clearly understood. In the fourth movement with vocal music, “Oh, Rheinsdorf is a person from the opera.”It is stunning to be painstakingly.The choir is excellent, and the solo, especially the male voice, is amazing.It should be that, too, Sheryl Milns and Placid Domingo.

Revel, who likes Rheinsdorf, is already familiar with the decision-making of the various songs in the book of things.So, I will briefly introduce the “Rheinsdorf Board” that I caught, which is not hard to obtain and is easy to priced.

1. Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, which he wrote first.Both domestic and imported the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra are excellent.
2) Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, recorded with Richter at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
3. Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Perlman.
4. Hit at Puccini’s Turandot (
“Leinsdorf, Turandot”) at the Roman State Opera.(Björrink, Nilsson, and Tebaldi!).
5. Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius, who swung the Boston Symphony Orchestra in concert with Perlman (22 years old at Perlman).This is why only hits “Sibelius, Perlman”).

( Orchestra is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Lazare Bellman.

For 5, for some reason Sibelius has led a lack of propulsion, and this may be the reason why this is said to be “inevitable”.6 It is not without the tendency of “rare edition”, but its responsibility is due to the difference in the Auftact sense of Bellman (at the end of the same board there is a live in Carnegie Hall of Beethoven’s “Tragic Sonata”(but the audience’s puzzled applause is interesting), Rheinsdorf is just Rheinsdorf.

Arnold Schoenberg: Evolution from Tonality

Beethoven Symphony 4 André Cluytens, Berlin Philarmonic, 1958, HQ MP3, 432HZ

 

Eric Zuesse comment about Cluytens version of Beethoven Symphonies:

For decades, I considered this set, tied along with Konwitschny’s, to be one of the two best Beethoven 9 Symphonies sets ever recorded; but, as the decades passed, I found myself increasingly preferring this one even over the Konwitschny; and here is why:

First of all, I should make clear that both sets wear better with each successive hearing, and both are monumental and devoid of mannerisms, or of any pretenses or straining for effects. Furthermore, unlike either of the 1950’s & 1960’s Karajan sets (first with the Philharmonia, and then with the Berlin Phil.), both the Cluytens and the Konwitschny sets communicate the deep humanity and warmth of Beethoven, and aren’t at all steely cold. So, that’s a considerable advantage over Karajan’s style.

Ultimately, however, what makes this set the best are two things: First, that the conducting projects both the Germanic and the Belgian (Flemish or ‘Dutch’) cultural backgrounds of the composer (both of which cultures are strongly present in Beethoven’s music); and, second, that at the time when these recordings were made, the Berlin Philharmonic was the world’s greatest orchestra and had the ideal rich and resonant sound for performing Beethoven. By contrast, Konwitschny was strictly Germanic, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was merely a great German orchestra, not the ideal sound for Beethoven, which was the Berlin Philharmonic during the 1950s.

Cluytens in this set introduced himself to the world as an astounding Beethoven conductor, after a career which had previously focused upon French music. This Belgian conductor had unfortunately become typecast as French because he built his career in Paris, but then in the 1950’s he conducted several times at Bayreuth, and soon became recognized as a very great conductor of German music. EMI’s Walter Legge had discovered him (along with Karajan and Klemperer) right after WWII, and mistakenly categorized him as EMI’s French specialist, but after Cluytens’s recognition at Bayreuth, Legge rectified his error by commissioning Cluytens to do this complete Beethoven set. Unlike with Karajan and Klemperer, whose EMI/Angel sets were performed with Legge’s own Philharmonia Orchestra, Cluytens was granted to perform these symphonies with the world’s greatest orchestra at the time, the Berlin Philharmonic. This was before Karajan had had the opportunity to transform this orchestra (after being named in 1956 as the Berlin Phil.’s permanent conductor) into the sleek hard machine they subsequently became. Under Cluytens, they were still the orchestra of Artur Nikisch and Wilhelm Furtwangler, with a deep, resonant and somber tone, which was perfect for Beethoven. Cluytens brought out their fullest glory, before Karajan took over and transformed the orchestra into the cold hard steel machine they subsequently became.

The tone here is golden, but with deeply shaded hues, as if from the forests, with brilliant beams of light shining through — perfect for Beethoven.

Cluytens’s style is perfect for this orchestra, and for Beethoven’s music: Everything noble comes forth to the maximum, with a stunning naturalness and lack of strain. Unlike, for example, Furtwangler, who raced climaxes in order to excite the listener, Cluytens is breathing deeply and steadily in the climaxes just as in the quiet passages, always calm no matter how loudly he is playing. There is a hypnotic effect that is at least the equal of Karajan at his best.

One of the reviewers said that Cluytens was least good on the Ninth, but, to the exact contrary, that was the symphony which I first knew from this set, before the complete Cluytens set was even issued, and I immediately recognized this performance of the Ninth as being among the most noble, radiant, hypnotic, and glorious, in the entire catalog. This recording enabled me to recognize that Cluytens was, without a doubt, one of the greatest of all conductors, and so I eagerly looked forward to hearing his complete set. Another reviewer said that the great orchestral sound here reflected Karajan’s influence; but Karajan had actually just taken the orchestra over at the time, and the sound that you hear on this set reflects the Berlin Philharmonic before Karajan transformed it away from what it had been, which was the world’s greatest orchestra. This set does not reflect the Karajan sound. It is much better than that. Karajan was a very great conductor, but he preferred a hard, steely, sound, and that’s not what you’ll hear on this set, which reflects instead the pre-Karajan Berlin Philharmonic. What had been the world’s greatest orchestra didn’t remain that way under Karajan, who turned it into just another sleek machine. The Cluytens set reflects the Berlin Philharmonic at its pinnacle.

The more that I heard each of these performances, the more that I came to revere each one, and I ultimately concluded that no recorded studio performance of any of these symphonies is better than the performance in the present set. Not only is this set the best ever recorded, but on most of the symphonies, the performance is at least tied with the best ever recorded, and that’s a spectacular achievement.

The First Symphony is as good as Karajan’s Berlin recording of it, but even better in its warmth, which contrasts with Karajan’s coldness. Only Konwitschny matches Cluytens here.

The Second Symphony is as good as Swarowsky’s and as Konwitschny’s, and I prefer all three to Karajan’s two recordings of the work.

The Cluytens Beethoven Third, “Eroica,” is certainly among the greatest in the catalog, along with von Matacic and the Czech Phil., and perhaps even better than any of the other fine recordings of this work, by Karajan-Berlin, Swarowsky, and Konwitschny. Whereas most performances of the Eroica fall apart in the final movement, Cluytens’s interpretation does not; it just keeps the pulse going, strong and steady to the very end.

The Cluytens Fourth is at least the equal of the other great performances of the work, by Swarowsky, Konwitschny, and Karajan-Berlin.

The Cluytens Fifth is likewise on a par with the other great studio recordings of this masterpiece, along with Karajan’s 1946 Vienna Philharmonic recording (which is the most visceral), and Swarowsky’s South German Philharmonic recording (which is the most severe). Cluytens makes the music glow with warmth and deep humanity, nothing at all harsh, but still retaining full monumentality, perhaps the most Beethoven-like of all recordings. As opposed to the wildness of the Karajan-Vienna, or the severe and unwavering tension of the Swarowsky, we have here a grace and civility that don’t diminish this work’s power one bit. There is only one performance that’s probably better than any of these, and it’s the live one by Konwitschny on Weltblick, paired with an equally stunning live Beethoven Seventh. Those two Konwitschny performances are superior even to his superb studio recordings of those two symphonies that are in the complete Konwitschny/Beethoven Symphony set, and his live Beethoven Fifth is everything that anyone could hope for in a performance of this magnificent work. That Konwitchny Beethoven performance is the best ever recorded.

The Sixth, “Pastorale,” is also at least the equal of the other great recorded performances of this work, which are the four recordings of it by Swarowsky.

The Seventh has only one equal: Konwitschny’s live performance on Weltblick. However, others are close behind these two: Leinsdorf with the Rochester Philharmonic, Karajan with the Philharmonia, Konwitschny’s studio recording, and Giulini with the Chicago Sym.

The Eighth is one of the three best, along with Karajan’s 1948 Vienna Phil. recording, and Swarowsky’s.

There are perhaps a larger number of great recorded performances of the Beethoven Ninth than of any other work: Cluytens, Karajan (Vienna 1948), Swarowsky, Konwitschny, Neumann, Matacic, and Bohm (Vienna 1980), might each be considered the best, though each in different ways. I prefer the Cluytens overall, but barely, because it seems to me to have the best combination of monumentality, warmth, and a mystical trance.

Unfortunately, Cluytens got cancer and died at the age of 62, shortly after completing this set. If he had lived an additional twenty years, he would have come to be recognized as one of the greatest conductors who ever lived, and as the supreme master on Beethoven, for whose music he possessed a very special personal affinity. Oddly, French music, on which he had built his reputation, was far less suited to his temperament. His premature death was an immense loss for the musical world, and this set was the pinnacle of his entire career, easily the best complete Beethoven set, even better than Konwitschny’s.

Beethoven Op. 125 Symphony 9 “Choral” André Cluytens, Berlin Philarmonic, 1958, HQ MP3, 432HZ

Listen to: Beethoven  Op. 125 Symphony 9 “Choral”   André Cluytens, Berlin Philarmonic, 1958, HQ MP3, 432HZ (For download link and track list scroll down)

Eric Zuesse comment about Cluytens version of Beethoven Symphonies:

For decades, I considered this set, tied along with Konwitschny’s, to be one of the two best Beethoven 9 Symphonies sets ever recorded; but, as the decades passed, I found myself increasingly preferring this one even over the Konwitschny; and here is why:

First of all, I should make clear that both sets wear better with each successive hearing, and both are monumental and devoid of mannerisms, or of any pretenses or straining for effects. Furthermore, unlike either of the 1950’s & 1960’s Karajan sets (first with the Philharmonia, and then with the Berlin Phil.), both the Cluytens and the Konwitschny sets communicate the deep humanity and warmth of Beethoven, and aren’t at all steely cold. So, that’s a considerable advantage over Karajan’s style.

Ultimately, however, what makes this set the best are two things: First, that the conducting projects both the Germanic and the Belgian (Flemish or ‘Dutch’) cultural backgrounds of the composer (both of which cultures are strongly present in Beethoven’s music); and, second, that at the time when these recordings were made, the Berlin Philharmonic was the world’s greatest orchestra and had the ideal rich and resonant sound for performing Beethoven. By contrast, Konwitschny was strictly Germanic, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was merely a great German orchestra, not the ideal sound for Beethoven, which was the Berlin Philharmonic during the 1950s.

Cluytens in this set introduced himself to the world as an astounding Beethoven conductor, after a career which had previously focused upon French music. This Belgian conductor had unfortunately become typecast as French because he built his career in Paris, but then in the 1950’s he conducted several times at Bayreuth, and soon became recognized as a very great conductor of German music. EMI’s Walter Legge had discovered him (along with Karajan and Klemperer) right after WWII, and mistakenly categorized him as EMI’s French specialist, but after Cluytens’s recognition at Bayreuth, Legge rectified his error by commissioning Cluytens to do this complete Beethoven set. Unlike with Karajan and Klemperer, whose EMI/Angel sets were performed with Legge’s own Philharmonia Orchestra, Cluytens was granted to perform these symphonies with the world’s greatest orchestra at the time, the Berlin Philharmonic. This was before Karajan had had the opportunity to transform this orchestra (after being named in 1956 as the Berlin Phil.’s permanent conductor) into the sleek hard machine they subsequently became. Under Cluytens, they were still the orchestra of Artur Nikisch and Wilhelm Furtwangler, with a deep, resonant and somber tone, which was perfect for Beethoven. Cluytens brought out their fullest glory, before Karajan took over and transformed the orchestra into the cold hard steel machine they subsequently became.

The tone here is golden, but with deeply shaded hues, as if from the forests, with brilliant beams of light shining through — perfect for Beethoven.

Cluytens’s style is perfect for this orchestra, and for Beethoven’s music: Everything noble comes forth to the maximum, with a stunning naturalness and lack of strain. Unlike, for example, Furtwangler, who raced climaxes in order to excite the listener, Cluytens is breathing deeply and steadily in the climaxes just as in the quiet passages, always calm no matter how loudly he is playing. There is a hypnotic effect that is at least the equal of Karajan at his best.

One of the reviewers said that Cluytens was least good on the Ninth, but, to the exact contrary, that was the symphony which I first knew from this set, before the complete Cluytens set was even issued, and I immediately recognized this performance of the Ninth as being among the most noble, radiant, hypnotic, and glorious, in the entire catalog. This recording enabled me to recognize that Cluytens was, without a doubt, one of the greatest of all conductors, and so I eagerly looked forward to hearing his complete set. Another reviewer said that the great orchestral sound here reflected Karajan’s influence; but Karajan had actually just taken the orchestra over at the time, and the sound that you hear on this set reflects the Berlin Philharmonic before Karajan transformed it away from what it had been, which was the world’s greatest orchestra. This set does not reflect the Karajan sound. It is much better than that. Karajan was a very great conductor, but he preferred a hard, steely, sound, and that’s not what you’ll hear on this set, which reflects instead the pre-Karajan Berlin Philharmonic. What had been the world’s greatest orchestra didn’t remain that way under Karajan, who turned it into just another sleek machine. The Cluytens set reflects the Berlin Philharmonic at its pinnacle.

The more that I heard each of these performances, the more that I came to revere each one, and I ultimately concluded that no recorded studio performance of any of these symphonies is better than the performance in the present set. Not only is this set the best ever recorded, but on most of the symphonies, the performance is at least tied with the best ever recorded, and that’s a spectacular achievement.

The First Symphony is as good as Karajan’s Berlin recording of it, but even better in its warmth, which contrasts with Karajan’s coldness. Only Konwitschny matches Cluytens here.

The Second Symphony is as good as Swarowsky’s and as Konwitschny’s, and I prefer all three to Karajan’s two recordings of the work.

The Cluytens Beethoven Third, “Eroica,” is certainly among the greatest in the catalog, along with von Matacic and the Czech Phil., and perhaps even better than any of the other fine recordings of this work, by Karajan-Berlin, Swarowsky, and Konwitschny. Whereas most performances of the Eroica fall apart in the final movement, Cluytens’s interpretation does not; it just keeps the pulse going, strong and steady to the very end.

The Cluytens Fourth is at least the equal of the other great performances of the work, by Swarowsky, Konwitschny, and Karajan-Berlin.

The Cluytens Fifth is likewise on a par with the other great studio recordings of this masterpiece, along with Karajan’s 1946 Vienna Philharmonic recording (which is the most visceral), and Swarowsky’s South German Philharmonic recording (which is the most severe). Cluytens makes the music glow with warmth and deep humanity, nothing at all harsh, but still retaining full monumentality, perhaps the most Beethoven-like of all recordings. As opposed to the wildness of the Karajan-Vienna, or the severe and unwavering tension of the Swarowsky, we have here a grace and civility that don’t diminish this work’s power one bit. There is only one performance that’s probably better than any of these, and it’s the live one by Konwitschny on Weltblick, paired with an equally stunning live Beethoven Seventh. Those two Konwitschny performances are superior even to his superb studio recordings of those two symphonies that are in the complete Konwitschny/Beethoven Symphony set, and his live Beethoven Fifth is everything that anyone could hope for in a performance of this magnificent work. That Konwitchny Beethoven performance is the best ever recorded.

The Sixth, “Pastorale,” is also at least the equal of the other great recorded performances of this work, which are the four recordings of it by Swarowsky.

The Seventh has only one equal: Konwitschny’s live performance on Weltblick. However, others are close behind these two: Leinsdorf with the Rochester Philharmonic, Karajan with the Philharmonia, Konwitschny’s studio recording, and Giulini with the Chicago Sym.

The Eighth is one of the three best, along with Karajan’s 1948 Vienna Phil. recording, and Swarowsky’s.

There are perhaps a larger number of great recorded performances of the Beethoven Ninth than of any other work: Cluytens, Karajan (Vienna 1948), Swarowsky, Konwitschny, Neumann, Matacic, and Bohm (Vienna 1980), might each be considered the best, though each in different ways. I prefer the Cluytens overall, but barely, because it seems to me to have the best combination of monumentality, warmth, and a mystical trance.

Unfortunately, Cluytens got cancer and died at the age of 62, shortly after completing this set. If he had lived an additional twenty years, he would have come to be recognized as one of the greatest conductors who ever lived, and as the supreme master on Beethoven, for whose music he possessed a very special personal affinity. Oddly, French music, on which he had built his reputation, was far less suited to his temperament. His premature death was an immense loss for the musical world, and this set was the pinnacle of his entire career, easily the best complete Beethoven set, even better than Konwitschny’s.

Listen to: Beethoven  Op. 125 Symphony 9 “Choral”   André Cluytens, Berlin Philarmonic, 1958, HQ MP3, 432HZ

Download:

Track List:

01 – Symphonie Nr. 9 – I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso.mp3
02 – Symphonie Nr. 9 – II. Molto vivace. – Presto.mp3
03 – Symphonie Nr. 9 – III. Adagio molto e cantabile. – Andante moderato.mp3
04 – Symphonie Nr. 9 – IV. Finale. Hymne an die Freude.mp3