In a nutshell, well-sung, though some of the supporting artists are a bit low on the authentic Teutonic meter. Behrens and Vickers are both in commanding voice, which is the main thing. Excellent broadcast sound, to boot!

Although I am no opera fiend, I discover I have three recordings of Fidelio, an opera that never worked for me until this recording. I had a sense that Beethoven’s genius did not work so well for the high performance of opera, but here, with Vickers and Behrens, the gripping nobility of composer’s intentions comes at us clear and strong. Surely Vickers and Behrens were among the most committed and noble sorts – it is hard to imagine that they, both in great voice here, did not find each other Fidelio soulmates. Here they catch each other’s fire, and the opera becomes a great one. In this pandemic time, a reminder of the best in the human spirit. I had the previous issue of this recording, with middingly crummy sound but still a wonder, but here we are with much finer sound and much more clarity, crispness, and depth. Yet I will keep the older set and play it sometimes, for something might be said for a great performance caught by secret microphone under some’s foot in a balcony – a captured glimpsed wonder through a narrow crack, like when I as a child I heard faraway sounds on monster-tubed shortwave radios. Goodall’s measured pacing works great for me, for dignity such as produced by Behrens and Vickers has much complexity and works well coming at us a slowly enough that we can find more and more of it. I have listened to this recording twice in two days, a good sign. John in DC

dass große Stimmen am Werk sind, kein piano Gekünstel, ehrlich und menschlich!

The live performance was excellent (despite Jon Vickers shouting) and disc 1 helped me relive the evening. Disc 2, unfortunately, was not Fidelio, but I have been promised a replacement.

Für das Alter derAufnahme eine sehr schöne Wiedrgabe!