Here is a cracking
performance of Liszt’s greatest orchestral
work. James Conlon has managed to create
a sense of momentum that carries the
listener through the undoubted longueurs
of the weaker parts of the symphony,
and, most importantly, allows the finale
to acquire a true sense of culmination.
The work consists of
musical portraits of the three principal
characters of Goethe’s drama – Faust
himself, magician-scientist; Gretchen,
the woman whom he loves, and who in
this version brings about his redemption;
and Mephistopheles, the Devil incarnate,
who persuades Faust to sell him his
soul. The Faust section is a
free and fully developed sonata structure,
full of mystery, passion and bombast.
Part Two, Gretchen, is the slow movement,
characterised by delicate scoring –
an oboe presents the main theme, accompanied
by a solo viola – and a touching simplicity
of utterance. For Mephistopheles, Liszt,
at first not sure how to portray this
spirit in music, was inspired by Goethe’s
description of the character as "der
Geist, der stets verneint" – "the
spirit that negates", and who represents,
in other words, the dark, negative side
of Faust’s own personality. This gave
Liszt the idea of parodying all Faust’s
themes from the first movement, which
he does successfully, though perhaps
leaning a little too heavily on ‘devilish’
trills after Tartini by way of Berlioz’s
Witches’ Sabbath.
I described it above
as an orchestral work, and so it was
originally. But, some three years after
the first performance, Liszt added the
coda for men’s chorus and solo tenor,
with which it is always performed today.
The text is the wonderful Chorus
Mysticus, the closing words of Goethe’s
Faust, which Mahler set at the
end of his massive 8th Symphony.
The sublime Mahler is in a different
world from Liszt’s setting; yet the
earlier composer does rise to the challenge,
and I’ve always felt this to be the
finest part of the work. The phrases
for the solo tenor, based on Gretchen’s
music, are really very beautiful, and
John Aler, the American tenor, sings
them with appropriate lyricism, (and
good intonation!).
In Part One, Conlon
characterises Faust strongly, the tempi
chosen expertly to allow the music space,
yet ensure an urgent sense of forward
movement. Textures are particularly
finely balanced, and there is distinguished
playing from every section of the Rotterdam
orchestra. In Gretchen, I would
have liked Conlon to linger more lovingly
here and there, but this again is a
very long, episodic movement, and he
undoubtedly gives it an overall coherence,
without hurrying unduly.
The finale is just
as successful, though the men of the
Bratislava choir do struggle somewhat
against the powerful orchestration .
Their voices are good, the blend is
excellent – you just feel there needed
to be rather more of them.
The recording is of
high quality, and the heady Romantic
drama of Liszt’s music comes across
vividly. There are several splendid
versions of this piece in the catalogue
– principally Barenboim, Bernstein,
and a particularly fine one from Rattle
and the BPO – but at bargain price,
this is very much worthy of consideration.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
John Aler (tenor) 
