Soloists: Nina Stemme, Jonas Kaufmann; Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado Decca 478 2551*****

Beethoven wrote only one opera, and while it is flawed in form and construction, it contains much great music. Such is the reverence in which it is held in German-speaking countries it was chosen for the reopening of the Vienna Staatsoper after the end of the second World War. Although Beethoven never married, he wrote Fidelio as a tribute to freedom, the overthrow of tyranny and the sanctity of married love. Because of its stilted libretto and dramatic structure it presents real performing challenges, and great recordings of it are scarce. However, this recording of a deeply felt performance by Claudio Abbado – himself recovering from cancer – is certainly such. The conductor’s incandescent reading of the score is realised with wonderful singing from Kaufmann and Stemme – this is a definitive performance of a seminal masterpiece. See deccaclassics. com.