Beethoven 9th Reiner played the other day by PBS (KUSC) in LA. Great 2nd movement, almost great 3rd movement, and interesting and good last. I missed the first movement. I remember this record when I was a teenager getting started in music and high end. Wow, what an orchestra and chorus. Not to say anything about Professor Reiner.
As to the Fifth, I grew up on Szell Cleveland (incredible playing with dry but acceptable sound) and Szell Amsterdam on Philips with Sibelius 2. The newer Telarcs with Dohnanyi are good solid performances but sound is opaque to my ears, even with my newer equipment. But I grew up on the Cleveland trumpet and horn sound, and I can't live without it. I agree that a good performance is 1963 Karajan BPO and the Solti 9th is in my late Dad's LP collection.
I don't know about more modern ones when I have heard and studied over 20 versions of each and live with those I like; few of these old ones can be bettered performance wise and often the remastered (London FFRR/RCA Red Seal/DGG with Gunter Hermanns/Philips/etc.) sound is surprisingly good.
from an old pro--happy listening
As to the Fifth, I grew up on Szell Cleveland (incredible playing with dry but acceptable sound) and Szell Amsterdam on Philips with Sibelius 2. The newer Telarcs with Dohnanyi are good solid performances but sound is opaque to my ears, even with my newer equipment. But I grew up on the Cleveland trumpet and horn sound, and I can't live without it. I agree that a good performance is 1963 Karajan BPO and the Solti 9th is in my late Dad's LP collection.
I don't know about more modern ones when I have heard and studied over 20 versions of each and live with those I like; few of these old ones can be bettered performance wise and often the remastered (London FFRR/RCA Red Seal/DGG with Gunter Hermanns/Philips/etc.) sound is surprisingly good.
from an old pro--happy listening