 But the album's supreme excellence lay in "the inspiration of Karajan's intellect and sensitivity, seen here completely at the service of finding out the heart of the music".From the first bar of the opera to its last, Karajan had achieved an "extraordinary dreamlike concentration" in which the listener was engaged in the emotional life of believable men and women.Never before, Steane thought, had "Pelléas et Mélisande" moved him so deeply, either on disc or even in the theatre.