Franz Liszt - Faust Symphony (Riccardo Muti)

Information

Composer: Franz Liszt

1. Eine Faust Symphonie: I. Faust
2. Eine Faust Symphonie: II. Gretchen
3. Eine Faust Symphonie: III. Mephistopheles

Gösta Winbergh, tenor
Westminster Choir College Male Chorus, chorus master: Joseph Flummerfelt
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor

Date: 1983
Label: EMI

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Review

Riccardo Muti's performance of Liszt's orchestral masterpiece is in many respects admirable in its synthesis of drama, introspection and diablerie; such qualities allied to the fevered virtuosity of the Philadelphia Orchestra would seem to assure a strong recommendation for this CD. And yet, this dashing approach, whilst undeniably exciting, fails to illuminate much of the visionary detail of the score. Compare, for example, Muti and Bernstein (DG) at the start of the Mephistopheles movement, where the sinister chill in the sul ponticello growlings of the Boston cellos and basses exemplify Bernstein's skill in realizing the pictorial aspects of the work. Equally, it is he who brings a true feeling of redemptive assurance to the closing choral setting, which in less sensitive hands can sound like an apologetic afterthought.

Muti is most successful in the Faust movement, where the bite and histrionic urgency of the playing is striking, with the differing aspects of Faust as mystic, romantic, hero and philosopher all finely characterized. Beecham is good too in his classic 1958 EMI version, but neither the orchestral playing nor recorded sound can approach either of the other releases. The Philadelphia strings are at their most expressively radiant in the portrait of Gretchen, and Muti, unlike Bernstein, omits the final 16 bars which Liszt added to the movement in his 1880 revision of the score.

The Mephistopheles finale inhabits that same hidden underworld as the ''Witches Sabbath'', in the Symphonie fantastique; indeed it was Berlioz who introduced Liszt to the Faust legend the night before the first performance of this work in 1830. Muti is again impressive, but he fails to elicit Mephistopheles's spirit of negation with anything approaching Bernstein's mesmeric diabolism. Finally, for all its many qualities, Muti is marginally less persuasive than Bernstein, with his very special perception of the music, but if you require panache and brilliance rather than spirituality, then the Muti remains a prime recommendation.

-- Gramophone

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Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, and music teacher. Liszt gained renown in Europe for his virtuosic skill as a pianist and in the 1840s he was considered to be the greatest pianist of all time. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent composers of the "New German School". Some of his most notable musical contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form, and making radical departures in harmony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt

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Riccardo Muti (born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor who particularly associated with the music of Giuseppe Verdi. He currently holds two music directorships: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (since 2010) and the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Previously he held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London (1973-1982), the Philadelphia Orchestra (1980-1992), the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1986-2005) and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. Muti has been a prolific recording artist and has received dozens of honors, titles, awards and prizes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riccardo_Muti

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