Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7

This is one of those truly classic recordings, as powerful today as the day it was made. It landed in record stores in 1975 and was immediately hailed as an outstanding work. It also established Carlos Kleiber, son of another great conductor, Erich, as a musician of extraordinary talent. Collaborating with an orchestra that knows the work as well as any, Kleiber achieves what every conductor strives for—to make the music sound fresh and new. From the first bar, this performance crackles with electricity, and it surges on, buoyed by a very special magic. The Seventh also receives a performance of tremendous energy and, like the Fifth, it’s stunningly well played.