This is a very important issue for collectors of great conductors of the past. One of three virtually simultaneous releases by Guild of historic recordings Beethoven’s mighty Ninth Symphony, the remains the only surviving recording in existence of the great German musician Fritz Busch (1890-1951) conducting Beethoven’s ‘Choral’, and it is a very great one. In the years following World War II, Fritz Busch was chief conductor of the Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra, raising it to a position of world-class. This live performance of Beethoven’s last Symphony is one of the finest ever committed to record, and the sound has been remastered to the finest of modern standards. Completing the record is an equally outstanding account of Beethoven’s Leonore No 2 Overture, recorded in Copenhagen the previous year.

Please note that there is an error on the cover: this album features the Leonore Overture No. 2, not No. 3.