Beethoven / Symphonies 1-9 (1963 recordings) - CD (Used)Author: Beethoven Features: Beethoven: 9 Symphonies (1992 05 13) Format: Box set Release Date: 08 11 1989 Details: Amazon. ca By general consensus, Herbert von Karajan's first (1963) Beethoven cycle for Deutsche Grammophon is the best of the four (!) that he recorded. The Berlin Philharmonic was in top form, and they had not yet made an artistic fetish out of the bland smoothness that typified the conductor's later recordings of this music (and just