eShop USA > Music > Beethoven - Symphony no. 9 'Choral' / Furtwängler, Schwarzkopf, Höngen, Hopf, Edelmann (Great Recordings of The Century)
Beethoven - Symphony no. 9 'Choral' / Furtwängler, Schwarzkopf, Höngen, Hopf, Edelmann (Great Recordings of The Century)
from: EMI Classics
List Price: $11.98Our Price: $7.97 You Save: $4.01 (33%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0724356695320
Format: Original recording remastered
Label: EMI Classics
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
MPN: 66953
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: EMI Classics
Release Date: January 12, 1999
Studio: EMI Classics
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Editorial Review:
No single performance will ever tell us everything we need to know about a masterpiece like the Beethoven Ninth, but this one comes close. The inspired intensity of everyone involved--at the postwar reopening of the Bayreuth Festival in 1951--comes across very vividly in this new transfer. Just hear the way Furtwángler evokes the atmosphere of chaos coalescing into order at the opening of the first movement and you can tell a superior musical and spiritual consciousness is at work. Except for the poor first horn, whose bloopers are the main detriment, the orchestra, soloists, and chorus (recorded clearly but at a heavenly distance) all hold up their parts extremely well. The solo singers are particularly convincing. This is a very special recording, recognized as a classic when it was first issued and still indispensable. --Leslie Gerber
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The EMI Beethoven 9 EMI recording I just received contains only the Beethoven 5
Now this Beethoven 5 recording is very nice. But the EMI packaging and the CD all say it's the Beethoven 9, which is what I ordered to practice the choral part for an upcoming concert. Our director recommended this recording because of the complimentary tempi. You might consider waiting a few weeks until they get this straightened out.this is May 11, 2008.
Rating:  - Forget the coughing this emotional reading is RAW!!!!
That's right...you will be treated to a few momentos of respiratory ailments in the crowd, and if you can look past the sometimes flat and muddled mono mix of the recording, and I highly recommend that you do, then this recording will knock you off of your feet. I am a child of modern acoustic flair, being quite fond of the capabilities of SACD recordings, and at first the mono mix left me a bit cold. But within a matter of minutes that all faded into utter inconsequence as I became possessed ... Read More
Rating: - A Moving Performance of Beethoven's 9th
This is an historically significant performance. The re-opening of the Bayreuther Festspiele in '51 was an occasion of great joy for music lovers in Germany, for whom the Festspiele was (and still is) a beloved annual event. My own grandmother was a regular attendee of that era, so having this recording is personally very meaningful to me. Certainly there is not a more appropriate piece of music for celebrations on a grand scale than Beethoven's 9th symphony. And that's exactly what this very ... Read More
Rating:  - A word of caution for newcomers
PLEASE NOTE: I am reviewing this recording as an *audiophile* and as someone immersed in *historically informed performance*. If either or both of these things puts you in a decidedly different aesthetic camp from mine, then *disregard* the rating I have given it. I do not mean to offend those who love this recording.
I will not argue with those who think this is "magnificent" or "passionate," but I think it is misleading, and even a disservice to people browsing for a recording of this ... Read More
Rating: - The 9th to Own!!
I would not hesitate in any way to recomend this incredible interpretation of Beethoven's final work to any listener or any musician. Aside from the wonderful job in remastering we have one of the more interesting accounts of this work ever done.
The opening movement has a very great sense of hushed intensity in the strings...and once the first thematic bits of material are introduced the whole performance never lets up. Sadly, there are some very bad horn moments throughout but what ... Read More
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