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This work frequently can be found filling up
sets of the complete piano concertos,
although there are recordings on a single CD.
A well respected set from a few years
back featured John Lill playing the
concertos under the baton of Sir Alexander Gibson.
This is a 3CD set from EMI at budget price 5757522.
In the mid price range we find another recording from EMI,
this time with the Emperor Concerto.
The performers are Barenboim and Klemperer
and the number is CDM 5673292.
At full price EMI again have Barenboim,
this time in a more recent performance
on CDC5555162 where the coupling is the
Triple Concerto. There is also a box set
of the five concertos played by Alfred Brendel on 4229372.
There is a Naxos recording which
attracted three stars in the
Penguin Guide on 8553478. The conductor is Bela Drahos.
This recording was also well regarded in one
of the French magazines.
My personal collection
has the legendary Bayreuth recording from 1951
with Furtwangler on CDM 5669012, a live performance
which rededicated the Bayreuth Festspielhaus after
the Second World War. Maybe not the greatest sound,
but a riveting performance and a great moment
in musical history. Karajan's 1977 recording
on DG 415 8322 has its own special magic in
the slow movement.
In recent years a new edition of the symphonies has appeared and this Jonathan Del Mar edition has been used for two major cycles. The cheaper alternative is the set by David Zinman, available either as a box (74321 654102) or singly (74321 654112).
The recent edition by Sir Simon Rattle with the Vienna Philharmonic has received some mixed reviews, but it is widely acknowledged that the 9th Symphony is one of the best things about the set and this is now available singly, though at premium price on 5575722.
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This concert was conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes, son of the Welsh Composer Arwel Hughes. Some years ago (1990) Owain Arwel Hughes recorded his father's great Oratorio Dewi Sant (Saint David) on the Chandos label. This work was written for three solo voices, choir and orchestra. The CD is currently out of production, but one hopes that it will reappear in time for the composer's centenary in 2009. I did hear about one performance of the Beethoven 9th given in Prague by a visiting British Orchestra. One assumes the concert to have been a great success: the final encore that night began at ten to eleven and was the last movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. |