BEETHOVEN / Ansermet - "Symphony #9 - The Chorale" - London 'Blue Back' 1961 1st Pressing

"Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has always been a masterwork that simultaneously creates a chasm—through the nature of its wide range of summative styles and form—and bridges its own gap. It pushed the instruments of its generation to the limit, and has, for nearly two centuries, elicited highly personalized readings and interpretations. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is often described as a work which broke free of "Classical" style. Just as one can cite the music of Richard Strauss as having taken the Romantic style—even diatonic harmony—to its very outer limits, in the Ninth Beethoven wrote three of the most complete and perfect examples of his (and his contemporaries') symphonic ideal. Each of the first three movements is a consummate paragon. Improvement upon Beethoven's masterful architectural and sonic scheme of the symphony's first movement, his skillful execution of a Classical scherzo in the second, or the superb rendering of a set of variations in the Adagio molto e cantabile would be impossible. It is true that the critical reaction to such perfection has been often enough negative. Although it is well known that there were loudly voiced objections to the choral finale, even the exquisite third movement prompted dissension. Nevertheless, from these three culminations of Beethoven's genius there was nowhere to go, except to push on to a new style, and a new world." - Jeffrey Thomas 2007.

The record is NM-.
The jacket is VG-.
The LP plays/sounds Mint.

Outstanding! This is one of the very few recordings of the 9th that actually does justice to the sound and does not have massive compression go into 'overload' trying. Each instrument is clear and 'life-like' and sounds natural and real - no matter the power of the passage. Detail and micro-detail are incredible and the imaging is almost 3-D. The soundstage is very wide and deep. Just magnificent in all aspects.
Surface noise is mostly low-level 'crackles' heard on some of the quietest passages and some random, low-level 'ticks'.

Each record is washed on a VPI cleaning machine using a proprietary 3-5 agent process which is determined by the needs of the individual record. Each record is then listened to 100% to insure that the posted description is exactly what you can expect to get.

NOTE! Purchase any 3 or more of my LP's together and get 10% off the order as well as savings on shipping! Just click on "More From This Seller" to see a full listing.

Please Note! Shipping costs are for continental US ONLY. All others should request a shipping estimate before placing your order.

0413