Beethoven: Symphony No.9"Choral"Op.125

This may be the best transfer yet of the greatest recording of Beethoven's Ninth ever made: Wilhelm Furtwangler's 1942 Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Bruno Kittel Chorus. There have been so many transfers since the Everest LP from the '60s that sound like they were ripped raw and bleeding from the ragged grooves of thick, black plastic to the innumerable irritating, aggravating, and annoying Italian pirates to the latest pristine masterpiece of the restorer's art from Music & Arts. But this release on the Opus Kura label taken from Melodiya Blue Torch LPs may be the best transfer yet. It's clean but it's not dry, all the details are there but the full range of sound and tone are there, too. Better yet, it's warm but not fuzzy, all the depth is there but the richness and depth are there, too. Best of all, it's colorful but not hazy, all the shape and shade of the instruments are there and all the humanity, too. As much as one might recall the Everest LP or the Italian pirate or the Music & Arts disc with varying degrees of affection or admiration, this Opus Kura transfer may be the best, the most human of them all. That Furtwangler's 1942 Ninth is the greatest Ninth ever recorded is, of course, self-evident to anyone who's ever heard it. Don't believe it? Listen to this disc.