{"product_id":"beethsym5_solti_2607-1","title":"Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 \/ Solti \/ Vienna Phil. - Super Hot Stamper","description":"\u003cp\u003eWe like our recordings to have as many of the qualities of live music as possible, and those qualities really come through on a record such as this, especially when reproduced on the full-range speaker system we use. It's precisely this kind of big, clear, yet rich sound that makes audiophiles prize \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22decca-london%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDecca\/London recordings\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e above those of virtually all other labels, and here, unlike in so many areas of audio, we are fully in agreement with our fellow record loving audiophile friends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis Golden Age tape has been mastered brilliantly with \"modern\" mastering equipment (from the mid-60s, not the low-rez junk they're forced to make do with these days), giving you, the listener, sound that only the best of both worlds can offer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou may have noticed that Beethoven's symphonies rarely make it to the site. There's a reason for this: most of the recordings of them don't sound very good. We are happy to report that, at least when it comes to the Fifth, that problem has been solved, by this very record in fact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSolti's Beethoven has always been underrated. In some respects it's more satisfying than his ventures into the late Romantic repertoire on which his reputation largely rests. His Fifth Symphony, for example, has all of the drama and flair one could ask for in its outer movements, and his treatment of the Third's epic funeral march is truly gripping, with a hair-raising fugato climax.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of This Wonderful Classical Masterpiece Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe most Tubey Magic, without which you have \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221959%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1959\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTransparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eChoices\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Leibowitz from Readers Digest that we also like is tubier and richer, and more lyrical in performance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Solti from 1959 here is cleaner, clearer and both more exacting and lively. I would have a hard time choosing between them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Best Sound\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe strings are not as dry as they usually are on this recording, a big problem with London as a rule, but not so here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sound is rich, Tubey Magical and very clear, all at the same time. There are recordings that are richer, but none we know of that are more clear as well as rich.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Beethoven's 5th\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEnergy\u003c\/strong\u003e for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Big Sound\u003c\/strong\u003e comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen \u003cstrong\u003etransient information\u003c\/strong\u003e -- fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePowerful bass\u003c\/strong\u003e -- which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNext: \u003cstrong\u003etransparency\u003c\/strong\u003e -- the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eExtend the top and bottom\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003ci\u003evoila\u003c\/i\u003e, you have The Real Thing -- an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLondon Circa 1975\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe complete cycle was recorded with Solti and the Chicago Symphony by the Decca\/London team, but like so many later Londons -- say, those made after 1970 -- the sound is opaque and lacking in hall ambience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf there's one thing live classical music never is, it's opaque.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus and maybe a bit better is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Must Own Record\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis Demo Disc quality recording should be part of any serious classical collection. Others that belong in that category can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22core-classical-collection%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Beethoven, Ludwig van","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52176362996008,"sku":"beethsym5_solti","price":299.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/products\/beethsym5_solti.jpg?v=1785087078","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/beethsym5_solti_2607-1","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}