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Many people ask "Which is your favorite performance?" There's no useful
answer to that question, but this page recommends about 60, condemns about 30,
and leaves the other 300+ to you.
Note: When describing a performance, it's useful to have a
reference group of well known and widely available performances against which to compare it.
They may not be the "best", but they each have a large number of advocates,
and as such it's useful to have heard at least a few of them;
conductors who belong on this list are indicated in bold.
Links generally lead to pages with sound examples.
To save space, generally only conductor and recording date are listed. Full
details are in the Discography.
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Where to begin? These conductors have at least three extant performances; taken together they have
about one hundred. If one of
your favorite conductors is on this list, you're probably safe with
the listed recommendation. A blank under Preferred indicates no preference.
| Conductor | Preferred | Avoid |
| Abaddo | 2000. | |
| Asahina | | The last ones (2000) |
| Barenboim | Either live performance (1997, 2007) is preferable to the much slower studio version.
But they're hard to find. | |
| Bernstein | 1966 (NY Phil) | |
| Blomstedt | 1990 (San Francisco) | |
| Brüggen | Very consistent, but they all shortchange II. | |
| Celibidache | 1975 (Stuttgart), maybe 1959 (RAI Milan). | In 1987 (EMI), II is terribly
slow, but perhaps it deserves another chance. |
| Davis | 1970 is the least dull. | |
| Dohnanyi | 1983. | |
| Ferencsik | 1983 (but not the Laserlight edition: it edits out a repeat!) | |
| Furtwängler | 1944, also Nov 1952 (EMI studio recording),
though others have their proponents. | 1947 studio, RAI Rome (1952) |
| Gielen | | 1980's IV is ridiculously fast. |
| Giulini | 1980 (LA Phil broadcast) | 1992 (La Scala) |
| Haitink | 2005 if you like it fast, 1987 if you don't. | |
| Jochum | 1954 | |
| Karajan | 1962 | 1977 |
| Keilberth | | Berlin RSO (1968) |
| Kempe | proabably Munich (1972) | |
| Kleiber | Vienna (1955), unless you hate the repeat in I, in which case
Concertgebouw (1950). | |
| Klemperer | Royal Danish Orch (1957, Testament) | Both 1970 |
| Knappertsbusch | Berlin (1943) | Vienna (1962) |
| Koussevitzky | | 1934's III is just too fast. |
| Kubelik | | 1971 (Orfeo), 1986 |
| Maazel | | |
| Masur | probably 1992, but none are exciting | |
| Mengelberg | Frustrating: 1930 has the repeat in I, but is a bit too
slow for that; 1940 (studio) leaves out the repeats in III; 5 March
1942 isn't as lively; and 6 May 1943 has bad sound. | |
| Monteux | | |
| Sawallisch | 1993 (Concertgebouw) | |
| Scherchen | 1958 | 1951 |
| Schuricht | 1952 (Stuttgart) | |
| Solti | 1983, followed closely by 1989. | |
| Stein | | |
| Suitner | | |
| Szell | 1957. His Toscanini-like articulation neatly conceals tempi which are actually much slower. | |
| Toscanini | 1939, but 1949 & 1953 are also excellent | 1945 |
| Tilson Thomas | 2006 (DVD). | His broadcasts can be quirky. |
| Walter | 1958 (Columbia SO) is very beautiful but 1957 is livelier. | |
| Wand | | |
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New Directions. The 'ultrafast' approach is of considerable interest, but
it's too recent to show up in the above list.
On the down side, nearly all ultrafast performances have the annoying habit of
starting at literally top speed and then slowing down. On the up side, listening to a
few of these can change the way
you hear the 'standard' versions, and you may even find yourself insisting
on an 'Eroica' that has less Bruckner and more Haydn. Recommended:
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| Gardiner |
| Mackerras |
| Harnoncourt |
| Savall |
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Unfortunately, Norrington cannot be recommended, as his Funeral March is just too fast.
Gielen just doesn't "dig in" enough, and it becomes a study
for Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus rather than the other way around.
Liebowitz (among others) is omitted because at these tempi the
repeat (in I) becomes a real necessity.
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More Old School. Of the remaining two hundred or so, here are a few that are
especially interesting, listed chronologically.
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| Fried (1924) |
| Weingartner (1936) |
| "Fritz Schreiber" (LP: Allegro 3113), a very good pre-1945 performance
that's still unidentified. Note:
The CD credited to "Fritz Schreiber" is not the same performance. |
| Busch (1950), though the surface noise is awful. |
| Leinsdorf (1953) - unlike many others, this deserves reissue. |
| Munch (1957), but he cuts the repeats in III, I have no idea why. I thought
perhaps it was just
for the recording, but he did the same thing in his concerts. |
| Ivanov (1963) |
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Turkeys. The bottom 10%. In their defense, it must be noted that several conductors
here are also present on the 'best' list as well, so at least some of these are
simply good musicians having a very bad night.
| Very Badly Played |
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| Han (Peking) |
| Kakhidze (Tblisi) |
| Titov (St. Petersburg Conservatory) |
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| Excruciatingly Boring |
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| [Some would put most Asahina & Celibidache on this list.] |
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| Just Plain Weird |
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| Beermann | When he doesn't know what else to do, he rushes. A lot. |
| Guttenberg | Dynamics constantly swell and fade as with an accordion. |
| Mitropoulos | Takes I very fast until the coda, then suddenly slows down and stays there. |
| Porcelijn | Adds fortepiano continuo?! |
| Pfitzner | Seemingly arbitrary tempo changes. |
| Tintner | Adds two bars near the end of the exposition?! |
| Weissmann | Has to be heard to be believed (listen here) |
| Zinman | Adds an additional repeat to the scherzo?! Ornaments bits of
the last movement?! |
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| rev. Aug 29 2007 |
