[Val]

After several years, today I went back to my four Fantastiques:

Massimo Freccia conducting the Royal Philharmonic on Chesky,
Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony on RCA Victor,
David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony on Telarc,
Myung-Whung Chung and the Orchestre de l'Opera Bastille on Universal (part of DGG).

My favorite is Freccia, no doubts about it. Great stereo from the golden age, superb conducting and orchestral verve like no other. The revered Munch is good too, but his first movement is a bit too ponderous for my taste. Zinman is out, period. I have no good things to say.

The surprise is Myung-Whung Chung and the Opera Bastille orchestra. Beautifully clear and modern stereo sound and sprightly conducting. A reviewer at Amazon thinks the orchestra is small sounding but the probable reason is an ORTF or Blumlein microphone technique that keeps the orchestra sound in between the speakers.

[Tyson]

I've never heard the Freccia, I'll have to try to find it.  I do have the Munch with Boston Symphone, the Gardiner with the ORR, Markevitch with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leibowitz with the Vienna State Opera, and the Davis with London Symphony versions.

I like both the Markevitch and the Leibowitz versions better than Munch, with the Leibowitz getting the nod for being big, beautiful, firm, and weighty, with a huge recorded sound.

[Val]

Well, now I will have to buy Leibowitz's version. He is my favorite Beethoven conductor, with definitive performances of the "smaller" Symphonies, imho.

[Tyson]

I don't know why he's so obscure on the classical music scene.  Everything I've heard him do has been among the best versions I've heard of a particular work.