Beethoven was Wilhelm Furtwängler’s guiding musical force. In his interpretations of the symphonies, the conductor generates  irresistible dramatic momentum – and a constant sense of imaginative freshness – through the interrelationship of form, harmony,  texture, rhythm and tempo. These recordings, all made in the late 1940s and early 1950s, in the Musikverein in Vienna and at concerts  in London, Bayreuth and Stockholm, were remastered at Abbey Road Studios in 2010, bringing their sound more alive than ever before.

Recorded:
- Royal Albert Hall, London, 3 October 1948 (no.2: LIVE)
- Konserthus, Stockholm, 13 November 1948 (no.8: LIVE)
- Musikvereinssaal, Wien, 18-19 January 1950 (no.7), 24-25 November 1952 (no.6), 24, 26-28 November 1952 (nos. 1 & 3), 1-3 December 1952 (no.4), 28 February & 1 March 1954 (no.5)
- Festpielhaus, Bayreuth, 29 July 1951 (no.9: LIVE)

Producer: Lawrance Collingwood (nos. 1, 3-6), Walter Legge (nos. 7 & 9), unknown (nos. 2 & 8)
Sound engineer: Robert Beckett (nos. 1, 3, 4, 6), Francis Dillnutt (no.5), Anthony Griffith (no.7), unknown (nos. 2, 8 & 9)

Remastered in 24-Bit/96kHz at Abbey Road Studios in 2010
Total timing: 6h08