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

This is a performance worthless except for the people who sympathize with a tragic conductor named Furtwängler. I wonder if it was really "joy" of the conductor, who had conducted Meistersinger in Bayreuth for Nazi during the war, to conduct the 9th in the concert that had been held in commemoration of the Bayreuth restart after the war. This is one of the distorted, misinterpreted and strangest 9th, even if I purely listen to it as music separating politics.

Furtwangler conducts a powerful, passionate, and--dare I say it--emotionally moving symphony here, and the occasion is definitely historically significant. But Furtwangler takes many liberties with Beethoven's work and produces something of his own.

The most glaring problem with Furtwangler's interpretation is the crash at the end. The end of Beethoven's 9th symphony, the very end, is a beautifully simple, happy conclusion with near child-like innocence that brought me to tears the first time I heard it. Furtwangler here steamrollers over that ending; it is replaced with three distinct clashes of every instrument in the orchestra.

The slow third movement reaches new heights of melodrama in Furtwangler's symphony. Beethoven wrote a third movement already filled with passion of longing, sadness [or whatever you interpret it to mean]. There was no need for Furtwangler to slowly enunciate it with more emotion, but that's what he does.

The scherzo (second movement) has unusual tempos in Furtwangler's interpretation. The first movement usually sounds like a struggle between joy and despair, but in Furtwangler's interpretation it seems he's trying to make it all sound joyful.

And who can blame him? It's 1951--who could contain their joy, much less Furtwangler, so soon after the war was over? He had to conduct this symphony (as I'm sure you've read by now) for an audience of Nazis in 1942, and that time his interpretation was at the other end of the spectrum--fire and brimstone, a violent appeal in the face of evil. That recording is called the best ever recorded of the 9th only by people who have heard the 9th symphony way too many times.

The sound quality is remarkable considering the time of the recording. Sure there are a few coughs audible but these are few and not obtrusive.

Furtwangler gives a moving and joyful performance of his 9th symphony, except for the terribly performed ending. But if you really want to hear Beethoven's 9th symphony, no less emotionally moving or illustrative of the triumph of joy over despair, look elsewhere. (Toscanini, Solti, Wand, Fricsay, Karajan...)

Yes the critics are right. This is the greatest recording of this towering musical masterpiece.

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.

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 by this transcendent reading of the ninth. There are a few flubs here and there and a few points during the third movement momentarily dispell the magic. BUT and I stress that explicitly...I have yet to hear a ninth with as much raw power and energy as this one. I've listened to some passages from more modern, polished versions of this symphony and despite their vastly superior sonics they completely pale in comparison to the visceral impact of this reading. You would be missing out on something quite special if you were to pass this one up in favor of better sonics. Trust me the mono makes no difference whatsoever...this reading is absolutely inspired.