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Beethoven: Symphonies 1-9

Box Set

Beethoven (Composer), Paul Kletzki (Conductor), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) Format: Audio CD
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars (83)
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Audio CD, Box set, 18 April 2011
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Track Listings

Disc: 1

1 Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
2 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36

Disc: 2

1 Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica', in E Flat Major, Op. 55
2 Egmont Overture, Op. 84

Disc: 3

1 Symphony No. 4 in B Flat Major, Op. 60
2 Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67

Disc: 4

1 Symphony No. 6, 'Pastoral', in F Major, Op. 68
2 Coriolan Overture, Op. 62

Disc: 5

1 Symphony No. 7 in a Major, Op. 92
2 Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93

Disc: 6

1 Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 'Choral', Op. 125

Product description

Beethovens symphonies are among the cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire. They bear witness to the composers remarkable journey from airy Classicism to the peerless idiom he had developed on the threshold of the Romantic epoch. Those who have taken up the challenge to record the complete cycle include the Polish-born conductor Paul Kletzki, who gained great renown after the war, primarily in America. He was the principal conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for a year and after his debut in Philadelphia went on to conduct the leading American and European orchestras. This remarkable complete recording of Beethovens symphonies was made during Kletzkis performances with the Czech Philharmonic in 1967, during the orchestras golden age under the chief conductor Karel Anerl. This gem of the Supraphon archives thoroughly deserves the current re-edition in remastered form owing to its freshness and expressive depth. Beethoven as explored by Kletzki a legendary, time-honoured recording.

Product details

  • Is discontinued by manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.49 x 13.41 x 1.7 cm; 193.91 g
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Supraphon Records
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ WA-15716101
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Supraphon Records
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004NWHVSA
  • Country of origin ‏ : ‎ USA
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 6
  • Customer reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 83 ratings

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4.8 out of 5 stars
83 global ratings

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • ab
    5.0 out of 5 stars As good as everyone says it is
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 December 2021
    Verified Purchase
    It has been a while since I felt so moved by a recording that I wanted to review it. In a nutshell this is the best complete set of the Beethoven Symphonies I have ever heard (And I have heard very many). The Czech Philharmonic of yesteryear was renowned, not just as a superb ensemble, but also one with a distinctive timbre, especially in its woodwinds and strings. That timbre is very much to the fore here. Lower strings are grainy and dark, upper stings fleet, with lighter vibrato than has often been the case in this kind of "big-band" Beethoven, and winds are bright and characterful, with more vibrato, especially in many delicious horn passages, than has become the norm. The result is a clarity of texture, and punchiness of attack that simply leaves most rivals in the shade. It is a cliche to say that in any particular recording you can hear things you haven't heard before, but in the case of this set, it is completely true: in fact this set often reveals, as no other I have heard ever has, the complexity of the moving parts deep in Beethoven's textures, and his entirely novel, for the time, approach to orchestration. All of this would count for little if the performances themselves were not uniformly excellent, but they are. Kletzki's renditions are sharply focused, animated, punchy yet lyrical. Highlights abound, but the beautifully flowing adagio, and the exultant singing, in the Choral Symphony are to treasure. BUT there are no weak points anywhere. None. Perhaps, though, the most surprising thing of all, given the source and the dates, is the sheer quality of the recorded sound, rounded, atmospheric and beautifully balanced, which enables all of the fine qualities of these performances to be heard in such convincing fashion. The price tag appears high but, if you love this music, don't hesitate and snap this box up.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Paul Capell
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Magnificent Cycle
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 June 2014
    Verified Purchase
    These recordings are a revelation and I do not know why they are not better known . In fact they are hardly known at all.
    The sound has lots of presence and depth. The bass lines are unusually clear and the timps are well recorded.
    All departments of the orchestra are well recorded, so, the woodwinds burble away happily and there is much detail in the brass.
    Kletzki's interpretations are wonderful and there are countless examples of his bringing out nuance and detail.
    Each symphony is excellent.
    The first two are full of wit and verve. Number two has such drive.
    The 'Eroica' is superb, with a magnificent first movement. The opening two chords are stunning. Kletzki must have spent hours on them in rehearsal. The coda to the Finale for once is not a garbled scramble to the end..
    The Fourth has a lovely performance.
    The fifth, like the third is magnificent. It may start a bit low key but Kletzki soon knocks you out of your seat. It reminds me of the famous 1956 mono recording by Klemperer.
    In the 'Pastoral' there is much to enjoy and I think that the last movement is particularly successful. The end of the storm slides away more gradually than usual in to the last movement. The transition to the finale is absolutely beautiful with a wonderful horn passage.
    The seventh is fine and I like the way Kletzki ratchets up the speed at the end of the finale.
    The Eight is one of the best interpretations I have ever heard.
    The 'Choral' gets a worthy performance with fine recorded singing in the Finale.
    The only warning I need to give is that some repeats are not observed. This is generally of little worry, but like some other conductors of the same period, the repeats in the Scherzo and Finale of the Fifth are not observed. I must admit that I like them to be observed but the performance is so magnificent that I forgive the conductor.
    If you love the Beethoven symphonies and even if you have other performances you will learn something from this set.
    26 people found this helpful
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  • lynn r.
    5.0 out of 5 stars John
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 February 2024
    Verified Purchase
    The best Beethoven symphony cycle available all the performances are magnificent the conductor Paul kletski and the Czech Philharmonic are superb you cannot do better than this I have heard multiple performances of these works and these are the best do yourself a favour and buy them
    One person found this helpful
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  • Graham
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Beethoven Cycle in Every Way
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 December 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I have been listening to the Beethoven symphonies for more than half a century and have never lost my love and fascination for them. But then they are amongst the great peaks of all human achievement. I have many complete sets on my shelves, including Barenboim, Blomstedt, Furtwangler, Klemperer, Szell and Walter's two sets. Over the years many others have come and gone but have been dispensed with, having lost their appeal after a few hearings. As other reviewers have remarked, this set by Paul Kletzki and the wonderful Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is special; it has enabled me to listen to these great works afresh.
    Kletzki, it seems to me, has the measure of each of the symphonies, and obviously spent a great deal of time thinking through his approach to them. I have heard in these performances a great deal of detail that is so often lost or simply ignored. Every section of this great orchestra covers itself in glory, but if I must single out just one for special praise, it would be the cellos and double basses; they play with such clarity and precision and where called upon, singing out with joy in their hearts.
    The recorded sound is excellent and no excuses need to be made for the fact that these recordings were made in the 1960's. Buy this set and rediscover these great works that you perhaps thought you knew too well.
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Cliente ÍøÆغÚÁÏ
    5.0 out of 5 stars ²Ñ²¹²µ²Ôí´Ú¾±³¦´Ç.
    Reviewed in Spain on 14 October 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Muy buena interpretación, espléndida 5ª y 6ª y 7ª macizas. Extraordinario sonido.
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  • Cliente ÍøÆغÚÁÏ
    4.0 out of 5 stars Integrale delle sinfonie di Beethoven
    Reviewed in Italy on 26 January 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Anche se lontana dalle esecuzioni di scuola tedesca, questa performance delle sinfonie di Beethoven è molto interessante. Il direttore e la filarmonica ceca sono in piena sintonia e il risultato è convincente. Le registrazioni sono un po’ datate; il suono è comunque godibile. Nel complesso si tratta di una buona integrale e il prezzo è competitivo.
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  • pekinman
    5.0 out of 5 stars A classic cycle is finally released into the wild.
    Reviewed in the United States on 16 August 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Paul Kletzki's recordings of LvB's symphonies have been gathered together into a complete cycle after 50+ years of languishing in Supraphon's vaults. They have been remastered and packaged in a stylish and economical manner without resorting to a cheap toss-off release of these beautiful performances. The 6 cds each have individual high quality vinyl sleeves with a fold-in bit to hold them inside the slim line cardboard case. There is a very interesting essay in the small booklet but no photos or any sycophantic flummery to annoy. Pletzki was no Dude.

    These recordings are from the studio but sourced in Prague after live performances.

    During the Cold War, when the Czechs were prisoners of the Soviet Totalitarian barbarians they had little to lighten their lives but music.

    The circumstances surrounding recordings by the excellent Supraphon company are completely obliterated by the joyous commitment of these musicians, especially Paul Kletzki, the great Polish master who had endured horrific abuse from the Socialist-democrat Nazis then Stalin's murderous communists. His family was largely wiped out in prison camps, the old story which some misguided, ignorant young people now seem to find romantic and they long to return to the horror of concentration camps, for those who disagree with their fatuous anarchic nihilism,and authoritarian censorship about which they know nothing. (Stalin would have sent them to the salt mines immediately, and taken their smart phones and iPads away from them as well).

    Beethoven, most especially in his 9th Symphony, is the antithesis of what these empty-headed Prozac brats are up to these days.

    They clearly have not heard the 9th. Their souls are empty because of that oversight.

    Kletzki's performances eschew the overly portentous and heavily significant approaches to these towering masterworks.

    His tempi are sinewy and muscular, like a Doberman Pincer, not without teeth when needed, and profound without oppressiveness when called for.

    This cycle is a fine adjunct to cycles by Otto Klemperer, Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti, and one-offs by Furtwängler and Knappertsbusch.

    They are magnificently played by the Czech Philharmonic, a band famous for its unique sound, a special soul of its own. Lyric and characterful winds and brass allied to the famously sonorous strings make this a uniquely recognizable sound, an orchestral genetic code... something that has been homogenized out of the world by American technical proficiency and gloss at the expense of individuality and risk-taking.

    I listened to the entire cycle under cloudless blue sky until the Adagio of 9.

    I only balked, very slightly, at the flowing tempo... Kletzki coming in at just under 15 minutes. My soul sings to Solti's tranquil meditation (in Chicago of all places) clocking in at a blissful 20 minutes. But it didn't bother me after I got used to it. It never sounds perfunctory or glib, like a HIP performance.

    Kletzki's Adagio is a serene reverie, and not at all sentimental. Beethoven was a quietly passionate nature boy, a contradiction seeing as nature is not passionate ...but pantheism is.

    Kletzki captures the pantheistic foundation of all these symphonies, even the first two, which are spikey and impish, more aggressive in their fun than usually depicted by those who approach these works with a semi-religious fervor.

    Kletzki sings and charms in the slower movements. The Larghetto of the 2nd took my breath away with it's old-world atmosphere of civility and lyricism. LvB was like a god in that his muse encompassed all facets of human existence. And yet he was all too human.

    Aside from the minor quibble about the 9th I have no negative criticism to make of this glorious release.

    If you want the vegan approach of the HIPsters' fad, Gardiner, Harnoncourt, and, God forbid, Norrington, you might find Kletzki acceptable, for a modern orchestra version.

    For me, aside from singletons from others, like Karajan's live 9th from Vienna in 1947, a harrowing performance by half-starved, shell-shocked musicians and singers, and Klemperer's bucolic 6th from London with the Philharmonia, Kletzki's is now my go-to set when I need enlightenment and joy in these surreal times.
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  • fvspee
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ein verborgenes Juwel
    Reviewed in Germany on 2 December 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Kurzfassung:

    Die in den 60-er Jahren eingespielte Gesamtausgabe der Beethovenschen Sinfonien, gespielt von der Tschechischen Philharmonie unter Paul Kletzki ist ein Juwel, das die Entdeckung verdient. Die Musik wird einfühlsam, menschlich und klar interpretiert, ohne interpretatorische Extreme des Dirigenten, aber auch ohne dass es je flach oder weichgespült wirkt. Ich empfehle die Ausgabe sowohl für Einsteiger, die sich das erste Mal Beethoven-Sinfonien kaufen (oder die erste Gesamtausgabe), denn von dieser Interpretation ausgehend kann man wunderbar die Stile anderer Dirigenten erkunden. Ebenso zu empfehlen für Liebhaber, die schon fast alles kennen und hier vielleicht überrascht sein werden, was da in den Archiven der tschechischen Plattenfirma Supraphon noch "Exotisches" geschlummert hat und jetzt wieder als CD ausgegraben wurde.

    Leider kann ich die Preispolitik von ÍøÆغÚÁÏ nicht verstehen: Wer soll diese Ausgabe eines im Westen unbekannten Labels, dirigiert von einem nicht sehr bekannten Dirigenten (obwohl Kletzki Spitzenorchester dirigiert hat, in Polen, Deutschland, der Schweiz, in den USA, in der UdSSR und eben auch in Tschechien) für den Preis von 40 Euro kaufen, wenn es weit billigere moderne erstklassige Gesamtausgaben gibt?

    Werke:

    Jede einzelne Sinfonie Beethovens ist es wert, nicht nur gehört, sondern immer wieder gehört und ausgekostet zu werden. Die erste Sinfonie ist sehr gut, die zweite ist Welt-Spitzenklasse und danach hat Beethoven sich dann gesteigert und nur noch Sinfonien geschaffen, die jede für sich einzigartig am Musik-Himmel stehen. Kein Wunder, dass die Komponisten nach Beethoven sich oft nicht mehr recht getraut haben, Sinfonien zu schreiben. Die Fünfte (ta-ta-ta-taaaa) und die Neunte ("Freude schöner Götterfunken") sind wohl am bekanntesten, die Dritte (Eroica) und die heitere Sechste (Pastorale) sind auch äußerst beliebt. Ich persönlich liebe die Vierte, die komischerweise mindestens in Deutschland heutzutage kaum richtige Fans zu haben scheint, über alles, und danach kommt für mich die Siebte (wobei ich schon mehr Weggenossen habe). Aber das schmälert die Schönheit und Bedeutung der anderen nicht.

    Die Ausgabe enthält außerdem noch, sehr gut passend, Beethovens Coriolan-Ouvertüre und Egmont-Ouvertüre vom gleichen Dirigenten mit dem gleichen Orchester.

    Drumherum:

    Die Verpackung ist jetzt nicht der absolute Brüller, aber auch nicht übel. Das Beiheft finde ich sehr schön. Es enthält ein sehr ausdrucksvolles Foto des Dirigenten und eine wirklich gut geschriebene (und sprachlich makellose) Kurzeinführung in alle dargebotenen Werke und in das (sehr interessante) Leben des Komponisten auf Englisch, Französisch, Deutsch und Tschechisch. Zu bemerken ist, dass auf jeder CD entweder 1 Sinfonie, oder 2 Sinfonien, oder 1 Sinfonie + 1 Ouvertüre sind. Man muss also nie innerhalb eines Werks die CD wechseln.

    Interpretation:

    Siehe zunächst oben "Kurzfassung". Ich habe meine Lieblingssätze aus Beethovens Sinfonien, den ersten Satz der Vierten Sinfonie und den zweiten der Siebten, mal "parallelgehört" mit anderen wohl anerkannt "großen" Interpretationen. Der zweite Satz der Siebten habe ich mit der Einspielung von Thielemann und den Wiener Philharmonikern (Sony, 2011) verglichen. Kletzki macht hier deutlich mehr Tempo, ich finde letztlich beide Interpretationen gleich schön. Natürlich machen Thielemann/Wien/Sony Punkte wegen des viel brillianteren Klangs (siehe unten "Schwächen"). Den ersten Satz der Vierten habe ich mir in der historischen Live-Aufnahme von Toscanini (NBC Symphony Orchestra, 1939, Naxos Historical) angehört, eine Aufnahme, die ich eigentlich bisher sehr gut fand (na gut, die Vierte finde ich immer gut). Als ich dann aber bemerkt habe, wie harmonisch sich hier alles bei Kletzki zusammenfügt und wie bei Toscanini der erste Teil des zweiten Satzes quasi theatralisch verlangsamt daherkommt, um dann in ein Allegro überzugehen, das Beethoven, wie ich zugebe, zwar "vivace" haben wollte, aber mir in der alten Aufnahme doch übertrieben furios vorkommt, hatte ich allerdings den Eindruck, dass die "schlanke griechische Maid" (Schumann sehr treffend über die Vierte) bei Toscanini auf einem massiven Extasytrip ist. Die von Kletkzi ist dagegen zum Verlieben.

    °­±ô²¹²Ô²µ/³§³¦³ó·É䳦³ó±ð²Ô:

    Die Aufnahmen sind AAD, und das hört man. Nicht dass es knistert und knackt, aber gerade bei den hohen Tönen fehlt doch deutlich die Brillianz, die moderne DDD oder "Remastered"-Aufnahmen haben. Wer wert darauf legt, jeden einzelnen Flötenton herauszuhören, ist hier leider nicht gut bedient.

    Außerdem finde ich den Choralsatz der Neunten ab dem Moment wo gesungen wird, nicht besonders, stellenweise sogar schlecht. Die Solisten überzeugen mich gar nicht, und der Chor singt zu schrill und zu laut (vielleicht ist da auch der Tonmeister schuld). Außerdem besteht der Chor aus Tschechen, die das deutsche "Ü" nicht geübt haben. "Eliesium" geht ja noch, aber "Alle Menschen werden Brieder" klingt albern.

    An sich gäbe es für die Schwächen einen Stern Abzug, aber das wird durch irrationale Faktoren wieder aufgewogen: Ich habe als Teenager anhand von zwei zufällig irgendwo im Second Hand Shop erworbenen Vinylplatten mit Kletzki-Prag-Beethoven-Aufnahmen Beethoven wirklich lieben gelernt. Aus Dankbarkeit dafür und Freude, dass Supraphon die Dinger ausgegraben und daraus jetzt eine CD-Ausgabe gebastelt hat, gibt es doch noch den fünften Stern.
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  • Jim Bradford
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beetoven
    Reviewed in the United States on 24 February 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I enjoy the music.
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