A reminder of the recordings Justin recommended for Bach/Beethoven:
I always find it difficult recommending recordings, because my favourite recordings tend to be very different from each other, and certainly can’t be used as a guide to what to expect. For example, for the Bach I love Harnoncourt’s latest one on Teldec, but I also love the old Karl Richter on Archiv. However, I’m neither as fast as Harnoncourt nor as slow as Richter.
In the Beethoven, no one is as intense and moving as Furtwängler. The best choral singing is on his Luzerne 1954 recording (various labels). However, Karajan 1962 (DG) is also very fine, and there are exciting modern ones from Mackerras (EMI), Gardiner (Archiv) and (especially) Harnoncourt (Teldec) – but these also tend to be very fast and/or lightweight, whereas Furtwängler is very spacious and profound.
