Six Seven...

Saturday, November 14, 2026

Classical Recordings from 1967

Good morning! The six seven meme has run its course. Your cousin has stopped shouting it at the dinner table, and the teacher who tried to join in has quietly retired the joke.

But 1967 is still a perfectly good year to listen to. Nobody has to hold their hands up and wobble them. Hugh Bean played The Lark Ascending at Abbey Road in March, and Barenboim, still only 24, recorded his Mozart there in January. Bernstein cut a Nicolai overture in May. Szell's Beethoven Fifth, taped in Amsterdam the November before, reached the shops that year.

Here is an hour and twenty minutes of it. No winking required.

Programme

1. Ralph Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending
2. Otto Nicolai, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Overture
3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23
4. Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5

▶ Open playlist in Spotify · 1 hour 21 minutes

Ralph Vaughan Williams

1872 – 1958

The Lark Ascending, Romance for violin and orchestra

Recorded 1 March 1967, No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London · Released 1967 on His Master's Voice (ASD 2329)

Hugh Bean (violin) · New Philharmonia Orchestra · Sir Adrian Boult, conductor

• The Lark Ascending

Otto Nicolai

1810 – 1849

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Overture

Recorded 20 May 1967, Philharmonic Hall, New York

New York Philharmonic · Leonard Bernstein, conductor

• Overture

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756 – 1791

Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488

Recorded 1 and 2 January 1967, No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London

Daniel Barenboim (piano and conductor) · English Chamber Orchestra

• I. Allegro
• II. Andante
• III. Allegro assai

Ludwig van Beethoven

1770 – 1827

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Recorded November 1966, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam · Released 1967 on Philips

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra · George Szell, conductor

• I. Allegro con brio
• II. Andante con moto
• III. Scherzo. Allegro
• IV. Finale. Allegro

Go 67, Wikimedia Commons