Title: Great Place to Start and Perhaps End
Review: Cluytens strides through the glorious canon like a giant who's light on his feet. Those seeking Historically Informed Performances must look elsewhere. While that sort of "authenticity" can be bracing, Cluytens and the Berliners (with Furtwaengler's memory still alive) opt for something different. They do not celebrate Beethoven. They don't place him on a pedestal. This Beethoven achieves timelessness through the most natural balances, rational speeds and unaffected singing. I hesitate to mention the price, because that might seem to be touting this set as merely a great bargain. It's great. Period.
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