This 8-CD box set offers collectors a generous selection of recordings by the German conductor, Herbert Kegel (1910-1990). The complete Beethoven Symphonies form the centrepiece, and are notable in part because the cycle was the first to be digitally recorded for the then new medium of the compact disc. The performances are characterised by Kegel’s painstaking precision in achieving an engaging transparency for the listener. While his slow tempi may be initially surprising, the poetry and clarity he evinces from Beethoven’s scores have rarely been shown to greater advantage. Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Choral Fantasia, Brahms’s A German Requiem, and a disc of 11 short pieces featuring a range of composers, from Gluck to Grieg, complete the compilation.