After having dumped this a few years ago, I picked up another copy of the Lennie's Berlin M9 - completely sealed - for very little money. It's such a shame that somebody falls out of their chair in the fourth movement, just before the main climax of the entire movement, and that this poorly timed happening keeps the trombones from playing at the climax just measures later. The audience is also a tad noisy in the closing pages - all of the really soft stuff. All of this too bad, because it's one h__l of a performance. I also like the fact that DG includes a billion different tracks on this. I wish more CD's would have additional tracks. Even the sound is quite good on this - less artificially strange sounding than the Abbado (which I like for its pacing, as mentioned). And now for a bit of biography: this recording is important to me for the date that it was recorded on. I won't reveal why, as I want to keep that much to myself.
So, M9 officianados, now that I have your attention, I've got a question for you: Is there an M9 recording where they've left on a full minute (heck, I'll even take twenty seconds) of pure silence at the end of the symphony? I would like that. As some of you may recall, the Blomstedt M2 leaves on several minutes of silence at the end of the first movement.
