Beethoven: 9 Symphonies (1963)

THE classic recording of the nine Beethoven Symphonies - Karajan's 1960s effort - returns to the catalogue now on Eloquence at super-budget price. This set has already achieved Gold sales in Australia and the CDs will now be available not only as a boxed set but also separately.

By general consensus, Herbert von Karajan's first (1963) Beethoven cycle for Deutsche Grammophon is the best of the four (!) that he recorded. The Berlin Philharmonic was in top form, and they had not yet made an artistic fetish out of the bland smoothness that typified the conductor's later recordings of this music (and just about everything else). Karajan's squeaky clean, emotionally cool Beethoven will always be something of an acquired taste, but this set makes the best possible case for it. --David Hurwitz