BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 • Herbert von Karajan, cond; Anna Tomowa-Sintow (sop); Agnes Baltsa (alt); Peter Schreier (ten); José van Dam (bar); Berlin PO, Wiener Singverein • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 6325 (67:16)

Recorded at the end of 1976 and originally released the following year on LP, this is the fourth of Karajan’s five recorded accounts of the Ninth. Though none is quite like another, each made a major impact when first issued and boasted the highest of technical and musical standards at that time. On balance, this version may be the best of the lot. The sound remains impressive, the performance idiomatic and virtuosic, the Berlin brass, in particular being especially impressive. Most significantly, this CD comprises, so far as I know, the reading’s first release as a moderately priced single disc. It is worth every penny. Like many of Karajan’s other recordings, it certainly proves the lie to the inaccurate generalization that he favored an overly refined, legato-based sonority that covered his readings with an inappropriate creamy blanket. Here the winds have bite, the brass snarl, and strings are free of untoward lushness. Note that the second movement lacks both repeats and is free of the Weingartner emendations. With its well-chosen tempos, explosive fortes, and fine sound, this is a most welcome reissue.

FANFARE: Mortimer H. Frank