What an exciting dramatic performance, and the BBC radio balance is excellent. Nicholas Braithwaite keeps it all moving along with great energy. The English translation is by Gordon Kember for those who are interested. My mp3 download suffered from some pretty intrusive hum; was this is a problem others noticed?

... and its fresh access to Wagner´s music. And I liked it even more when I found a review from 50+ years ago, a review, written by a reviewer who just needed an opportunity to tell his readers, that he just saw Lohengrin at Bayreuth, and that he didn´t want to compare ... to do just that. He compared the staging, he compared the singers, he compared with past Covent Garden performances (Klemperer, Norman del Mar) - he qualified as a complete ***.So maybe this clouds my impression, but I listened to that recording, in, by the way, excellent soundquality for those times, in its glorious completeness, and repeated that experience only two days later ... which hasn´t happened often with complete operas.Remedios is an excellent Lohengrin, the vulnerability shines through, Curphey a convincing Elsa, the villain-couple equally conclusive and Braithwaite´s conducting refreshingly firm, without the extra-weight often added to Wagners Music.Did I mention that I really like it? ... Okay, I did. But: I really like itErnst Petz

I agree with Andy that performing Wagner in English really helps to get me fully involved in the performance. I also second everything that David L Reynolds says about this recording. I am biased of course because I saw most of this cast in this and many other operas throughout the 70s and 80s. The big puzzle for me is Judith Turner - I am not familiar with the name at all and when I saw Lohengrin I'm pretty certain that Ann Howard sang Ortrud. I think Turner is superb - her voice certainly can be harsh, which for me makes her perfect for the role. Her voice is very strong and she is always bang on the note. I listened to the whole performance yesterday, and have just listened to the whole thing again today! Highly recommended.

I recently reviewed a 1960 Tannhauser in English (also available from Opera Depot) and here we have a Lohengrin from 11 years later. This time the sound is better and the translation more up-to-date and easier to follow. The cast reads like a forecast of who would be participating in the Sadler Wells Ring production under Reginald Goodall. Perhaps this Lohengrin was a warm-up for that great undertaking.Remedios sings sweetly and lyrically as the eponymous hero and with clear diction as well. Curphey responds with a lovely Elsa, one of the best I've heard in a while. Her top soars when it needs to and her accounts of the Big Moments are all successful. Her diction isn't the clearest.Judith Turner may be a bit shrill as Andy says above, but she is a frighteningly vehement Ortrud. She and Curphey contrast well vocally. Herincx (the Father in the terrific Sadler Wells studio Hansel and Gretel from 1964) provides a much more vivid Telramund than we normally get, helped by his excellent enunciation of the text. Terrence Sharpe sings the Herald's music with great distinction and Clifford Grant reveals again why he was so valued at the ENO with his rich, steady bass. A mild indisposition causes him some momentary trouble on top, but it passes quickly.Braithwaite conducts capably, leading a nearly complete performance albeit with the usual cut in the third act. His orchestra and chorus are very good.Another fine night at Sadlers Wells, soon to be the English National Opera!

Well, I wasn't impressed. I liked Orchestra, Chorus and conducting. I enjoyed powerful, colourful and rich in tone Telramund of Herincx.But that's it. I find Remedios a bit weak and not a pleasure to listen to. Perhaps I am not used to listen opera works in English, also.

Excellent

This was the Saturday broadcast and I attended the performance three days later. Curphey was ill and Anne Evans deputised (!) At the time, Evans was a regular Micaela, Mimi and even Violetta with the touring company (!!) None of us regulars at ENO knew how she would develop in a decade or so (!!!)A special word of praise for Raimund Herincx in this performance. He was an intense stage animal and every performance by him was special - I will never forget a Walkure Wotan in the early '80s (I think).Clifford Grant had a cold (as can be heard) but -except for some trouble in the higher reaches of the voice- is as authoritative as ever.Note Terence Sharpe as the mellifluous Herald, one of the best Verdi baritones around.Best of all (of course) is Alberto Remedios. Absolutely stunningly lyrical; a Lohengrin to set besides Konya and Jess Thomas (yes, really!) He even caps his Walter [Goodall Mastersingers] with this performance, and was to bring his lyric strengths to Siegmund and Siegfried [also Goodall] later on.