"Wieder mal anödende, gar nicht neue Experiment, Fidelio ohne die ebenfalls nicht sonderlich gelungenen Dialoge zu geben"

"Musically Kaufman does not disappoint ... And ... he is joined by a cast who work musically as a team, with Adrianne Pieczonka as his wife Leonore adding a special intensity ... With an excellent cast therefore, and with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, this Fidelio recorded live at the Salzburg Festival would on the face of it have much to recommend it ... However, this is a DVD issue, and unless you are one those very few opera lovers who likes to have each new performance reinterpreted by a director who is so intelligent that his vision and insights leave us other mere mortals behind, then this new version cannot be recommended"

"This Fidelio was among the high-profile offerings at the 2015 Salzburg Festival. Jonas Kaufmann led the cast with the excellent Adrianne Pieczonka as Leonore ... What could go wrong? Quite a lot, in fact ... Guth does away with all the dialogue, replacing it with portentous recordings of heavy breathing and nervous mutterings ... There aren't really many musical compensations, either ... Franz Welser-Möst's conducting is brusquely efficient, while the Vienna Philharmonic hardly excel themselves"

Vurdering: 3/5

"This is a great musical performance of Beethoven's sublime opera, hitched to a production which sets new standards, if that's possible, of irrelevance, impertinence and directional conceit. My advice for Fidelio-lovers is to watch it once, then to listen to it often. The conducting of Franz Welzer-Möst is on the highest level ... Jonas Kaufmann is a magnificent Florestan ... and Adrienne Pieczonka a heroic Fidelio ... There isn't a weak link in the cast - this is the finest new Fidelio I have heard for years"