I have been pleasantly surprised with the latest remastering of the
Toscanini NBC series.  The set is in three sets of two CDs each, the
ninth being coupled with the Missa Solemnis, in my opinion the Missa
is the greatest of all Toscanini performances.

If you like your Beethoven strong, forceful, dramatic, fiery and quick you
could do worse than these very old performances in surprisingly modern
sound (and bargain prices).

And I think this is about as close to Beethoven's own ideas as we can get.

Bill S