For example, the Zurich String Trio ranges from mousy (Op. Other chamber works both hit and miss, performance-wise. Should you prefer Beethoven piano trios on the flexible, roomy side, the Borodin Trio’s 1984 Chandos cycle will suit your metabolism. Similarly, why the clean yet faceless Szeryng/Haitink Violin Concerto instead of the more involved Grumiaux/Galleria? Yet collectors who searched far and wide for Heinrich Schiff’s 1998 Cello Sonatas now can bask in this great artist’s extraordinary finesse and musical intelligence. Was a Philips Missa solemnis a must? If so, I would have recommended Jochum’s heartfelt, robustly engineered version over the later and cooler Colin Davis traversal here. The Guarneri’s 1987-92 Beethoven quartet cycle always impressed me for its vitality, sharply honed linear interplay, and warm engineering. Not only do the classic mono Grumiaux/Haskil Violin Sonata encounters from Philips still sonically hold their own, but they also tower above each of that label’s subsequent stereo versions. 1, 2, 4, and 8 particularly attract attention. 3, 5, 7, and 9) yet never less than solid 1974 Masur/Leipzig symphonies cycle, where Nos. You can do worse than the sometimes underplayed (Nos. 77) features lean-toned, gutsy playing from one Georg Friedrich Schenck. Alfred Brendel’s early Vox Diabelli Variations is musically and sonically inferior to his more mature Philips remakes, while an entire disc of keyboard miscellany (including the rabble-rousing G minor Fantasia Op. Friedrich Gulda’s thrilling, sometimes iconoclastic late-1960s Piano Sonata cycle appears alongside the pianist’s less consistent though never uninteresting collaborations with Horst Stein and the Vienna Philharmonic in the five piano concertos. A substantial portion of the material derives from the Universal Classics family of labels. The label has cast its licensing tentacles far and wide, embracing famous names and unknowns alike while filling repertoire gaps with new recordings made especially for this project. Enter Brilliant Classics, whose complete Beethoven box weighs in at 85 discs with room to spare (European dealers sell an alternate edition that includes 15 extra discs laden with historic Beethoven performances). Not to be outdone, Cascade offered Beethoven’s integral works on 87 discs. Early in the year EMI brought out a 50-disc Collectors Edition, trumped by Sony BMG’s promise of a 60-disc “Masterworks” collection. Although 2007 marks no milestone birthdate or deathdate on Beethoven’s timeline, that hasn’t stopped record companies from hauling out super-budget boxed sets devoted to the composer.
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