Beethoven: Fidelio
This live-from-Covent Garden performance, taped in February of 1961, challenges Klemperer's1962 studio recording on EMI, also with Vickers and Frick, but with otherwise different soloists, for the supreme position among recorded versions ofFidelio. As usual with Klemperer, tempi are broad, but there's no lack of tension, and his singers, all in superb voice (except for the somewhat wobbly bass Hans Hotter as Pizarro, who nonetheless is frightening and a major force in the role), are as involved in the message of the work as they are in their individual notes. Vickers is riveting, offering a sad, resigned, noble and, at the same time, heroic Florestan, and soprano Sena Jurinac is the picture of strength, compassion, and dignity as Leonore. Dobson and Morison are a fine pair of youngsters, and Gottlob Frick makes Rocco come vividly to life: a good man, doing a bad job. After an exciting performance of the Leonore Overture No. 3 (which should be skipped for maximum dramatic impact) between the dungeon scene and finale, the opera's last moments are as thrilling and uplifting as the Ninth Symphony can be. The broadcast sound is as good as it can be. Highly recommended, whether you already own the EMI or not.--Robert Levine