Hyperion Records

The Festspiel und Brautlied (‘Festal Music and Bridal Song’) from Wagner’s Lohengrin was issued with two other numbers transcribed from the same opera in 1854. The first number was revised for the 1861 edition. The chief differences between the two versions are: that the whole of the Prelude is repeated in the first version, whilst in the second it is truncated; and that the textures of the first version, especially at the big brass melody in the Prelude, are much lighter. (The central Bridal Song is unchanged.)

from notes by Leslie Howard © 1998