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| Sir Simon Rattle & the London Symphony Orchestra (Photo Tristram Kenton) |
Reviewed by Anthony Evans on Sep 17 2017 Star rating:
A beautiful ride to Hell, although at times I wanted to feel the words a little more keenly and have my roller-coaster ride a bit rougher
The fable of selling one’s soul to the devil for a dream is a tale as old as time. Our perpetual fascination with tales of Faust, in particular, have cemented him into our storytelling culture. Goethe’s tragedy alone has inspired more composers than you can shake a stick at. Sir Simon Rattle chose Berlioz's La damnation de Faust as part of his opening season of concerts at music director of the London Symphony Orchestra. On Sunday 17 September at the Barbican, Rattle conducted the LSO, London Symphony Chorus, Tiffin Boys’ Choir, Tiffin Girls’ Choir, Tiffin Children’s Chorus and soloists Bryan Hymel (Faust), Karen Cargill (Marguerite), Christopher Purves (Mephistopheles) and Gabor Bretz (Brander)
Berlioz’s concert opera or dramatic legend, as Beecham pointed out, “has a bunch of the loveliest tunes in existence”. It’s a flamboyant and powerfully evocative work full of humour, beauty and violence. It’s a rollercoaster ride from the immensity of nature through to the pandemonium of damnation. Rattle and the LSO along with a precisely drilled chorus painted a nuanced and startling vivid portrait of an inexorable journey to perdition.
I confess to a somewhat factious relationship with Berlioz’s Faust. As with my emotional response to Proust, I recognise the beauty but the protagonists’ intellectual hubris and poetic ennui can all too easily make my teeth itch. For me personally it’s success as a whole depends on the vocal interpretations. The vocal writing is not just bel canto – expression and meaning need to come first.
Christopher Purves (Mephistopheles), standing in for an indisposed Gerald Finley, was charming, cynical and mockingly unctuous. If I missed anything it would be a certain orotund authority. Karen Cargill’s Marguerite was the very picture of naivety. Her ballad of faithfulness and “D’amour l’ardente flamme” were achingly poignant – Marguerite was a sitting duck. The American tenor Bryan Hymel was steely voiced, heroic of tone with a beautiful legato so much so I could quite happily have slapped him around the face with a wet kipper. His Faust gets what’s coming to him and his demise “c’est bien”. Caveat emptor. A beautiful ride to Hell then, although at times I wanted to feel the words a little more keenly and have my rollercoaster ride a bit rougher.
Reviewed by Anthony Evans
Elsewhere on this blog:
- Debut recital: Subito! from Julia Hwang - CD review
- The first Englishwoman to sing Brunnhilde at Bayreuth: Our interview with Catherine Foster - interview
- Late flowering: John Joubert's Missa Wellensis and St Mark Passion from Wells - CD review
- Ancient and modern: New music for choir and ancient instruments from the choir of Gonville and Caius College - CD review
- Mozartian influences: Salieri's La scuola de' gelosi from Bampton Classical Opera - opera review
- The Art of Dancing: New concertante works for trumpet, piano and strings - CD review
- From curiosity to charm: A portrait of Felicien David - CD review
- Double vision: Two views of Sondheim's Follies at the National Theatre - theatre review
- Last of the romantics: Sholto Kynoch introduces the 2017 Oxford Lieder Festival - interview
- Bold romanticism: Howard Blake's Piano Concerto and Diversions for cello and orchestra - concert review
- Palestrina and Poulenc: The Sixteen's Choral Pilgrimage - Concert review
- Delight and imagination: Buxtehude trio sonatas from Arcangelo - CD review
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