In 1961 Leibowitz conducted the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a set of Beethoven's symphonies made by
Decca for
Reader's Digest;
[21] it was among the first to attempt to follow Beethoven's
metronome markings, following the pioneering set made in Vienna three years earlier, conducted by
Hermann Scherchen.
[22] Reviewers observed that although Scherchen had achieved tempos more closely approaching the composer's markings, Leibowitz, at speeds not much slower, had secured better ensemble than the earlier set achieved.
[22] Initially the set was poorly received.
The Stereo Record Guide called the performances "slack", "perfunctory" and "insensitive";
[23] on its reissue in the 1980s a
Gramphone reviewer thought much of the set "light-weight" and "lacking in
gravitas", although he found the performance of the Seventh Symphony "magnificent".
[24] In 1995
Richard Taruskin, analysing a selection of Beethoven recordings, concluded that Leibowitz, like Scherchen, delivered performances that were musically and musicologically superior to more recent attempts by
"authentic" conductors such as
Christopher Hogwood.
[22] By the 21st century the performances had come to seem old-fashioned, in the view of a critic in
Fanfare, who found them more akin to those by
Herbert von Karajan than to those by specialist authenticists such as
Roger Norrington and
John Eliot Gardiner.
[25]
