Search - Herbert Von Karajan: Ludwig Van Beethoven - The 9 Sinfonien on DVD

A title based on playback of recordings

Chung | Hong Kong | 01/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I got this title today in Hong Kong. It is remade from the playback of recordings (1980s) at original venues in memory of Karajan's 100th birthday.
Mine is PAL 4:3 PCM Stereo/DD 5.0 surround DVD video, 3 disks EU ver.
It played well on my ordinary DVD player. Quality is good.
"

Great Value - Surround Sound

Robert A. Alps | Evanston, IL United States | 11/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Sony has taken of group of Karajan's video recordings and played the audio back in the original recording venue, re-recoding the audio to capture the hall's acoustics in surround sound. These video recordings are the same ones released earlier by Sony on DVD and previously on VHS and laserdisk. For these Beethoven symphonies, I have the laserdisks, the previous DVDs, the audio-only CDs, and this new set. I am glad to hear these in surround sound, but this may not be of value to all. On the other hand, this set is selling for about $25 which is a great price for the Beethoven symphonies, much cheaper than trying to buy the CDs ($102 new, $50 used). The video is PAL which plays on one DVD player I have, but not on my Blu-ray player. DG has a video set of the Beethoven symphonies with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, but while the interpretations may be marginally more robust, the videos are often strange and hard to watch (very dramatic camera movement, etc.)."