# Your favorite studio recordings of Beethoven's 9th...........................



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

As above please.
thank you


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

That varies. Currently, it's Szell's. Karajan from 1963 is up there also.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

My knowledge is very limited.

In the Vinyl Age, I think I used to have a Karajan/BPO. Then, when the changeover in 1990 occurred, I bought Norrington/London Classical Players. The shopkeeper was kind enough to warn me that it was considered controversial (I didn't understand why), but, being a Stockhausen fanatic at the time, controversial music was my forté. It is the only version I can claim to know. I have listened to it many times over the past 2+ decades and have read the booklet a number of times. On the basis of what I have heard and Norrington's analysis, I don't understand what the hullabaloo is all about: it sounds great and the rationale is sound. Recently, I bought Karajan/BPO/1963, but I haven't listened to it yet.


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2013)

I don't know which all of the ones I own are studio recordings, and which are live, but these are the ones I have and love:

Szell/Cleveland Orchestra
Gardiner/Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique
Fricsay/Berliner Philharmoniker
Furtwangler/Bayreuther Festspiele (pretty sure this is live)
von Karajan/Berliner Philharmoniker (60's recording)
Vanska/Minnesota Orchestra

These are all wonderful recordings. Vanska is my current favorite, but Fricsay is a very close second, and is paired with a wonderful recording of the Egmont Overture.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

It changes frequently...

A few of my "Studio" favorites:

Toscanini/NBC Symphony Orchestra
Fricsay/Berlin Philharmonic
Szell/Cleveland Orchestra
Kletzki/Czech Philharmonic
Bohm/Vienna Philharmonic
Wand/NDR Symphony Orchestra
Kubelik/Bavarian Radio Orchestra
Kempe/Munich Philharmonic


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Steinberg/Pittsburgh Symphony. A wonderful first movement illustrating every detail.
Schuricht/Paris Conservatoire orch.
Toscanini/NBC Orchestra.
Szell/Cleveland.
Stokowski/LSO. Fascinating.

My first two choices would have been ; Furtwaengler/Berlin Phil. Live, old orchestra hall, 1944.
Fritz Busch/Radio Denmark Orch.Live 1950.
But I won't mention either of them.


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## Bradius (Dec 11, 2012)

JEG's (download) & Toscani (vinyl).


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I strongly prefer live recordings so my input is limited but Rudolf Kempe & Münchner Philharmoniker is a great recording (as is the rest if the cycle).

* Edit: I completely forgot that Fricsay & Berlin Philharmoniker was a studio recording. I cannot believe I did that given it's use in a certain film...

This would be my first choice for a studio recording by a wide margin with Kempe admirably bringing in second place. If I remember rightly (I'm sure I'll be quickly corrected if wrong :lol Fricsay's is the first stereo recording of Beethoven's Ninth and to my ears the sound quality is superb - it does not betray it's age.

For what it is worth, my preferred Ninth is Furtwangler with either the VPO or BPO. I don't the details of the specific performances I have in mind but I mention it because I would say that Fricsay's Ninth is second only Furtwangler's live recordings.

One caveat - I have only heard Kempe and Fricsay's studio versions so please bear that in mind :tiphat:


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## ShropshireMoose (Sep 2, 2013)

NBC/Toscanini
VPO/Weingartner
Paris Conservatoire/Schuricht
Suisse Romande/Ansermet

I adore Beecham's live performance from the 1956 Edinburgh Festival. It was a revelation to me, as I wasn't really expecting all that much from Beecham in a work like this. Note to self: don't make any assumptions where music is concerned. 
Which reminds me of Jorge Bolet's adage: "The only absolute in music is that there are no absolutes."


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