I'm sure you'll get this advice from 67 other people, but at some point
you'll want to consider acquiring distinguished recordings of individual
symphonies (for example, the 1963 Karajan Ninth and the early-60s Walter
Pastorale) since no one-conductor cycle (that I know of, at least) is
equally strong for all nine.That said, there *are* box sets that give
at least above-average accounts of the whole lot--for that matter, the
1963 Karajan cycle (which I'm sure is available as a reasonably-priced
re-issue) is very well regarded in many circles, and for my own taste
is marred only by its maddeningly inconsistent Eighth.  I'm not au courant
with the more recent box sets, but I'm sure many of our list cronies
are.

Good Luck!

Jim Carson

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