Best Beethoven's 9th recording?

Many excellent suggestions above (especially Solti). Also:

1963 Karajan on DG (sounds very good on vinyl, still one of the greats).

For modern recordings, Mackerras, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Classics for Pleasure. Great recording, excellent sound.

David

Furtwangler, 1943 or 1944 recording, music and arts. mono and dynamics are not great,but oh the music! Try Barenboim's movie soundtrack of "Taking Sides", a movie about the de-nazification of Furtwangler, he uses Furtwangler's score and markings with exact phrasing and tempos that Furtwangler used, the timing is within 5 seconds of Furtwangler's. Absolutely stunning recording! Highly recommended!

Thanks, all. I just ordered the Solti. Looking forward to it!

Will keep the other suggestions for the future as well.

NAS

Oops! Barenboim's(Furtwangler) is the 5th not the 9th.

If you like a faster paced ninth, like Toscanini, but you want better sound quality than any of Toscanini's recordings, I would recommend Rene Leibowitz version (available from Chesky).