Both sides of this vintage copy were giving us the rich and Tubey Magical Decca / London sound we were looking for, earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER – fairly quiet vinyl too
It’s simply bigger, more transparent, less distorted, more three-dimensional and more real than most of what we played
A top performance from Solti and the Vienna Phil – it’s classic Solti: fast-paced, exciting and powerful
Solti’s Beethoven recordings from 1959 are superb, with the 5th and 7th being every bit as good – it’s his later recordings, the ones from the early 1970s, that we find fault with
There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.
And if you have an original Decca or London of this title, be prepared to be knocked out by how much better this later pressing sounds — knocked out like we were, truth be told
