Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Fidelio

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This live 1953 performance is the most compelling in unity of conception & in execution of all Furtwaengler's recreations of this score. Even with reservations about individual cast members, this remains the finest of Furtwaengler's 'Fidelios'--an achievement of heaven-storming power.

Furtwaengler sometimes allows the end of a section of dialogue to bleed into the ensuing musical number for a heightened sense of melodrama. But most important of all is his emphasis on the score's harmonic movement. The playing of the Vienna Philharmonic is finished & responsive, spurred on by the white heat of the conductor's inspiration. Windgassens's singing is impressive & secure. Martha Moedl as Leonore is incisive but erratic; nonetheless Moedl makes the drama of Leonore's predicament & heroism blaze. Sena Jurinac, soon to be a Leonore herself, is substantial; Edelmann is a solid Pizarro.

My acquaintance with this performance comes via the Walhall 2-CD set, which features all of the performers listed here. On that set, Karl Bohm, who recorded this opera at least 7 times (all great performances) simply outdid himself here, and so did the sound technicians and everyone else involved. This is a live 1955 Vienna State Opera performance, in which the Vienna Philharmonic is in its full glory, and all of the soloists are unsurpassable. But what especially makes the set is Bohm, the greatest Fidelio conductor, who here gives a performance that's more radiant, more impassioned, more graceful, than ever, yet without sacrificing a bit of power. For some reason, Bohm here renders an extraordinarily lithe performance, which has more dynamic range (from exquisite piannisimos to raging fortissimos) than ever. Bohm doesn't usually provide highly accented performances, but this time he did, and so his usual squared-off phrasing is replaced here by these sharp and highly expressive accents, which can shift from loud to soft and back again within a single bar or even within a single graceful note. Yet it all holds together and has a propulsive thrust throughout.

If you have never heard this opera before, or if you have heard it but not been fully convinced of its greatness, then this is the performance that will convince you. And if you have been convinced of its greatness (perhaps because you've heard Bohm's other recordings of the work), then this is the performance which will out-do even the best of the others. It's the indispensable performance of Fidelio.

Beethoven: Fidelio (1953 October 12, Vienna) is a 1953 Bellaphon recording starring Wiener Philharmoniker under the direction of Wilhelm Furtwangler. Music notes and lyrics are available in English. The sound quality is amazing being that the recording is close to 60 years old. Furtwangler truly understands Beethoven and conducts with a deep seated masculinity and bravura. A great recording worthy one of the greatest composers. Also starring the amazing Rudolf Schock. Highly recommended indeed. 5/5.