Richard Wagner - Lohengrin - Frey, Studer - Schneider, Bayreuth 19922*DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - German - LPCM, DTS - 214min.
Subtitles: German/English/French/Spanish/Chinese
Deutsche Grammophon 073 4404, released 2008
Paul Frey · Cheryl Studer · Gabriele Schnaut · Manfred Schenk · Ekkehard Wlaschiha
Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele · Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Conducted by Peter Schneider · Staged by Werner Herzog / Directed by Brian Large
The cast is a competent one . . . [Cheryl Studer] had a safe, reasonably attractive . . . voice . . . Here she sings a fluent Elsa . . . Gabriele Schnaut as Ortrud scowls so fearsomely during Act 1 that though she has nothing to sing by herself you can almost hear her; when she comes into her own in the first scene of Act 2, it is to quite impressive effect . . . she looks terrifying, chews Telramund as if he were the carpet, and produces gratifying amounts of decibels. The Telramund of Ekkehard Wlaschiha, the ranking Alberich of the period, is good, all told the most reliable singer and actor on the stage. The combination of ambition and weakness is finely realized and he has a rich voice . . . [Manfred Schenk] is a reliable King, and the same goes for Eike Wilm Schulte's Herald, who avoids both bawling and Fischer-Dieskau-like 'meaningfulness' . . . Slight of figure, craggily handsome, he makes an interesting contrast with most tenors who assume the role . . . Record Review / Michael Tanner, International Record Review (London) / 01. April 2008
