This account of Beethoven's paean to loyalty and
freedom from the 2010 Lucerne Festival comes blazingly to life
when Jonas Kaufmann is pouring searing intensity into the role
of Florestan and Nina Stemme is illuminating Leonore's
emotional plights. The rest of the cast is admirable, and the
Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Arnold Schoenberg Choir make
first-rate contributions. Claudio Abbado conducts a refined
reading that occasionally comes up short in conveying
Beethoven's propulsive ecstasy.
