René Leibowitz & Royal Philharmonic Orc... - Beethoven: The Complete 9 Symphonies

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$9.99 for all 9 Beethoven Symphonies - great value!! Very fine sounding recordings well played by the Royal Phil.

Great bargain! BTW, you have to be dead inside not to feel something when you listen to classical music.

The late René Leibowitz (1913-1972) was one of the great unknowns of twentieth century music. He was born in Warsaw, which was then under the unwelcome tutelage of the Russian Empire.. He gave up a reputedly unhappy career as a violin prodigy to study composition and take up the conductor's baton. He survived World War II as a member of the French underground. After the war he became a successful conductor, working in Great Britain and France. That he is so poorly known in the United States is a shame, as he was a conductor of enormous skill, analytical ability, and musical sensitivity. Actually, many more people know his recordings than might generally be thought, as they were part of a Reader's Digest series that was very popular in the 1960s. That by the way, is the approximate date of these recordings. While I would like to applaud Reader's Digest for re-issuing these recordings, I think it only fair to note that they have been very heavily re-engineered. The original recordings date to sometime between 1960 and 63. As you can imagine, there is a fair bit of hiss and the general noise level is very high. When recordings are cleaned up as much as these, we are forced to ask the question as to whether they remain in fact the original recordings. If we listen, for example, to the 3rd movement of the Seventh Symphony, the original recordings show markedly less of the singsong quality found here. So, for a final assessment: these are important recording of a major European conductor conducting the Beethoven symphonies. They certainly have been made more accessible by reengineering. There are not many people around these days who are willing to put up with the noise found in most recordings of the early 1960s–so for those who look for a clean “digital” sound, these recordings may be a bridge to the career of a great conductor. On the other hand, there are a good many recordings available of much more recent vintage where the heavy hand of a revisionist recording engineer is not so apparent. If you want to learn how Beethoven is played today by a great orchestra, consider the London Symphony Orchestra recordings under the baton of Haitink, or the more recent Staatskapelle Berlin with Daniel Barenboim conducting. There are many more fine recordings available–doubtless others will eventually post more here. Finally, consider simply going to the symphony–every major American city has one, and they'd be happy to sell you tickets.

I owned German pressings of this set which I bought from Reader's Digest 50 years ago while living in Germany. I lent them to a friend who did not return them to me when I got home to the United States. So I'm buying these downloads to replace that album. BUT I believe the Josef Krips - LSO set (originally mastered in 35mm on Everest) at the same price is an even more appealing first step into the world of Beethoven. For those who are new to this music I'll give the same advice as I did to a student of mine 40 years ago, "Listen to each movement 5 times before you make a judgement..." The value of classical music is not always ON the surface...it's frequently below the surface....

To all idiots who think that classical music is bad then your wrong I'm only 12 and love it as m&m once said"I was inspired by classical music to make my own works of art" so shut up unless you've heard it and if you don't like it then don't slander the art by saying insulting words just delete it.

The recording is not very good you can hear static in the back, I am so disappointed!!!

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