David R made the astute observation, that Don Fernnado doesn't really sound like Nimsgern. Correct. Nimsgern undoubtedly sings Pizarro. A google search shows that Luigi Roni sang Fernando. Walter Berry is not featured at all in this recording.

Karl Bohm was surrounded by some of his favorite singers in this performance and we are lucky it was preserved in good stereo sound. The dropouts to which Andy remarks are a little annoying, but not damaging to one's enjoyment.And it's a fine performance! Rysanek is on fire as always. A friend of mine insists there are no bad Rysanek performances. Her vocalism isn't immaculate by any means, but it doesn't matter. She conveys Leonore's desperation and determination as few others do. King also sings with grit and beauty. Pilou is a lovely Marzelline and Dallapozza a handsome jaquino. Macurdy sounds exactly like the Everyman he's supposed to be and Berry brings vocal power and intensity to Pizarro. Siegmund Nimsgern is listed as the Don Fernando, He had a very distinctive voice and this sounds like someone else - a good someone else to be sure. Carlo Meliciani sings the second prisoner: he was a regular La Scala cover and there are several recordings where he can be heard singing major roles.The orchestra plays extremely well for Bohm and the chorus (despite some odd German) helps bring the opera to its joyous conclusion.

Beethoven's only opera is served well by this performance featuring the superb Leonie Rysanek and James King, helmed by the great Karl Bohm. Sound is quite good.

A decent performance with good sound quality, but not superlative. Rysanek not at her best and both she and King devolve into a shouting match later in the opera. Some lovely work from Pilou and Dallapozza early on and the first act quartet is quite good.

This stunning performance captures principals and conductor at or near their best. It's extremely exciting and involving, thanks largely to Bohm and Rysanek. In radiant voice, with only a couple of awkwardly-phrased passages, she is a cherishable, moving Leonore, more feminine than most and always totally involved and convincing. James King, an authentic-sounding Florestan, sometimes gets less than the credit he deserves, but I have to say I find him incredibly loud, to the point of being hectoring. Maybe it's not Rocco, but someone's been feeding this Florestan... Jeanette Pilou is one of the very best Marzellines I have heard, immaculately musical and poised, lifting Dalapozza's traditional Jacquino to something more individual and making much of their scenes together. I rather like John Macurdy's warm, humane Rocco, and Walter Berry's Pizarro is superbly sung and characterised - what we in Scotland would describe as a real "nippy sweetie" (those lemon sherbet boilings that cause involuntary clenching of whichever parts of one's anatomy are clenchable). A word too for Siegmund Nimsgern, who makesmuch of little as Fernando. A great cast, but the catalyst is Bohm, whose years of experience and musical understanding makes this performance heart-stoppingly powerful. He never lets the tension slacken, yet there's no sense of rushing, and he supports his singers magnificently in some of the most taxing vocal writing in opera. In this he is admirably supported by the orchestra and chorus of La Scala. The dropouts are a bit of a pain, but I'll happily put up with them for this near-ideal Fidelio