Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Herbert Kegel, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra :: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral")

Budget Price, great performance, great value

King Lemuel | Puyallup, WA | 04/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have this cd as part of the Beethoven 9 symphony boxed set "The Platinum Collection." It is a DDD 24 bit recording. This is obviously a "budget" recording. The other budget set I have is the NAXOS symphonies and concertos. I prefer Kregel and the Dresden Phil over NAXOS but both sound fine and are enjoyable to listen to.



Since we are talking budget, it is easy to lower expectations and just listen to the damn music instead of comparing this version of the 9th to that version of the 9th, etc. My aim has always been to be a listener and a music lover over a nit picker critic. Having this music on in the background during the day while I putt around is very enjoyable! When I do this, I find myself stopping every so often and kicking back and just enjoying Beethoven!



This symphony runs 1 hour, 10 min, 34 seconds. This is a moderate to slow take. My Leibowitz Royal Philharmonic (spring 1961 on vinyl) runs a second or two over 61 minutes. The extra time makes for a more glorious, majestic, and beautifully played 9th verses the faster, more lively and powerfully performed 9th by Liebowitz. The choral 4th movement just sounds wonderful!



If you are looking for Beethoven on a Budget or just some great sounding tunes regardless of cost this cd just may be your ticket. I would first try to find the boxed set 9 symphonies. There is also a second 5 cd set that has the 5 piano concertos, the violin concerto and 2 Romanances for violin and Missa Solemnis.



Though this is a DDD 24 bit recording, I am hard pressed to hear any real sound advantage over my Karajan and Bohm Beethoven 9s CDs that are ADD. The one real advantage is the VU line volume levels on the Kregel 9th are much better than either Karajan or especially Bohm. I dumped the files from Bohm, Karajan, and Kregel into my WAV editor program. Kregel's are best, right up to the gun wall with the highest levels without distortion. Karajan's levels are about 1 db too low (roughly 8 percent) while Bohm's look like they could be bumped higher 2 to 3 db without distorting. My biggest niggly with classical music is the sound dropoff especially while in the car on a noisy street. The slow and low movements can become nearly impossible to hear. By having the line levels to the max without distortion, you will get far less sound dropoffs. Kregel compared to Bohm's ninth will sound 20 percent or more louder at the same volume setting on your car stereo."