Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” Prelude to Act I: Rudolf Kempe and the Vienna Philharmonic
The Prelude to the first act of Wagner’s 1850 opera, Lohengrin, unfolds as a gradual cosmic crescendo before fading again into silence. It begins in the highest register of the orchestra with a shimmering, prolonged A major chord. Angelic harmonics in divided solo violin lines alternate and overlap with woodwind voices to create a dreamy shifting kaleidoscope of tonal color. At moments, the familiar instruments of the orchestra seem to dissolve into …