You could argue all day about the “best” set of Beethoven symphonies. In my book they fall into two catagories. The BIG BAND and PERIOD INSTRUMENTS. BB versions are Karajan, Klemperer, Carl Bohm and quite few others in the 1950/60s era. I feel that’s old fashioned now.
I could listen to either. In this music there is no “right” version.
For PI try John Elloit Gardiner or Roger Norrington. Squeeky they may be to some but its probably more like the sound as it was in Beethoven’s day. I find these interpretations really refreshing in a newly poured gin and tonic way. Each to his own. For a combination of the two, Ricado Chailly/Dresden are a good choice.
The classic 5/7 are Carlos Klieber, always a near top of the tree choice.
On last Saturday’s Record Record BBC Radio 3 we heard a comparison of the best choice for the first symphony. Catch up. The review clearly states better than I can the pros and cons of interpetations.
You can go to the other extreme and get all nine symphonies on the piano, possibly for four hands. Can’t remember which. I could take some of the early symphonies on the piano but the ninth might just loose something. All 70 odd minutes. Liszt arrsnged them for piano from memory.
The next composer to arguably change in a radical way how symphonies were written was Gustav Mahler, who went from the romantic era (Tchaikovsky?) to the world of Schoenberg in 9 and a half symphonies. I might start a thread on Mahler Another person with endless musical possibilities of interpretation.
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