Recordings of all the Beethoven symphonies with their chief conductor are always a milestone in the artistic work of the Berliner Philharmoniker. So it was with Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado, and expectations are correspondingly high for this cycle conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Where does the special status of these symphonies come from? Simon Rattle has an explanation: “One of the things Beethoven does is to give you a mirror into yourself – where you are now as a musician.” In fact, this music contains such a wealth of extreme emotions and brilliant compositional ideas that reveal the qualities of the orchestra and its conductor as if under a magnifying glass.

On his personal approach to the performances, Sir Simon said, “You can make Beethoven too sophisticated or too elegant, you can clean him up too much. You can try to make him agree with himself when often he’s fighting with himself. I have the feeling probably that the more plain-spoken this music is, the better it is. And one knows with this orchestra, when you say ?will you joyfully motor this machine off the clifftop??, everybody says ?of course we will?.” The concerts in which the Berliner Philharmoniker and their chief presented the symphonies in the Philharmonie in October 2015 were as thrilling as this suggests. The virtuosity of the works was revealed as impressively as their revolutionary energy. Performances in Paris, Vienna and New York followed and were rewarded with standing ovations from audiences.

The recording of the Berlin performances is available in an exclusive hardcover edition. It includes the cycle on five CDs and three Blu-ray discs as HD video, in uncompressed audio resolution and DTS surround sound. Its many extras include a video introduction with Sir Simon Rattle and a documentary about the making of the recordings with many interviews and glimpses behind-the-scenes.

Recorded in 24-bit/192kHz at the Berlin Philharmonie, 6 & 12 October 2015 (1/3); 7 & 13 October 2015 (2/5); 3, 9 & 15 October 2015 (4/7); 8 & 14 October 2015 (8/6); 10 & 16 October 2015 (9)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
 Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 
1. 1. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio 08:36
2. 2. Andante cantabile con moto 07:17
3. 3. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace – Trio 03:24
4. 4. Finale: Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace 05:25
 Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 
5. 1. Adagio – Allegro con brio 11:33
6. 2. Larghetto 09:54
7. 3. Scherzo: Allegro – Trio 13:18
8. 4. Allegro molto 06:00
 Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 “Eroica” 
9. 1. Allegro con brio 16:20
10. 2. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai 15:17
11. 3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio 05:50
12. 4. Finale: Allegro molto – Poco andante – Presto 11:42
 Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 60 
13. 1. Adagio – Allegro vivace 11:36
14. 2. Adagio 09:46
15. 3. Allegro molto e vivace – Trio: Un poco meno allegro – Tempo I – Un poco meno allegro 05:29
16. 4. Allegro ma non troppo 06:38
 Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 
17. 1. Allegro con brio 06:59
18. 2. Andante con moto 09:03
19. 3. Allegro – 04:35
20. 4. Allegro – Presto 09:55
 Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 “Pastoral” 
21. 1. Angenehme, heitere Empfindungen, welche bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande im Menschen erwachen: Allegro ma non troppo 12:00
22. 2. Szene am Bach: Andante molto mosso 11:57
23. 3. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute: Allegro – 05:04
24. 4. Donner. Sturm: Allegro – 03:53
25. 5. Hirtengesang. Wohlt?tige, mit Dank an die Gottheit verbundene Gefühle nach dem Sturm: Allegretto 09:42
 Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 
26. 1. Poco sostenuto – Vivace 13:45
27. 2. Allegretto 08:43
28. 3. Presto – Trio I und II: Assai meno presto 08:27
29. 4. Allegro con brio 08:17
 Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93
30. 1. Allegro vivace e con brio 09:10
31. 2. Allegretto scherzando 03:54
32. 3. Tempo di Menuetto – Trio 04:38
33. 4. Allegro vivace 07:26
 Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
34. 1. Allegro ma non troppo e un poco maestoso 15:20
35. 2. Molto vivace – Presto – Molto vivace – Presto 13:27
36. 3. Adagio molto e cantabile 15:56
37. 4a. Presto – 06:02
38. 4b. Presto – Recitativo “O Freunde, nicht diese T?ne!” 17:02