Liszt: A Faust Symphony / Thielemann

THIELEMANN; WOTTRICH; SACHSISCHER STAATSOPERNCHOR DRESDEN; STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN

Christian Thielemann’s long association with the Dresden Staatskapelle has resulted in his being named principal conductor betinning next year. February 21/22, 2011 he led a special concert in Gottfried Semper’s opera house marking the bicentenary of Franz Liszt’s birth. The concert opened with Wagner’s A Faust Overture, the first version of which received its premiere in Dresden in 1844, followed by Liszt’s A Faust Symphony. Wagner and Liszt had discussed Goethe’s Faust and Wagner originally planned to write a symphony on the subject but completed only the first movement. Liszt conducted the first performance outside Dresden in Weimar in 1852. Liszt then wrote his symphony on the subject, with the first movement representing Faust, the second movement Gretchen, and the third, Mephistopheles. The premiere was in 1854; three years later, Liszt added the final chorus, a setting of the mystic chorus from the end of Faust, with a tenor soloist. Thielemann obviously believes in both of these works, but the fact remains that the Wagner overture is not one of his major works and for good reason is seldom given in concerts. The Liszt symphony seems to be a favorite of many conductors including Barenboim, Beecham, Chailly, Muti, Solti, and Bernstein who recorded it twice—and Sinopoli who recorded it in Dresden in 1995. The symphony is overly long for its content, with many pages of empty bombast. The third section is a rather tame representation of the devil. Thielemann and his forces do what can be done for the music, but are not helped by tenor Endrik Wottrich’s rather strained singing. Bernstein’s 1976 Boston recording is available on DVD, as is Neemi Järvi’s 2007 Hague Philharmonic performance, but neither of them can match the video and audio splendor of this new issue—should the music appeal to you. © 2011 ClassicalCDReview.com

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