Liszt directed the admirably trained orchestra; the singers were excellent. From the very first note of the Introduction, with its high violin passages and gradation effects, the instrumentation seemed to me to be strikingly original, in fact rather too original in its Harshness. There is much dramatic life in this music, but I do not like the predominance of recitatives; I should prefer more rhythmical melodious phrases or movements in the ordinary form. Wagner's treatment frequently wearied me, from being too monotonous and too overloaded; for one leading theme well worked out, for one well sustained vein of thought, I would gladly have bartered many of his bright but transient effects; for all that the work interested me extremely. One must have heard it, and one must hear it again, to form a correct judgment. << less