Thomas Heilman wrote:

>Go for the Andre Cluytens\Berlin Phil. set.  4,5,6,7, and 8 are among the
>best I have ever heard.  4 and 5 are the best I have ever heard.

I'll second this recommendation (I'm biased, though, since for most of the
symphonies, these were the first recordings I heard).

The recordings date from 1957-1960, so they're "traditional" rather than
"HIP".  The sound quality seems to me to be good enough - obviously, you
can do better there with more recent recordings.  In the UK, the entire set
- nine symphonies and three overtures on 5 CDs - sells for about the price
of one full-price CD, which IMO is an amazing bargain.

Peter Varley
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