Classical Companion

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 5 & 7
DG 471 6302 (SACD)
Kleiber's unmissable VPO coupling from 1975/6 – one of the few SACDs to remain in DG's catalogue. Orfeo has a 1982 live Seventh.

Schubert: Symphonies Nos 3 & 8
DG 449 7452
Kleiber's 1978 VPO recordings with a superb 'Unfinished' and with No 3 especially thrilling in the final Presto.

Verdi: La Traviata
DG 479 7287 (2CDs + Blu-ray audio)
Cotrubas as Violetta – 'an ideal heroine' – Domingo (Alfredo), Milnes (Germont) and the Bayerischer Staatsoper.

Brahms: Symphony No 4
DG 457 7062; also 479 2687 (3CDs + Blu-ray)
Kleiber's 1961 VPO version 'blends intellectual rigour, passion and perfectionism' [BBC Music]. De-Luxe set also has the two Schubert and Beethoven Symphonies remastered.

VPO New Year Day Concerts 1989/92
DG 0734014 (DVD)/Sony G010001399438J; Philips E701529 (DVD)/Sony COLSK48376.
An odd mish-mash of labels for these two historic events, on DVDs or CDs.

Carlos Kleiber: I Am Lost To The World
C major 705608 (DVD)
Musicians define the art and personality, German original film with UK subtitles.