Scenes from Goethe’s Faust (1844-53) [116.42]
Iwona Hossa (soprano I) - Sorge, Angel, Magna Peccatrix; Christiane Libor (soprano II) - Gretchen, Una Poenitentium, Not; Anna Lubanska (alto I) - Mulier Samaritana, Mangel; Ewa Marciniec (alto II) - Martha, Maria Aegyptiaca, Schuld, Mater Gloriosa; Daniel Kirch (tenor) - Ariel, Pater Ecstaticus; Jaakko Kortekangas (baritone) - Faust, Doctor Marianus, Pater Seraphicus; Andrew Gangestad (bass) - Mephistopheles, Evil Spirit, Pater Profundus
Warsaw Boys’ Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/Antoni Wit
rec. Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, 21-28 April 2009
NAXOS NBD0015 BD-A [116.42]
Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethe’s Faust is curiously
listed by Archiv Musik among the composer’s operas, but
it is very far from bring that. It is rather a collection of individual
scenes from Goethe’s play, as its title implies. These do
not seek to form a unified dramatic structure, and were composed
over an extended period of nearly ten years during which the composer
was slowly but surely succumbing to madness. The last section,
a complete setting of the final scene from Part II of Goethe’s
massive epic, was the first to be composed, and is a comparatively
straightforward setting for chorus and orchestra with elaborate
individual solo parts. The same text (somewhat abridged) was also
employed by Mahler in his Eighth Symphony, and it has to
be admitted that Schumann’s setting is effectively eclipsed
by the monumental treatment of the text by the later composer.
The scenes from Goethe’s Part I came next, including a complete
setting of the Garden Scene, Gretchen’s Ach neige
and the scene with the Evil Spirit in the cathedral. Both of the
latter had already been set by Schubert, among others, but Schumann’s
more histrionic treatment of the texts is very effective especially
in the final section. The overture was the last section of the
score to be composed, but before that Schumann had written his
treatment of the sunrise scene, the scene where Faust is blinded
by the symbolic figure of Care, and the death of Faust himself.
These three sections from Part II of Goethe’s epic are far
and away the most adventurous sections of the score. Here Schumann
has to fear no comparisons with other composers since his settings
remain effectively unchallenged. I suspect other composers have
set these words, but none of their treatments have survived in
the repertoire.
The somewhat ragbag resulting score was not even performed in
its complete form until some years after the composer’s
death. It tended to languish in the outer reaches of the repertory
until Benjamin Britten revived it at the Aldeburgh Festival and
committed his performances to disc. The results revealed a work
which at its best comprehensively outclassed all of Schumann’s
other choral pieces. Indeed it teetered on the brink of being
operatic in the true dramatic sense; the broken-backed text of
his ‘real’ opera Genoveva effectively scuppered
that work.
The role of Faust has been taken up enthusiastically by the very
top flight of baritones: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who recorded
the role for Britten, subsequently repeated it for Klee on EMI
(review).
Later recordings have featured artists of the calibre of Bryn
Terfel and Christian Gehaher. There are some other superbly written
roles as well: the bass who takes the part of Mephistopheles in
the death scene (and also sings the Evil Spirit who tempts Gretchen
in the cathedral), Gretchen (featured in all three scenes of the
Part I excerpts), the tenor who sings Ariel in the sunrise scene,
and the soprano who takes the part of Care who finally condemns
Faust to blindness.
In his recording Britten was able to call upon well-established
artists from his usual Aldeburgh coterie. John Shirley-Quirk
as Mephistopheles had some difficulty with the lowest notes of
what is essential a deep bass part. Elisabeth Harwood as Gretchen
was uncomfortably stretched by the loudest passages in her role,
especially her heartfelt cry for salvation during O neige.
Peter Pears, although he managed a stunning top B flat at the
moment of the sunrise, simply sounded too old for Ariel. Jennifer
Vyvyan, also coming towards the end of her career, sounded rather
peevish as Care. All of these artists as well as Fischer-Dieskau
were however superlative vocal actors. They brought the characters
to life with a stunning immediacy which the performers in this
Polish recording are unable to match.
Add to this the fact that the balance of the recorded sound in
this new issue is not ideal. The woodwind are very far forward
in the mix, with an uncomfortably shrill piccolo in the scene
with Care. The strings are somewhat recessed in the balance, failing
to project through Schumann’s sometimes heavy scoring. I
understand that Britten made some adjustments to the composer’s
orchestration, although his English Chamber Orchestra were presumably
a smaller body than Wit’s Polish National. The more forward
placing of the voices in Britten’s recording allows the
singers to point their words with greater immediacy. Here, although
the voices are naturally more mellifluous that with Britten’s
idiosyncratic cast, the effect is of a more generalised and smooth
vocalisation. This is pleasing in its own right but sometimes
seems to lack dramatic punch. One should note that both Britten
and Wit employ Schumann’s original shorter version of the
final chorus Alles Vergängliche rather than the longer
and less conventionally classical conclusion given as an alternative
in the score, which Schumann himself preferred; although Clara
did not. One might have wished that we could have been given the
chorus in both versions, for listeners to make their own selection.
As it is, the later version can be heard in the recording by Herreweghe
on Harmonia Mundi. On a personal level I am inclined to agree
with the judgement of the husband rather than the wife.
What does make this Blu-ray disc so valuable is its impressive use
of the facilities of the new medium. Not only are we given the
whole work uninterrupted on one disc, but one is able with a TV
monitor to switch on subtitles throughout the music, which does
lend a greater immediacy to one’s involvement with the action.
One would have liked Goethe’s stage directions, which Schumann
carefully inserted into the score, to have been supplied as well,
but the loss is not serious. The Britten recording came with a
rhyming translation by Louis MacNeice which was inevitably somewhat
free. Here the translation is more direct, although it is curious
that when Mephistopheles declaims “Es is vollbracht”
after Faust’s death. It is at first (correctly) translated
as “It is fulfilled” only for the choral repetition
of the phrase to be given as “It’s over” - which
oddly does not have the same sense of finality. Incidentally in
the orchestral postlude to this scene Britten - without any warrant
in Schumann’s score - slows down considerably. Wit correctly
keeps the music moving, ironically to more emotional and inevitable
effect.
Listening to the recording on a high-quality audio set-up does
not do much to rectify the problems of balance. The piccolo sounds
even shriller than on standard television loudspeakers, and unless
one has a monitor attached one loses the advantage of the on-screen
subtitles. The more conventional setting of the final scene sounds
good with these well-produced voices. Britten’s cast don’t
really produce an ideal blend here. There are however alternative
versions of this score available at mid-price which have a more
dramatic effect in the earlier sections of the music. Even on
the best equipment the sound on the old Britten set is more immediate
than the slightly tubby acoustic here.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Previous review (CD): William
Kreindler
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
 |
 |
 |
|