A few months before recording his legendary Tristan und Isolde, Herbert von Karajan had already surrounded himself with his favorite vocal soloists, Jon Vickers and Helga Dernesch, in a benchmark recording of Beethoven's Fidelio. Served by a fantastic cast, in which the ominous Pizarro by Zoltán Kelemen particularly stands out, this is one of Karajan's greatest lyrical achievements on disc.