The legendary conductor Felix Weingartner was renowned for his expressive interpretation of the classical repertoire, particularly the music of Beethoven, and was the first to conduct all the Beethoven symphonies on record. This 1935 recording of the Ninth was instantly hailed as a landmark performance, and it has rarely been out of the catalogue ever since. Weingartner ably demonstrates the hallmark of a great conductor, allowing the music to breathe by creating the illusion of not imposing his own personality on it. Neville Cardus said of the maestro: “He belongs to the cultured epoch of music, the epoch of good manners and taste – and sound scholarship.”