Karl Böhm’s studio recording of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony remains one of the finest available. It’s a heroic conception, one that relates the work both to the “Eroica” and the upcoming Fifth Symphony more clearly than most. This live performance offers essentially the same conception, although less well recorded and with the occasional slips and minor ensemble problems typical of a live source. What makes this disc particularly valuable is Christa Ludwig’s sensational singing in the Wayfarer songs, a reading of really gripping drama and almost raw emotion. Schumann’s Fourth also gets an extremely exciting, rough-and-ready outing, proving yet again that live recordings often do provide an extra shot of adrenaline when compared to more carefully “perfect” studio efforts. Given the source, a 1969 radio recording, the stereo sound is perfectly acceptable. You’ll wish you had been there in person.
