You mean the Beethoven sets? I kept Bruno Walter's Columbia set. That was the first complete cycle I bought on LP back in the 70's on the Odyssey label. However, the broad tempos are a tad too broad for me these days, so I do not play it as much. But, I cannot bring myself to part with it. Actually, the only ones where the tempos annoy me are the 7th and 9th. The finale of the 9th just lays there, and the 7th's first movement is too slow, IMO. Walter's 6th is often considered the best ever.
I also have Kurt Masur's 2nd Leipzig Gewandhaus set. This was well recorded digitally, and uses that edition that sort of lightens the sound of the symphonies (the approach taken by Abbado, Rattle, et al). The soloists in the 9th include Jard Van Nes and Sylvia McNair, who are also distuinguised Mahlerites as well. The Masur set is quite affordable ($30-ish), and IMO a much better value than pricier versions that take the same approach.
However, I really do not like to hear some of Beethoven's symphonies in this new modern (actually retro, I guess) style. The Eroica, for one, never seems to have the proper weight and grandeur performed that way. So, I guess I really prefer Beethoven in the old style, with a bigger sound, but not with lumbering temos. These brings me to the set that is my current first-stringer-Herbert Blomstedt and the Dresden Staatskapelle. These were recorded in the last bloom of great analog recording in the late 70's. The sound is approately "big", though a tad reverberant. However, the woodwinds are always crystal clear. I do not remember the names of the soloists in the 9th, but all are good (I hate 9ths where the soprano cannot pull off the finale). The Eroica is the way I like it, with a soaring quality. The abrupt changes from piano to forte that Beethoven used, and which were shocking in his day are very apparent in these recordings ( I think those effects are diminished in the more modern ones). The main theme of the opening movement of the 7th was just a tad slow, but I did get used to it, and now quite like it. The 6th is on a par with Walters, though recorded better. Like Bertini's Mahler set, there are no duds here, and @ approx. $20, the set is an outright steal, IMO. Blomstedt seems to be a conductor no one ever hears about. His Mahler 2nd with the SFSO is the one I seem to be playing the most these days.
Among the Beethoven sets I sold on ebay: Lenny's Vienna Phil set, Harnoncourt, Von Dohnanyi's Cleveland, Solti's analog CSO, Karajan's first Berlin cycle (I have the 9th as a single). I think I may have sold nother, but cannot remember now. Of that group, I thought Harnoncourt's to be the worst, and I think I only played it once.
