Symphonies 7 & 8
Claudio Abbado's fine performance of Beethoven's Seventh is also  available at mid-price, coupled to the Fifth. The problem with this full-price  issue is that his performance of the Eighth is better than that of the Fifth,  but no one really cares about the Eighth Symphony anyhow, making the choice a  bit frustrating. The best thing to do would be to forget about Abbado for  Beethoven, and go for Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm, or Herbert von Karajan  (if you want Deutsche Grammophon), and any one of a dozen better versions on  other labels. Much simpler that way.--David Hurwitz