Here’s one of Germany’s most formidable living maestros alongside Austria’s greatest orchestra in music that sits at the pinnacle of the Austro-German symphonic tradition. Christian Thielemann’s Beethoven symphony cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic was always going to be a major event, and so it proved. Here we have the life-or-death Symphony No. 5 set against the radiant serenity of the “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6. Thielemann’s interpretations are grounded in two centuries of performance tradition, sweeping, authoritative and making full use of the Vienna Philharmonic’s majestic ensemble sound. Yet they’re anything but staid, buzzing with energy, glowing with life, and charged throughout with a restless, thrilling sense of forward momentum. These recordings are already shaping up as classics: old-school Beethoven with a 21st-century edge.