..., because this work stands closer to perfection than any other opera will, because this was the opera I saw on my first visit to the Salzburg Festival (I chose it over Boulez conducting Moses und Aron: unwise, perhaps, but understandable, I hope), because one has not heard Mozart until one has heard it played by this orchestra, and because this film was the first opera I owned on video, a birthday present from my music teacher...:
