Beethoven Symphonies - best perf + sonics on CD

I recently acquired the Japanese SACD of HvK 1962 LvB No. 3, and was blown away by the recording, both SQ and performance.

Easily the best Eroica I have ever heard.

I greatly prefer most of LvB to be on a grand scale, spacious, exciting, raw, turbulent, full of sound and fury, yet signifying greatness. This takes large forces, and is why I eschew HIP.

SQ is also very important, so no matter how impassioned Furtwangler and Toscanini were, the sonics are almost unbearable, for the most part.

I find much of HvK to be overly polished and attempting to be profound, but winding up as little more than syrupy and grandiose. It's more about him than the music.

Bernstein can often be that way, but for me, his Mahler is unsurpassed.

The 1963 HvK Nos. 3 and 9 are excellent, and Kleiber's 5th is great. Not so much the 7th. And I enjoy Barenboim's spaciousness, but find that lacking in Vanska, despite the amazing SQ.

For the 9th, Fricsay is hard to beat, on all levels.

But as always, YMMV.

Hi Lloydelee. My understanding is HIP is historically informed performance, which more often than not uses instruments that the composer had access to rather than modern ones. It can also refer to score modifications based on recent scholarship.

And this approach uusually involves smaller forces than modern interpretations.

Hi Goofyfoot. Your point of familiarity is certain well-taken. But in the end, it is my response to any given performance that holds sway.

As an example, I recently acquired Enoch zu Guttenberg's Mozart Requiem. He uses much smaller forces than other conductors, e.g. HvK, Bernstein, Richter. The SQ is astounding, with great clarity and space around the singers and musicians, but in the end I wished his orchestra and chorus were larger.

It certainly seems that the Japanese remasters, especially sacds (e.g. HvK LvB 3), are superior to most others. After all, they have the largest per capita classical music audience of any country, and the technology as well.

Hi Goofyfoot. For Mahler, the DG remastering of Bernstein's cycle is superb. I have Boxes I and II, and not III, because the eighth is my least favorite and it is an older recording, and this version of the ninth is awful.

I purchased Lenny's ninth with the BPO separately, which is wonderful.