Carlos Kleiber's fine set of Der Freischutz earns reissue on CD for a number of reasons. One is the excellence of the actual recored sound with a score that profits greatly from such attention. Weber's famous attention to details of orchestration is lovingly explored by a conductor who has taken the trouble to go back to the score in manuscript and observe that there are differences between that and most of the published versions (this recording was made before Joachim Freyer's invaluable edition for Peters in 1976). So not only do we hear the eerie sound of low flute thirds and the subtle contrast of unmuted viola with four-part muted violins in Agathe's ''Leise, leise'', among much else, with a new freshness and point, but all the diabolical effects in the Wolf's Glen come up with a greater sense of depth, down to the grisliest detail. The beginning of the Overture, and the opening of the Wolf's Glen scene, steal upon us out of a primeval silence, as they should.
All this would be of little point were the performance itself not of such interest. There is a good deal to argue about, and argue I did in my original review in 1973, but this is because the performance is so interesting. Whatever one may feel about some of Kleiber's tempos, and I feel some of them to be unwise in both directions, they spring beyond doubt from a careful, thoughtful and musical mind. The singing cast is excellent, with Gundula Janowitz an outstanding Agathe to a somewhat reflective Max from Peter Schreir, at his best when the hero is brought low by the devilish machinations; Edith Mathis a pretty Aennchen, Theo Adam a fine, murky Caspar. The dialogue, spoken by actors, is slightly abbreviated and in one or two respects amended.
There is no real rivalry here from the Hauschild version on Denon, made at a dress rehearsal for the reopening of the Semperoper in Dresden in 1985 and attended by too much extraneous noise. Kubelik's performance (Decca) is the more subtle and commanding, and also the more colourful. It is more traditional than Kleiber's, without any loss of freshness; Kleiber produces much new insight however, often penetratingly. The magical old score can take both approaches.'