Fidelio

As much as I love the 1978 and 2002 productions, this is my favourite production of Beethoven's only opera Fidelio. It is simply wonderful, and very dramatically and musically powerful, helped by Karl Bohm's eloquent and detailed conducting and the direction of the last scene which does a lot with the dramatic and musical elements as it should do. I don't really need to say how amazing the music is, particularly O Namenlose Freude, O Welche Lust, In Des Lebens, the quartet Mir ist so Wunderbar and Leonore's Abscheulicher, and all of it is performed to outstanding effect. The acting and singing are superb. Gwyneth Jones moved me greatly as Leonore/Fidelio, and James King has such power to his singing and even looks like a broken prisoner. Gustav Neidlinger is ideally malevolent as Don Pizarro, Josef Griendl a sympathetic Rocco and Martti Talvela a rock solid and vocally resonant Fernando. The costumes and sets are effective and bring just the right mood. I personally could've done without some of the close-ups, but other than that I adored this Fidelio. 10/10 Bethany Cox