Catching the whole performance on Youtube, I was constantly enthralled watching this Fidelio. While the costumes and sets are atmospheric and at least look as though the opera is set in a prison and the photography is very cinematic, the picture quality could have been sharper and while mostly good the sound in the big dungeon scene in Act 2 especially favoured the orchestra over the singers. Adam was dominant and he gave a lot of drive to the small section before he tries to kill Leonore, but Janowitz at times you strained to hear. That said, musically and dramatically you can't ask for better, the prisoner's chorus is very poignant and the dungeon scene is very intense.
Gundula Janowitz has a more silvery quality than most Leonores, but still sings beautifully with a lot of intensity and poignancy in her acting. Abscheulischer, Mir Ist So Wunderbar and O Nameleuse Freude are sung superbly and she also convinces as a young boy. Jon Vickers is one of the finest ever Florestans, his huge voice and the ability to live and become the character are evident here especially in In Des Lebens. He looks like a starved prisoner, and while his hair may be a distraction to some it was fitting within the story considering how long he'd been in the prison. Theo Adam embodies evil as Pizarro, I did like the dark grittiness of his singing and thought the close ups showed some great menacing work with him in the dungeon scene. William Wildermann's Rocco is sympathetic and vocally sonorous. Marzelline and Jacquino are charming and Fernando is dignified.
The orchestral playing is superb, I love how stylish the strings were, the density of the woodwind and how the brass blare out when needed. The chorus are both moving and rousing. Zubin Mehta does a fine job conducting, I thought the fast tempo of the Er Sterbe! Doch Er Soll Erst Wissen really added to that scene's increasing intensity. Overall, it is a superb and thrillingly performed performance of Fidelio, though it could have been better on a technical front. 9/10 Bethany Cox
