Beethoven: The Symphonies Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Beethoven: The Symphonies Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 8, 2019

Are you the type of music fan who feels classical works are over your head? Well forgive me my punning sins, but I think this is the first audio Blu- ray I've reviewed which features a Dolby Atmos track, and so there is indeed a vertical element to the listening experience, though probably not in the same showy way you might expect from, say, a science fiction spectacular. I no longer have my LPs (yes, LPs) of this particular von Karajan Beethoven cycle to actually do a side by side comparison, but I remember liking the performances but not particularly caring for the sonics. The audio on this release by comparison struck me as unusually warm while also reproducing some rather noticeable hall ambience sonics, especially in the Atmos rendering (the decay after tutti sections really stood out to me personally). As fans of this particular conductor and this particular set of symphonies will probably already know, this was von Karajan's third at bat(on?), and devoted collectors may recall the von Karajan's 1963 cycle was the subject of my earlier Beethoven: The Symphonies Blu-ray review. (The iconic conductor would actually do another complete cycle around a decade or so after this one.)

This set of recordings, done between 1975-77, arguably hasn't really risen to the majestic reputation of von Karajan's earlier cycle covered in the above linked review, but it's a really fascinating tour through these works nonetheless. It's actually interesting to compare versions, which is where this set often intrigues me, simply because there are both predictable changes in tempi, but also more structural changes, like different approaches toward optional repeats. As expected, the long established rapport between von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic also informs these performances and certainly makes this a worthwhile listening experience.

Beethoven: The Symphonies Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There's no real video here, other than a static menu that does allow highlighting of Symphony and/or Movement information. Someone made a little labeling error on Disc Two, where the main menu shows Symphony Number 1 instead of Symphony Number 6 as the first choice. Interestingly, if you select the Tracklist, Symphony Number 6 displays correctly. With the knowledge that the green remote button selects Dolby Atmos, the yellow remote button selects the LPCM 2.0 track, and the red remote button selects the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, there's really no actual need to have a monitor or display running for this disc. (There's a key to the color coding printed on the back cover of the digi-pack.)

Beethoven: The Symphonies Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ludwig van Beethoven: 9 Symphonies is presented on audio Blu-ray with the three audio options outlined above in the video section of the review, Dolby Atmos (24/48), LPCM 2.0 (24/192) and DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1 (24/192) (the back cover lists LPCM 5.1, for what that's worth). Kind of maddeningly for those of us who like to trace provenance, Deutsche Grammophon doesn't provide any information on the remastering (which I assume had to have happened for the Atmos rendering at least), but a little digging on the internet suggests these may have been culled from rather recent remasters that were done for the Japanese market as SACDs (if anyone can point me to authoritative data, please do, and as always I'm happy to update the review). One way or the other, while I personally found the 5.1 rendering kind of surprisingly anemic (one reason I'm docking the audio score a little bit), both the Atmos and the stereo tracks really struck me with a warmth I don't remember experiencing in my admittedly long ago LP listening. There's some noticeable space in the Atmos version that supports some really natural sounding decay that repeatedly struck my ears. Dynamic range is exceptional, and there is good prioritization for the many solos. The choral movement of the Ninth also sounds really lustrous and almost supercharged.

Beethoven: The Symphonies Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc Two of this two disc set includes two audio interviews with von Karajan which I guess could reasonably be considered supplements:

• Das Interview (16:03) is with Joachim Kaiser and is in German. Unfortunately, the disc doesn't offer subtitles.


• Karajan in Conversation (13:33) is an English language interview (though the conductor's accent is pretty thick), with von Karajan discussing why he is returning to the Symphonies again for another recording.

Additionally, there's a booklet inside the digi-pack with pictures and liner notes.

Beethoven: The Symphonies Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I personally prefer the von Karajan cycle from the early sixties in terms of the overall performances, but I really found a lot to enjoy in this set, and there's the added interest for those who care about such things to listen to the differences between the performances, some of which are quite marked. Audio is first rate, and for Beethoven/von Karajan completists if for no one else, Ludwig van Beethoven: 9 Symphonies comes Recommended.