Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
A Faust Symphony, S108 [67:33]
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
A Faust Overture [10:13]
Ferdinand Koch (tenor)
Orchestra and Choir of the Southwest German Radio/Jascha Horenstein
rec. November 1957, Südwest Tonstudio, Loffenau, Germany
PRISTINE AUDIO PASC453 [77:46]
Like Liszt’s enormous, sprawling Faust Symphony, this recording is a mixed bag. Liszt’s A Faust Symphony of 1857 is a brilliant concept; a three-part work in which the movements are musical portraits of the three principal characters. The first two are Faust and Gretchen, while the third portrays Mephistopheles, whom Goethe dubbed ‘the spirit of negation’. So in order to describe this devil incarnate, Liszt ‘negates’ the themes of the other two movements, caricaturing them mercilessly.
Yes, a brilliant concept, and Liszt was always good at such ideas. It was in the process of turning them into musical compositions that he often fell short. There are wonderful things in all three movements but there are also longish patches where one’s instinct is to put hands over the ears and sing ‘la-la-la-la’ very loudly. Horrible multi-repeated sequences, pompous expostulations and that worst of outrages, a wholly unjustified fugue in the last movement.
To be fair, Liszt exercised a powerful influence on nineteenth and early twentieth century music; his use of augmented triads (a major triad ‘stretched’ by a semitone) here and elsewhere were an inspiration to Debussy. He opens this symphony with a very-nearly 12-note series alla Schönberg. There are also some memorably beautiful passages in the development of the Faust movement, in the middle section of Gretchen, and in the choral finale.
I suggested above that this recording is as variable as the symphony itself. Jascha Horenstein was a conductor I admired hugely, and one who only acquired something like full recognition quite late in his career. He clearly understood this area of repertoire completely, and, by his pacing of the music and the transitions from section to section, he enables the symphony to hang together and make a reasonably convincing overall impression. He is let down on two counts; firstly the recording, which is mediocre and cramped, and does the orchestral sound no favours. Secondly the playing itself is very uneven. There are some lovely sounds from the body of strings at big moments, and the woodwind playing is of a high standard. That said, the trumpets struggle, and the brass ensemble is often less than impeccable. The first violin sound in the tracery Liszt demands in the second movement is dangerously thin, and the viola solo later on in the same movement is insecure. The date is important; nowadays, the Southwest German Radio Orchestra is a top-class ensemble, respected throughout the world but in 1957, they were, on the evidence of this CD, yet to achieve that status.
I enjoyed the singing of Ferdinand Koch, though he’s hardly lyrically imaginative, and is inferior to most of the tenors on more recent recordings. Try John Aler on James Conlon’s Warner Apex CD, or, especially, the wonderful Gösta Winbergh for Muti on EMI Classics (1983).
The pianissimo entry of the male choir with the Chorus Mysticus, and their later full-voiced repetition of the same theme, should raise the hairs on the back of the neck. Sadly, the Southwest German Radio Chorus’s enthusiastic singing lacks nobility. Worse, they seem to have their own idea of the tempo, quite independently of Horenstein’s.
Wagner’s early Faust Overture is probably the most satisfying part of this disc. Though immature, it is a remarkable work, all the way from its extraordinary opening tuba solo. The orchestral playing on this track is notably full of flair and passion.
As to the main offering, I have to say that this is a flawed recording of a flawed symphony; I would, however, still rate it as worth hearing as an example of this great conductor’s work.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
