Vienna Orchestra

What are the best recordings of the Beethoven symphonies and concertos?

So far I have: Symphony no 7: Carlos Kleiber with Vienna Philharmonic Symphony no 9: Furtwangler with Berlin Philharmonic (1942)

Public Comments

1. Kleiber and the Vienna Phils 5 and 7 are absolutely definitive. His live version of 4 is highly regarded. The rest can be covered by Von Karajan and the Berlin Phil or George Szell and the Cleveland.
2. Von Karajan's 1963 set is good. Furtwangler is great of course but you might want to supplement it with another recording with better sound quality.
3. Well, you get the Karajan "sound." His set of complete Beethoven symphonies is really wonderful. Other great conductors for Beethoven symphonies would be the recordings made by Furtwangler and Toscanini. Great Beethoven concerto recordings... Glenn Gould for Piano Concerto No. 3. Milstein for Violin Concerto. I usually listen to Murray Perahia for the other Piano Concertos, but I hear Rudolf Serkin is famous for No. 5 (Emperor).