"Best" Beethoven 9 Symphonies Recording, Digital


Howdy,
I'm hoping to zero in on the combination "best" of sound/recording quality and, of course, performance.
I did a search here on Agon and the last posting was in 2003, so perhaps there's a new pressing, mastering or even performance. 
I've been a prog-rock, blues, grateful dead type of guy most of my life but have recently started appreciating the symphonic/classical genre. These guys, ie. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi etc, were really something else, that two to three hundred years after their compositions, so many of the works are still so powerful. Remarkable.
I do most if not all my non-classical listening on a ARC Ref series tube amp set-up, with a Basis 2800 tt and Raidho C1.1s, but for classical I've gone digital with headphones. The truly awesome Stax Sr-009 electrostat headphones through a Blue Hawaii headphone tube amp running through a Schiit multibit dac, all I can say is wow. So seeking out the best recordings, because what else is there to do :)
Thanks!
128x128moryoga

Showing 1 response by tdimler

Like everything else, peoples taste in Beethoven varies wildly, but I can heartily recommend John Eliot Gardiner's Beethoven.  The classical music show on NPR called Performance Today broadcasted a live performance of Gardiner conducting Beethoven 5 some years ago ...........it was the first orchestral performance of Beethoven that really grabbed me.  I've tried many other interpretations but always go back to Gardiner.

SQ on these recordings is quite good too.....

https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Symphonies-Ludwig-van/dp/B003DEIZBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473...