If the recording of the live performance had been on CD, I would have been mainly enthusiastic. Andris Nelsons is the most promising Wagner conductor I have heard for a long time, and his account of this glowing, radiant score is broad. The singing is good, too, with a lovely Elsa from Annette Dasch, and a Lohengrin who has magnificent moments.

This is a rather special Lohengrin...the spacious Bayreuth sound is moulded with exceptional tonal refinement and richness of colour...Vogt has more than enough stamina and vocal authority to sustain the role. All six solo singers are musically excellent and dramatically persuasive, with Petra Lang's excoriating Ortrud and Georg Zeppenfeld's grave yet warm-toned King Henry particularly memorable...The general air of conviction owes much to the excellent cinematography

In appearance and textual delivery Vogt is ideal, but his sweet, plaintive voice doesn't ring on top...Vogt hasn't an ideal legato style either, but his tenderness is extremely affecting...[Lang is] directed into overacting, but she sigs passionately into the text and for this role has transformed her mezzo into a bright-toned dramatic soprano. Bayreuth's incomparable chorus really deserves a medal for its performance here.