Video

Where can i find the full video of this rehearsal?

Fantastic!

Furtwängler: Beethoven is an eagle soaring above all! Karajan: Beethoven is playing the piano at a bar hugged by the mob! De La Parra: powerful modernist, “Beethoven the nasty” (in a good way) Abbado and Bernstein: my mother and I on our way to a nursing home, each with a broken hip! Boring!

I was cured alright!

WOW!

the orchestra players look so into it! very cool!

horns were drowned out.

Furtwängler far, far above everyone else. His war recordings remain unsurpassed, even though Karajan and Bernstein really gave their all in the finale. Karajan's Eroica recordings remain the benchmark in stereo for me, brilliant playing all around and great power, too. He is often defamend nowadays as merely superficial in Beethoven- claims which are immediatly proven to be false when one watches his utmost investment in the music displayed in this video clip. Bernstein is also amazing and original- astounding how he expressively shapes and crafts every note and chord- albeit he does not quite achieve the power, grandeur and solemnity Karajan and especially Furtwängler conjure. The two others do well, but don't manage to really extract the most out of the finale. Furtwängler, Karajan and Bernstein clearly protude, showing why they are considered to be three of the greatest conductors of all time.

Best performance I’ve heard of this. Is this available on CD?

I'm voting for Abbado, not least as I'm sure nobody else will, but I feel he gets the balance between emotion and an orchestra having fun right. But hard to judge with such different orchestras

❤

Karajan-fury controlled, not too fast like some of the others. I am able to more fully appreciate the richness of this piece.

Furtwangler for the win.

I was gratified to read the comments after listening because so many observed what I had observed, that Furtwanger's was the most exhilarating and Karajan the most monumental, which I think comes from the clarity of the voices. But I have to say, this judging feels a bit like judging the best football quarterback based on the team's record. The orchestras are playing the music, and I can't just say x or y conductor is best when the team of players differ one conductor to another, and those players have such an enormous role in the enterprise.

I heard von Karajan perform this and the 6th with the Berlin Philharmonic in Pasadena, CA, at the Ambassador Auditorium. I knew right then I would never hear a greater performeance of either symphony again. There was an army of basses in the performance I attedend and the recording here did not capture the vibration I felt then and have really never felt since. It was absolutely magical and made the L.A Philharmonic thereafter feel second rate.

Ok, so, the Karajan recordings aren't really fair because he was known to use double winds and extra strings to make the sound (artificially) more powerful. I'm sure the live performance of the Furtwängler was exhilarating but the sound quality is difficult to assess given the age of the recording. The Dudamel and Salonen are obviously the most recent and the most authentic in terms of sound engineering technology (and the orchestra complement is accurate to the score, which is why I'd put them above Karajan.) Bernstein is a legend, but I struggle with his conducting style in general. I'd say overall, they are all good performances and Beethoven was the master here!

Bernstein's performance is the best! What a perfect trumpet articulation throughout the entire fourth movement!

I have to go with Von Karajan, the balance of sound, passion, and communication is exquisite. Furtwangler is absolutely thrilling! But is that what Beethoven wanted, who cares? I am glad I heard it. Salonen is beautiful, has the most beauty, Dudamel is perfect in every regard, almost to a fault, Bernstein, I love how he goes "from here to there" in the climaxes, varying the dynamics and tempo, learned from Mahler, he makes the piece into different "phrases". Von Karajan's absolute mastery of the orchestral sound has never been matched, especially with "mostly strings" pieces, it shows here.

1. Bernstein 2. Karajan 3. Salonen

I like Von Karajan very much

I love Von Karajan

Karajan and fortwangler

I'm surprised that I like Dudamel better than these other conductors whom I love. He brought out the structure of the piece best; it was less bombastic and less focussed on speed. Now I'm excited he's coming to NYC.

Except for differences in the quality of the recordings themselves, they all sound about the same to me.

I have been 'hooked' on this symphony since I was 10 years old, and am now 65. I have travelled the globe to attend live performances. Of the conductors featured here, to me the Bernstein was exactly how I expected the performance to be.

I'm going to give Karajan a slight edge over Bernstein, but only very slight.

czcams.com/video/DZYTjAiVfN8/video.htmlsi=kP4M8zHt86nGPP8m

For me it has to be Von Karajan and Esa-Pekka Salonen as the runner up.

Furtwängler is decades better than the others. Dudamel is just show.

Furtwangler takes the first place and Karajan second

My list- Kleiber, Mravinsky, Bohm, Petrenko, Klemperer!!! The Best!!!

Bernstein n. 1

The orchestras were all marvellous as was LVB.Apart from Furtwangler being faster did the conductors make any difference? Why are they paid so much? Sometimes 100 times more than a player!

클라이버 아바도 그 다음 번스타인, 나머지는...😊

Hard to judge Furtwangle due to poor recording quality. Top 2 for me is Dudamel conducting and bringing parts of the whole then puts it all together by the end. Van Karajan builds orchestral momentum like a freight train going 80 mph..

Karajan - power and control. Unlike Furtwängler who's out of control!

Beethoven: I am sorry I haven't composed Timpani concerto. Furtwangler: Hold my beer.

where is the best of them all, Carlos Kleiber...?

Anche se il filmato di Karajan è il migliore quello che avviene con furtwangler è unico impressionante e assolutamente antiaccademico.

Furtwangler going hell for leather is not what I expected to hear. But what a performance!

I agree Karajan is the best here. Although Bernstein is my favorite in general (especially Brahms) but here Karajan had the best phrasing even in this tempo and the instruments you could here them very well separately in their own section. Bernstein #2, very close to Karajan, then Salonen #3, Dudamel #4 and Furtwangler #5. I am very surprised of Furtwangler’s tempo, I think that recording was speeded up because he generally does things slower and that tempo was really over the top,kind of humanly impossible,in my opinion. That’s why I rated him last.

As many of you have requested: Here is Carlos Kleiber's rendition of the finale of Beethoven's 7th symphony :) czcams.com/video/F_BSUorc-PY/video.html

Sensacional!

Karajan, great control, I hear Beethoven indeed; Bernstein passion, both of them my favorites I have a version of op 92 by Guido Cantelli; I think is the greatest performance ever heard. Anyhow, all of them are amazing. I enjoyed the video

Dudamel bravo ma non eccezionale, Furtwangler al top fa vibrare i polsi, Salonen fuori dal suo repertorio, Bernstein da vedere sempre seppur non del tutto convincente, Karajan vibrante e pieno di slancio in uno dei suoi eterni cavalli di battaglia.

While agreeing with Furtwangler and Karajan and even Bernstein, no survey of the 7th symphony can be taken seriously without Carlos Kleiber!

Furtwangler the best ma i Berliner di Karajan sono insuperabili

KARAJAN is the best. Dudamel has never the orchestra in his hands.

Those who don’t acknowledge Furtwangler’s unrivaled power here (and actually almost everywhere else in German music) have nothing to do with the symphony music and the spirit of Beethoven. Even great Karajan sounds dead here after Furtwangler.

No Kleiber?