Beethoven: Die Symphonien (8Lp)

Karajan recorded the Complete Symphonies of Beethoven numerous times, but his first recording in 1963, made in 1963 was artistically the most radical and commercially the most successful. Nearly six decades on from its original launch, it remains the best-selling Beethoven cycle of all time. Critics and audience were enthused above all by the beauty of the music and by the fierce sense of joy which reached its apogee in an eloquent account of the finale of the epic Ninth Symphony.