Not long before he took up the principal conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1988, Michael Tilson Thomas recorded all of Beethoven’s symphonies with another of the British capital’s leading ensembles, the English Chamber Orchestra, rounding off the cycle with a performance of the “Eroica” featuring New York’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s. A Gramophone reviewer wrote in 1985 that “Tilson Thomas’s ‘chamber versions’… always throw new light on the strings/wind balance, giving us something closer to what Beethoven expected than we are used to… You can expect details to stand out which you had not noticed before”, while another, writing in 1987 on the sound of the Abbey Road Studio No. 1 recordings, found “plenty of weight and power… bright and immediate with a fine feeling of presence” and declared the Ninth “a splendid culmination to Tilson Thomas’s cycle”. The six albums of this first release in a single box also contain the conductor’s London recordings of Beethoven overtures, late choral works and the concert aria Ah! Perfido with soprano Eva Marton.

Disc 1 –
Symphony No. 1 in C Major Op. 21

Symphony No. 2 in D Major Op. 36

Ah! Perfido Op. 65

Eva Marton Soprano English Chamber Orchestra

– Disc 2 –
Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major “Eroica” Op. 55

12 Contredanses for Orchestra Woo 14
Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Egmont Overture Op. 84
English Chamber Orchestra

Opferlied Op. 121A
Lorna Haywood Soprano the Ambrosian Singers London Symphony Orchestra

– Disc 3 –
Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major Op. 60

Symphony No. 5 in C minor Op. 67
English Chamber Orchestra

– Disc 4 –
Symphony No. 6 in F Major “Pastoral” Op. 68
English Chamber Orchestra

Knig Stephan Op. 117 Elegischer Gesang Op. 118

The Ambrosian Singers London Symphony Orchestra

– Disc 5 –
Symphony No. 7 in a Major Op. 92

Symphony No. 8 in F Major Op. 93

English Chamber Orchestra

Bundeslied Op. 122

The Ambrosian Singers London Symphony Orchestra

– Disc 6 –
Symphony No. 9 in D minor “Choral” Op. 125
Suzanne Murphy Soprano Carolyn Watkinson Mezzo-Soprano Dennis O’Neill Tenor Gwynne Howell Bass
Tallis Chamber Choir English Chamber Orchestra

Meeresstille Und Glckliche Fahrt Op. 112
The Ambrosian Singers London Symphony Orchestra