Reddit reviews Beethoven: 9 Symphonies (1963)

I read your comment and thought: "there are lots of commercially unknown orchestras with great recordings....". Then I went to the amazon page for the Beethoven collection pictured: http://amzn.com/B00012QMDG

Listen to the opening of Beet 5. Yuck. I'm not trying to be an elitist or anything. It just really really sucks even compared to other cheap CDs. Shit, you can get the entire 1963 Karajan Beethoven cycle used for about $15 on amazon: http://amzn.com/B000001GBQ

If you like classical music as background music while you work or whatever, fine. But if you want to hear it the way it's meant to be heard, you can do much better for the same amount of money.

EDIT:
I'll be constructive and recommend a few cheap and great recordings (buying used off amazon, nothing more than $5). Others might be able to do better....

Mozart Symphonies 40, 41

Mozart Symphonies 32, 35, 39

Beethoven 5, 7

Bach cello suites

Bach Brandenburg 1-3

Sorry for replying so late. It's generally regarded that Karajan's earlier stereo recordings (late 50s-60s) are his best, with some exceptions. His Beethoven set from the 60s is often considered one of the greatest of all time. If you like Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Webern, Berg) then you might like this CD. Karajan's Mahler is generally regarded as excellent, any of it really; his Mahler 6th is what got me into the composer. If you like Tchaikovsky, in my opinion Karajan was authoritative in that music—here is a CD that I enjoy very much. Bruckner, again, take your pick. There's a live recording he made of Bruckner 8 that is well liked. Karajan made about 900 recordings so it's hard to even remember some of them, but mostly he excelled in the Romantic composers. I think he was underrated in Mozart. This CD has my favorite performance of Mozart's 40th, bar none. Hope this post was helpful.

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Honestly, it's worth it to listen to all of Beethoven's symphonies. Each one builds on the last. The first sounds like a schizophrenic Mozart and the last sounds like pure joy. I've had my hearing all my life and the Ninth still brings me to tears.

Remember, if you do listen to the Fifth, don't just listen to the first movement! A symphony is one complete piece of music, conceived and executed as a whole, but split into four movements; the Fifth is even more unified, since all four movements deal with the same primary theme. Listening to just the first movement of the Fifth is a cop-out, especially because the last movement kicks even more ass.

I find conductor Herbert von Karajan strays too widely from the music as written in general, but Beethoven scholars the world around swear by his 1963 recording. I personally, however, am a huge fan of the late conductor Georg Solti, and think his 1972 symphony cycle is awe-inspiring.