it's a performance of great warmth, dignity and impressive power. Much of the visual interest is provided by the batonless Christian Thielemann, using his eyes and large, eloquent hands, almost literally shaping the music into a truly impressive edifice...[His] tempos are stately but never drag...and he has infused his performers with passion.

tempi are as expansive as you might expect, but Thielemann is too experienced a master of sustaining a line to let solemnity drag into torpor. He has at his disposal superbly drilled, well-modulated, semi-professional radio choirs...Most fascinating to me is Christine Schafer, who in voice and even appearance becomes a Karajan soprano of the late '60s/early '70s.