Yes, the Choral, the Emporer, the Fifth, the Seventh, and the Pastoral came in Top 5. I believe, in racing terms, the last 5 Quartets, the last 4 Piano Sonatas, and the Missa Solemnis are still finishing.
A surprise was the Egmont Overture. It came in at number 13. I have no quarrel with its greatness, I still recall turning up to a 'Disco' when I was sixteen, this overture, and the overture to Corioloan roaring triumphantly in my brain.
So, Number 13 is announced, The Egmont Overture plays. I'm in the car, returning from buying bread. The orchestra is obviously a top 5 glamour star. The performance is 'beautiful', but there is no tension, no edge of the seat drama. The name Abbado floats in and out of my brain. Yes, a possibility...Then the name Solti pops up. Sure enough, it is Sir Georg himself. Yes, I'm definitely Psycho, as one of my old girlfriends said when she referred to my so-called psychic powers.
Later, on Spotify, I played through some performances from likely contenders: Fricsay - not bad at all, Tennstedt, very pretty but the fruit of the flower..., a surprisingly turgid Klemperer, Colin Davis, Harnoncourt, all trenchant and bluster, Giulini, sort of getting there, and as a last resort I played the Bongartz, Berlin Classics, Berlin Staatskapelle, and finally the bullseye, where I least expected to find it.
Just shows to go you.
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