4/5 An unusual production in many ways
  by Teacup (Assam, India)
Karita Mattila brings a great deal of depth to the character of Leonora. This is a real woman she portrays, not the usual near-saint. Her Fidelio is very "butch" and ready to exploit anyone and anything in her quest for finding Florestan and securing his release. Poor Marzellina is just a cog in her machinations.

Rene Pape also presents a very different, near-comic, version of the jailer Rocco, not the man struggling with his conscience while trying to save his job. He carries it off with real flair.

The dialogue has been trimmed to make the opera move faster and it is very effective for the most part. The only problem is that the request for a trumpeter to announce the arrival of Don Fernando was dropped. This means that someone seeing the opera for the first time will miss the meaning of the distant trumpet in Act II, the most poignant moment in the opera. A pity.

The production seems to be set in the US, in the mid (?)-twentieth century. I am not American, so the clothing styles don't give me clues to to time that they give an American. However, while the time of the setting is not a problem, the place is. It is hard to visualise such a happening in the US of the 20th century.

Oddly, it is easier to visualise it happening today. The broadcast was in 2000, a year before the "war on terror" started. Had it been designed a year or two later, it could have been set in an US "off-shore" prison, far more effectively than in the present production. Florestan would have to be a potential terrorist "renditioned" (or whatever the verb is) to some CIA black site, with Don Pizarro using his position to pay off political scores. It would have worked better, and could be easily conveyed with prisoners being dressed in orange jumpsuits, being forcibly groomed, hooded and with heavy earphones blocking out sound, yearning for fresh air.

Is anyone from the Met listening? It could be the operatic equivalant of Emile Zola's "Je accuse"!

5/5 This is the ultimate Fidelio!
  by P. Sutherland (Berea, Ohio, USA)
I've seen two other Fidelio productions and this is the first one I actually enjoyed/loved!! The orchestra and singing by the entire cast and chorus was simply magnificent from start to finish. You will not regret this purchase, I guarantee it!

5/5 A Fidelio to cherish
  by R. A. Diskin (Kennesaw, GA)
I was fortunate enough to have been an audience member and witness the remarkable talents of Levine, Mattila and Heppner in person at the MET. That is why I was so thrilled to see this powerful production not only on PBS but to own it. Not many works come across with such human pathos written in the vocal line nor are there such singing actresses as of Mattila's stature. She carries the show, she comes across so believable that you wonder how she does it and is able to maintain a difficult trouser role and remain credible. The DVD comes across brilliantly and you experience her every nuance not seen from the audience standpoint. The towering finale will cause you to leap to your feet as the audience did on the night I was there and the cast received a standing ovation - not common at the MET I assure you.

5/5 Great....and there is another also
  by J. Bevan (Mansfield, TX USA)
This seems to be broadly reviewed here and elsewhere as a superlative video rendering of Beethoven's sole venture into opera. However, I've never been able to understand why DGG has never brought us the Bernstein version from the Vienna State Opera -- shown on PBS 20 years ago. It is the audio version of this production that they chose to represent Fidelio in their Complete Beethoven Edition which came out in 1997. The cast includes Gundula Janowitz and Rene Kollo. Bernstein's command of the theater was second to none, so this is a vote for DGG to bring out the other great performance of this work.

Until then, you won't go wrong with Levine and the Met.

5/5 What's your perspective on Fidelio?
  by Alan Majeska (Bad Axe, MI, USA)
When considering if you want James Levine's 2000 recording of Beethoven's only completed opera, "Fidelio" the question to ask is: "What's your perspective on Fidelio?" Should it be staged to reflect the time in which it was composed? (Ca. 1805) or should it have a more modern set and staging? (as is the case here). James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera orchestra play wonderfully and are - as almost always - very reliable and sensible in tempos, balance, and phrasing. The singers: Mattila, Heppner, Pape, Lloyd, Polenzani, etc. are all excellent. But the staging - which may seem controversial - is modern, with such items as 20th century handguns, American style Khaki military uniforms, and in the last act, the announcement of the President coming (not the governer as would be the case in Austria, 1805). Some who insist on a more authentic, Austrian, period staging of Beethoven's opera may not care for this.

There are elements of humor brought out on the stage in some places, and I found the Prisoners' Chorus very moving. I can't comment blow by blow on the singers, as I'm not a singer myself, but it all sounds excellent to me: well balanced with the orchestra and chorus, and in the bigger choral numbers, everyone is right in the action and on cue/target musically as well.

I love Beethoven's music, and always feel great comfort and a sense of victory and rightness about the world when listening to/watching FIDELIO, or hearing the incidental music to EGMONT. Beethoven had a firm belief in democracy, the triumph of right over wrong: justice for the accused who are innocent, and that one man/woman or class should not rule over another - he hoped for an egalitarian society somewhat as the French Revolution, Socialism, or later in Russia, Bolshevism promised, but did not deliver. I think Beethoven would have liked living in a democracy as the United States, or Austria today, more of a parliamentary democracy for sure than it was 200 years ago during his lifetime.

If you don't want Levine's Met. production of FIDELIO, consider the following CD releases: Klemperer/Philharmonia (EMI) or Bohm/Dresden State Orchestra (DG, 1969, recently re-released).