Those who bemoan the excerpting of works on classical greatest-hits collections get their chance to put up or shut up with this two-disc Beethoven set from Berlin Classics, part of an ongoing "Greatest Works" series from that middle-of-the-road German label. The only excerpt involved is the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, which is usually performed by itself anyhow. That's also the only questionable inclusion; the three complete pieces -- the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, ...
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Those who bemoan the excerpting of works on classical greatest-hits collections get their chance to put up or shut up with this two-disc Beethoven set from Berlin Classics, part of an ongoing "Greatest Works" series from that middle-of-the-road German label. The only excerpt involved is the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, which is usually performed by itself anyhow. That's also the only questionable inclusion; the three complete pieces -- the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 -- might not be everybody's personal picks, but they are hard to argue with. What does the new Beethoven listener get in this budget-priced package? A brief introduction to Beethoven's life and works, mentioning but not particularly focusing on the pieces on the album. There are some deep-catalog recordings, such as the rather lackadaisical Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Symphony No. 9 dating all the way back to 1960, and sound quality...
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