Claudio Abbado - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

180-gram gatefold double LP

Mastered from the original masters of Universal Music

Analog mastering by Rainer Maillard at Emil Berliner Studios!

Pressed at Pallas GmbH in Germany - first time on vinyl!

Claudio Abbado conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for this recording of Beethoven's Ninth.

"Abbado's new (Beethoven Symphony) cycle is certainly different, quicker, lighter-toned, more ‘Italianate' — the Ninth Symphony radically so ... By concentrating on pace, logic and transparent texturing Abbado effectively draws Beethoven into that distinguished circle of musical obsessives whose music he has always conducted as to the manner born. At best, the new technology produces sound of astonishing transparency, I have never heard the finale of the Ninth Symphony so astutely and lucidly performed and recorded, the inner part-writing, vocal and choral, crystal-clear ... it is the studio-made Fourth and the ‘live' Ninth which currently stand clear in my memory." — Gramophone

Musicians:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado, conductor
Karita Mattila, soprano
Violeta Urmana, mezzosoprano
Thomas Moser, tenor
Tomas Quasthoff, bass
Swedish Radio Choir
Eric Ericson Chamber Choir
Tonu Kaljuste, chorus master