The Symphonies: A Beethoven Journey

This set of 's nine by conductor took shape in an unusual way. There was no plan to record a set, but as his interpretations of the symphonies with the began to accumulate, listeners realized that something special was happening, and live performances over 13 years were remastered into a whole. Mastering engineer deserves credit for shaping diverse sound environments into a coherent entity, and there is very little audience noise other than well-deserved applause and cheers at the end. The real news is not the sound but the performances, which are extraordinary. was a violinist and frequent quartet player before he turned to conducting, and these are very much a chamber music player's interpretations, with any passage in which instruments answer each other given a crackling edge. He takes fast tempos in the outer movements, with which the 30 or so players of the keep up without fail; the slow movements are elegantly lyrical. Really, there are insights in nearly every movement -- the earlier symphonies respond wonderfully to the chamber treatment -- but sample the , whose programmatic elements are almost palpable. Certainly, there are some unorthodox things, one being the Mussorgskian bass of in the finale of the , but there is nothing that hasn't been carefully thought through. A marvelous set that seems likely to take its place among the greats. CD buyers and some online listeners get a discussion between and biographer that offers additional insights into the music. ~ James Manheim