An essential Beethoven is Gunter Wand's highly acclaimed complete cycle
on RCA.  Although he never played a role on this list, he is often named
as a first choice besides Karajan's '61/'62 set.  Having already most
of the cycles we've just discussed and having found more and more raved
reviews over the years I finally bought Wand's set last autumn.  I don't
want to judge whether it's the top recommendation for those who want to
purchase just one cycle, but it's surely one of the most interesting cycles
available - masterly structured and extremly colorful.  Someone described
Szell's Beethoven as a "ride in a rolls royce" awhile ago, but it's Wand
who allows us to take a seat at his backseat on a journey through the
forest on a sunny Sunday morning.  The cycle has IMO only two weak points:
His 7th is more an escape on a horse and might not be everybody's taste and
in his otherwise great 9th he is let down by the soloists and choir of the
Hamburg state opera.  For a more detailed critical review you should read:

   http://www.inkpot.com/classical/beethsymwand.html

Let me stress that I value the critics of that article comparatively
little:  A warm soundpicture in the 4th I don't care much about (other
recordings have it throughout) and the critics about the 5th concern only
seconds of the whole symphony.  Both symphonies are still as good as most
of the other cycles we've named.  This inexpensive 5-CD set ($25-30) offers
excellent sound and was released in RCA's symphony edition as well as in
their Gunter Wand edition.  The cycle should not be overlooked.

Does anybody know who the five artists BMG Classical keeps are?

Best wishes,
Ralf Oehlmann
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