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Title: If you only own one...
Review: I own the VHS tape version, and must say that it is quite wonderful. I wish one could uniformly find good, solid, traditional productions of all of the standard operas on video, but this has become quite the exception rather than the rule. Later, we can check out the productions from the directors who can't keep their egos in check. I might buy a ticket to see their shenanigans once, but for the long haul, give me this. A relatively young Haitink keeps it moving along, and everyone sings well.If you only know the piece from CDs go for this one.Oh, and the Leonore #3 would have been played after the climax, before the last scene, when we've already heard the trumpet calls. Gustav Mahler may have thought it released the tension, and made the jump to the finale less abrupt. Playing in the opera was his idea.
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