“Klemperer’s great set of Fidelio… the unique incandescence and spiritual strength of the performance, superbly cast, leads to a final scene in which, more than in any other, the parallel with the finale of the Choral Symphony is underlined. It remains first choice” (Penguin Guide) “Mme Ludwig not only sings the taxing music exactly as written, but doesn’t sound uncomfortably extended by the tessitura; …at all events, I have heard nothing of hers on the gramophone that I like so well as this. Her enunciation of words is outstanding; and the warmth and intensity of her singing bring Beethoven’s heroine before our eyes….Jon Vickers’s admirable Florestan, familiar to us at Covent Garden, is probably the best interpretation of the role now to be heard.” (from original Gramophone review by Alan Blyth)
