November 1995

Lohengrin (1848) - Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Henry the Fowler); Ben Heppner (Lohengrin); Sharon Sweet (Elsa von Brabant); Sergei Leiferkus (Friedrich von Telramund); Eva Marton (Ortrud); Bryn Terfel (The King's Herald); Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis - RCA 09026 62646-2 - three discs 223:42 DDD

Lohengrin was the last music Wagner wrote for five years, and his last "Romantic" opera before he revolutionised the form. Appropriately, it is the most romantic of all operas, involving the rescue of an innocent maiden by a knight in shining armor, who arrives in a boat drawn by a swan. The knight comes from the land of the Grail: all the music associated with him is radiant, "white", so it is a foregone conclusion that he can't remain in our sullied world.

Shortly after completing it, Wagner was exiled for revolutionary activities. Its premiere took place in Weimar under Liszt with Wagner seated in Lucerne, watch in hand, 'following' its progress.

This set is a triumph. I didn't really expect it to be, having previously found Sir Colin Davis only a moderately sympathetic Wagner conductor. And Lohengrin, adorable work though it is, can easily bog down in what seem to be interminable wrangles, punctuated by heavy thumps from the orchestra, though alternating with gratefully received flowing melodies unlike anything found elsewhere in Wagner. Here the wrangling is fiercely dramatic, the melodies caressed lovingly but not distended. Take, for instance, the notorious Wedding March ("Here comes the bride!"). Davis eliminates its foursquareness, a vice of the work which Wagner himself came to recognize, and treats it as if he had never heard it, freshly and buoyantly.

He has an excellent team of soloists, better than on any set since Bayreuth's in 1953 (on Teldec Historical). Ben Heppner is someone who should be heard much more than he has been. As the hero, he is less otherworldly than Lohengrins usually are, and perhaps than he should be; but he is also more interesting. With his large, warm voice he presents a sturdy figure, one who convincingly wins fights and falls in love. Sharon Sweet, living up to her name, also has a richer tone than we are used to in Elsa, with ringing high notes and the capacity to become irresistibly insistent in Act III.

It was a stroke of genius to cast Sergei Leiferkus as Telramund, often a cipher of a villain. Here he is a man to be reckoned with, one whose complex nature has been villainously simplified by his evil consort, Ortrud. Eva Marton takes that thrilling role, and though she is on better form than for several years past, she is sometimes fearsome in the wrong way. But it is only in her final outburst that she gives cause for serious complaint, and she evidently understands the role. Jan-Hendrik Rootering sings the King's music so beautifully that one can't be bored by it, and Bryn Terfel completes this cast with an imperious, sonorous Herald.

In this opera the chorus is vital: it not only plays a large part, but some of its music, for instance the procession to the Minister in Act II, is ravishing. The Bavarian Radio Chorus, inspired by Davis's broad, flexible tempi, produces tones that bring tears to the eyes. But so much does in this recording of Wagner's loveliest work, in an acoustic which does full justice to the splendors of the performance.

- Michael Tanner