An excellent recording of a stunning musical extravaganza

In writing about what I think is the best recording of "La Damnation de Faust," written between 1829 and 1846 by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), the 1981 with George Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Kenneth Riegel in the title role, Jose van Dam as the devil (Mephistopheles) and Frederica von Stade as Marguerite, I went on at considerable length about Berlioz opening me to Romantic music and some embarrassing ignorances about this piece, which I have played many times without paying much attention to the words.

The story of Faust is familiar, though there are major variations in how it ends. Excuse is provided by the magnificence (and variegated coloration) of the music for what is officially a "Dramatic Legend in Four Parts," and is performed in concert halls rather than opera houses. There is music of beautiful pathos (the oboe and mezzo in "Marguerite's Romance"), of diabolical and of heavenly exaltation (in that order, in Part IV), of High Drama (particularly the arrival in hell with an exceptionally loud sustained note), of lyrical anguish (Faust's nature song), and sinister menace (Mephistopheles).

Berlioz was a great orchestrator (a not so great editor of his own work...), indeed wrote a textbook on the subject. The ride into the abyss is particularly impressive, and the interplay of oboe and voice in Marguerite's Romance and Faust's Invocation of Nature. (In the April 27th performance I heard, the featured oboe in the two differed. I doubt this was the case in the recording led by (Sir) Colin Davis, with the oboist(s) seeming a bit tentative to me.

The very German Faust story that was adapted by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) during the late-1790s and published in 1802 (the second part waited until 1830), fathered a French quasi-opera that begins on the plains of Hungary (horrifying many Goetheophiles and Germanophiles!), moves to North Germany in Part II, Marguerite's (Gretchen's in German) room there in Part III as Faust seduces her under the devil's guidance, and ends in hell in Part IV, followed by a rapturously beautiful epilogue in which Marguerite's soul is summoned to heaven by a gigantic chorus (augmented in the last five minutes by children's chorus(es)).

The sounds were radical in 1846 and was trashed by critics. One went beyond accusing Berlioz of "disfiguring one of the greatest conceptions of modern poetry" to asserting that "M. Berlioz [is] incapable of writing for the human voice." Considering the great beauty of the vocal writing (solo, ensemble, and choral) this is an astonishing indictment.

I think that the music continued to have an impact after repeated hearings, but am pretty sure I thought it was beautiful and dramatic the first time I heard it (once upon a time).

Colin Davis was a major champion of Berlioz from early in the era of long-playing records. His recording of "La Damnation de Faust" is the one I knew first and have heard most often. Though I now prefer the Solti one, I think the Davis studio recording (there is also a later one of a live performance) is also very worthy.

I compared the two in writing about the Solti recording, and will repeat the aspect-by-aspect comparison of the discs (and of the two live performances in Davies Symphony hall in 1994 and last month that I have heard) here:


The title role is particularly grueling. Faust sings a lot.--more than Mephistofeles, and I'd estimate three times as much as Marguerite (Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose, who sang it here, did not come on stage until more than an hour into the piece). The role reaches the height of lyricism in scene 16, the Invocation to Nature, and is followed by dialogue with Mefistofele and the ultra-dramatic Ride into the Abyss. I heard Jerry Hadley singe the role here in 1994, but can't remember if I thought he was more impressive than the tenors on my two recordings. Kenneth Riegel on the Solti recording is the most passionately lyrical of the three I've heard recently. (Jules Bastin on the Davis one is superior to Gregory Kunde's live one I recently heard).

I've heard Samuel Ramey sing the devil in many incarnations, including Berlioz's in the 1994 concert here. Jose van Dam (in the Solti recording) and Nikolai Gedda are both great Mefistofeles (and not just in Berlioz's music for him). (Sir) Willard White was quite powerful one (here last month) and acted the part (visually and well as vocally).

Marguerite's "Romance" (for mezzo and oboe alternating and then singing together, with light other orchestration eventually) is achingly beautiful. The London Symphony's oboist (David) seems a bit tentative in contrast to those of the Chicago Symphony (on Solti's recording) and the San Francisco Symphony (William Bennett),

Frederica von Stade sang Marguerite beautifully in the 1994 concert here and on the Solti recording. I thought that Ruxandra Donose sang it beautifully here last month, though my partner thought that her singing didn't sound very French I have no complaints about Josephine Veasey's singing on the Davis recording. I'd say Flicka is slightly more lyrical, Veasey's slightly more ardent. (And Donose's the darkest.)

Although my sense of what "The Damnation of Faust" is supposed to sound like was formed by the Colin Davis recording, I have to say that the tenor (Riegel), oboe, and chorus are better on the Solti recording, which also has superb sound engineering. The performances by mezzo, bass, and orchestra don't provide strong reasons to prefer one version. Berlioz's variegated orchestration colorations are impressive on both recordings, though I think the sound engineering for the Solti one has a slight edge.


© 2007, Stephen O. Murray