“James Levine has made the Met orchestra second to none, and for Mr. Kleiber the string players seemed to find a hundred new delicacies of timbre and phrasing. One of many small miracles was the sound of the muted sting measures towards the end of Iago's Credo which are marked dolcissimo and ben legato, with phrasing and portomento slurs superimposed and syncopated accents. Internal balances were exact. Details emerged in perfect clarity. The playing was energetic, but had translucency, an avoidence of fatness, a let-the-singer-through quality that I missed when, a few days later Mr. Levine conducted "Die Entfuhrung."”
— The New Yorker, Andrew Poter's review of "Othello", with Kleiber conducting, March 26, 1990
