# Ah, the Glorious Ninth!



## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

This afternoon, not a lot on the agenda, I retrieved my Beethoven's 9th Chorale. It's the contemporary 1996 recording by John Eliot Gardiner, for Angel/Archiv. Those who know this CD can attest that it's one of the liveliest and more brisk of the 9th (which I like), a beautiful recording, not just musically faithful but technically clean.

This worked out nicely via my Bose 901s and my 400w/ch digital amp. Crank 'em up.

What fun, making the paint peel from the living room walls!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'd love to have been there. :tiphat:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

One of my favorite classical works is the Ninth. I have 30 performances of it on CD. Of them all I like best the one conducted by Ferenc Fricsay in 1958.


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## DaDirkNL (Aug 26, 2013)

I like the Karajan '63 the most. Alongside I have Bernstein, Mackerras and Furtwangler. Oh, and I also have the recording you have with Gardiner.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Odd to think of 1996 as a contemporary recording, even for someone in extreme late early middle 50s like me. 

The best 9th I ever had was something live I taped off the radio many years ago, the performers long lost to memory. It wasn't quite balanced right so the soloists were a bit louder than they might be on a studio rendition. There is a segment with a descending "Alle Menschen, Alle Menschen, Alle Menschen." After its second appearance the four soloists ring out on an extended syllable. It seemed like they had conquered the universe. Just amazing. I've been looking for a version that comes close ever since.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

Explaining to my wife why I need 1,376 different recordings of the 9th is like my wife explaining why she needs a pair of shoes to match each recording.

BTW, I once read that the 9th stands up to even a bad performance. Whoever said this has never heard Simon Rattle butcher this beautiful symphony. If Beethoven were alive today he'd file a restraining order.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Though I am mot familiar with that recording, Beethoven's Ninth deserves nothing less than a run through at high volume though I doubt the neighbours would agree :lol:

I love Bose, it must have sounded fantastic. 

I usually make the windows rattle with Furtwangler, Fricsay or Tennstedt.

The only recordings of the Ninth I have heard and cannot enjoy are Klemperer's EMI (a touch to slow) and Celibidache (my God this is painful - what works in his Bruckner so well kills this piece for me).


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

I'm actually confused now. My Rattle recording was my first, off a compilation. I believe a complete symphonies CD i bought about 20 years ago. I no longer have the disc but my iTunes has tagged it as Rattle/LSO. To the best of my knowledge, Rattle has never recorded the 9th with LSO. Possibly Vienna then? Either way, the sound quality is poor and the entire recording sounds "loose". I currently prefer my Bernstein but I'm always searching for my definitive version.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I think I only have Szell at present, and it is passable but lacks passion. That's crazy! I too should have at least three or four versions.


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## Joris (Jan 13, 2013)

I know Haitink/LSO and Pletnev/RNO, pretty solid


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

Joris said:


> I know Haitink/LSO and Pletnev/RNO, pretty solid


I have a Krips/LSO. I find most LSO works to be amongst the most consistently good products. Rarely my favorite yet a safe bet.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

There is nothing like the ninth just like there is nothing like a dame!

I have Karajan 63 and 77 of which I find 77 marginally preferable as the slow movement is more intense.

Also two Klemperer - a massive build up to joy. Never has joy been so painful to achieve! But I like it.

Norrington is superficial.

Bernstein is , well, Bernstein.

Chaiily is fast and furious - I wish he'd take some relaxation exercises!

Cannot get on with the famed Furtwanglar Bayreuth performance, but he couldn't either!

Toscanini is marvellous but that wretched studio 8H has a lot to account for!

Just wondering how many more ninths I've got - must have some more somewhere! :lol:


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

DavidA said:


> There is nothing like the ninth just like there is nothing like a dame!


Funny you should quote Rodgers and Hammerstein because I always thought the 1st movement of Beethoven's 7th sounds like it's straight from one of their musicals. I can see it being played in the opening credits of a big R&H movie. Probably a western, with a covered wagon headed west.

And speaking of bad 9ths, Duvier (Slovak PO) takes the cake. I got in a compilation. If you haven't heard it, take comfort.


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## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

Most of us like the 9th, of course -- it's within, oh, the top 5-10 classical symphonic pieces ever.

When I was growing up and listening to old vinyls and then LPs, we got plenty of pre-War and post-War conductors who were, well, ponderous. I like a conductor to move the performance along, thank you.

And of course, with increasing technical quality in recordings, we've got some superb newer recordings where the sound imagery, the instrument balance, dynamics, etc. are nicely treated. Naturally, a poor orchestra or sloppy conductor won't be made better with precision dynamics -- it just sounds worse.

My Bose 901s (series twelve I think) are a treasure. As you know, Bose 901s had for many years the reputation of the finest classical reproduction (precise midrange, sharp highs, and solid but not stressed bass).

Many other great classical speakers nowdays... You care to tell us your speaker / amp setup for playing that immortal Ninth?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I don't recall any of my Ninths as being bad. But I rate them more on the vocals than anything else, partly because it is easier way to rate them and partly because the vocals are very important. Among the 30 I have my favorite is Fricsay (1958) but I also very much like by Lorin Maazel (1978), Blomstedt (1980), Kurt Masur (1974). Also among my more favored ninths are Stokowski (1934), Weingartner (1935), Munch (1958), Zinman (1994), Duvier (1990), Szell (1961), Monteaux (1962), Blomstedt (1985), Leppard (1994), Sanz Torre (2006), Abbado (1995). There are a few I own but have not really listened to yet.

The Monteaux edition is very nice in the 2 CD set because it includes a 25 minute rehearsal track for the Ninth, and the Fifth symphony. It is two discs:


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## TrevRockOne (Aug 28, 2011)

I've got something like 18 ninths or so. Generally Furtwängler ruins the recordings of all others in this symphony for me: the way he shapes the disparate elements of the finale in all of his recordings is unmatched in my experience, and his breakneck tempo in the coda just makes every other recording seem _lame_ by comparison - indeed, Furtwängler _owns_ the ninth's finale. The best of his recordings is the March 1942 BPO one. Whereas his later recordings can seem too flabby to me in the opening movement, the '42 is incisive and vehement in its phrasing. The reading is utterly apocalyptic.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I am afraid I don't have the Furtwängler Ninth, but have been told that it is the one I really need to hear. Someday I'll have to get it and compare it to my current favorite, Fricsay Ninth.


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## Lord Lance (Nov 4, 2013)

The Ninth is, yes, a rather common favorite. It is probably the most recorded big orchestra composition.

My favorite reading is Furtwangler.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Weston said:


> I think I only have Szell at present, and it is passable but lacks passion. That's crazy! I too should have at least three or four versions.


Szell is my favorite, actually. I don't think it lacks passion at all. And, it's the only version I've heard that doesn't make the four solo vocalists sound like they are swallowing their own throats.

Just got the Vanska disc but haven't listened to it yet.


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## Freddie von Rost (Dec 3, 2013)

TallPaul said:


> One of my favorite classical works is the Ninth. I have 30 performances of it on CD. Of them all I like best the one conducted by Ferenc Fricsay in 1958.


Agreed. Quite magnificent. Recently picked up the vinyl set, in near mint condition, for £2.99 from a charity shop.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

I actually like the hard to find last recording Eugen Jochum made of the Beethoven 9th with the LSO. With a young Kiri Te Kanawa. From a review by John Puccio:



> Jochum was an extraordinary musician; rather than slowing down and producing broader, more-spacious interpretations as he got older, a process we see in most other conductors and call "maturing," Jochum seemed to get more animated, more energetic, more vital and compelling in his performances the older he got. He was in his late seventies when he recorded this Ninth, but you would never guess it from the vitality of the music making.


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## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

There is an old version by Eugene Ormandy (Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral"
Eugene Ormandy, John Alexander, John Macurdy, Lili Chookasian, Lucine Amara, Mormon Tabernacle Choir & The Philadelphia Orchestra), recorded in 1966. It stirs my blood every time I listen it.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Freddie von Rost said:


> Agreed. Quite magnificent. Recently picked up the vinyl set, in near mint condition, for £2.99 from a charity shop.


My vinyl set was a cheapie, one disc and the third movement was split between the two sides. Purchased about 1980. I assume you have the two disc set.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I love this 10,000 voice choir. Great soloists too:


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## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

What an amazing performance!!!!!. It is 22:25 down here in Chile. I will not be able to sleep tonight after that.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Looks like my 30 Ninth collection is missing two good ones: Furtwangler and Ormandy. That must be rectified.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

TallPaul said:


> I love this 10,000 voice choir. Great soloists too:


You're not fooling me. There were at least 3 people not singing there and it showed. Seriously, I always enjoy this performance. The conductor is very animate.


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