RECORDING OF THE MONTH- May 2012: FAUST by GOUNOD

It is high time for me to spice this blog up with a little French flair. As my life is full of French music at the moment, I could think of no better time than the present. I assumed I would review Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Offenbach, primarily because everyone in my daily interactions right now thinks so highly of the work that it is one of the most frequent topics of discussion, but honestly I am just not all that familiar with the work. I don't know it well enough to speak with ANY kind of authority on the subject. Something I plan on remedying in the not too distant future.

However a French opera I do know pretty well is Faust by Charles Gounod. Now, to start, I have to say that to literary gurus, this libretto dashes Goethe's Faust to pieces. It mutilates and perverts Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's original intent until it becomes a work unto itself with only a slight resemblance of the brilliant work that it comes from… BUT… it truly is a wonderful old school French opera. Nobody wrote melodies like Gounod and this score is riddled with them. I assumed from the get go that I would review the somewhat legendary 1959 EMI set conducted by André Cluytens with Nicolai Gedda, Victoria de los Angeles, Boris Christoff, Ernest Blanc, Rita Gorr etc. but as much of a benchmark as it is, it leaves me feeling somewhat ambivalent. So instead, I have chosen the 1994 Teldec recording conducted by Carlo Rizzi:

Faust - Jerry Hadley
Méphistofélès - Samuel Ramey
Marguerite - Cecilia Gasdia
Valentin - Alexandru Agache
Siébel - Susanne Mentzer
Marthe Schwerlein - Brigitte Fassbaender
and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra & Chorus

This truly is a great recording. I was skeptical at first. For some reason I had a hard time trusting the French style to an Italian conducting Welsh people… I was wrong. This performance, while not entirely traditional, is absolutely stylistically spot on.

First of all, one would assume that the only real reason to buy this recording would be for the Devil of Samuel Ramey. Truly one of the great roles of his career. He sings Méphistofélès here in prime voice. To young male singers (especially the lower voiced singers) Samuel Ramey has attained a near Godly reputation. All of us at some level consider him somewhat of a "God walking amongst mere mortals"… or perhaps a demon as the case may be… He sings this role with excellent French. He manipulates and deceives throughout the opera with hints of the subtlety of Journet and Plançon, and balances that with some of that Chaliapin slavic school of snarl that is so pervasive in Boris Christoff's interpretation of this role... every role he sang actually. It works for Ramfis (Aida) and Boris, and here to some extent, but not so much in roles like Padre Guardiano (Forza) or Silva (Ernani). And neither of them have the suave subtlety of Cesare Siepi. But while Ramey does in fact do an excellent and noteworthy job, much to my chagrin, he is not ultimatley the draw of the recording. Ramey is a wonderful sounding Méphistofélès but when push comes to shove, he is somewhat boring. The role has so much potential to "play" and he just doesn't take advantage of it. He is great on the disc but compared to some of his less respected colleagues on this set he doesn't quite deliver as expected.

The late Jerry Hadley really comes through with his idiomatic performance of the desperate and tortured Doctor Faust. He sings the opening scene with such beautiful melancholy that we almost forget what a slow start it gives the opera. The rest of the role is sung par excellence with a legato and musical continuity that one just does not hear in his Italian repertoire. He sings with such tenderness in moments like the love duet, and the climax of his aria, Salut, demeure chaste et pure, is sung with a true piano (as written by the composer). He makes this note, that most use to show off their powerful top C, a moment of introspection. He floats up to the C with a gentle ardency that stays much more in keeping with the line of the aria than most interpretations. His moments of passion are also much more committed than one would expect from such a lyric voice. Gedda, probably the most beloved Faust of his era, said himself that he didn't like the role of Faust. It is too one dimensional and not in keeping with Goethe's concept, so he never sang the role as much more than beautiful music. Jerry Hadley takes what he is given and brings it to life in a magical and honest way.

The relatively unknown Cecilia Gasdia of Verona delivers a performance as good or better than her wonderful aforementioned counterparts. Her voice is bright and glistening, and her characterization is impeccable. A young, vulnerable, spiritual girl with a blinding, innocent love for her "young" suitor, Faust. She does the Jewel Song in a way that seems genuinely delighted and fresh, as if we hadn't heard the aria 5,000 times. She almost succeeds even in the impossible task of giving life to Gounod's dull setting of  Il Était Un Roi De Thulé. One of the highlights of the whole opera is the last scene when her pleading for salvation is so impassioned one is easily swept away in her desperation. She gives a detailed character with equal commitment to de los Angeles's famed performance, but with admittedly more depth. Gasdia, remarkably, is able to bring Marguerite to the forefront of the drama through her committed interpretation, even if Gounod chose not to.

The secondary characters are well cast too for the most part. Valentin is sung here by the Romanian baritone Alexandru Agache. His voice is not the most beautiful, but he sings an admirable soldier, even if it is often over-covered and occasionally a bit flat, but what he lacks in voice, he makes up for in truly great character interpretation. He is ardent and true and brings dimension to what is usually a bit of a cardboard stock character. This is best heard in his death scene, Ecoute-moi bien, Marguerite! Siébel is sung with light, silvery voice by Susanne Mentzer. She doesn't offer the role a whole lot in her approach, but she delivers an attractive and consistent performance. The novelty casting of THE Brigitte Fassbaender in the role of Marthe Schwerlein is a wonderful part of this recording, although it pales in comparison to the vanity casting of Rita Gorr in the Cluytens recording. However, since it isn't too much of a role to begin with, neither have much of an effect on the outcome of the set.

Lastly Carlo Rizzi really does deliver a wonderful reading. He takes quite a few unusual tempi, mostly incredibly slow (coming in at around 3:10, where the Cluytens comes in around 2:51). While I would not take most of these tempi so slow, I think it can definitely work. It is a grandiose and monumental opera and the slower tempi really emphasize that side of the work. The Welsh National Opera Chorus responds well to his baton, turning out some of the cleanest ensemble singing I have ever heard, and the orchestra rejoices and weeps along with the singers throughout the work. I really appreciate that, and while they did cut the ballet numbers, they still recorded them as an appendix.

Lastly, I would say that this recording really is a wonderful way to get to know this opera. The Cluytens is definitely more traditional, and the singing is some of the best you'll find on any recording of the opera. However for dimension, sensitivity, and passion I would recommend this recording above all the other usual options.

- Christopher Michael Kelley

PS. I actually would probably first and foremost recommend the live Met recording from the early 50s with Jussi Björling, Dorothy Kirsten, and Cesare Siepi, that is if you can handle some, er, not so perfect French diction… but that recording is nearly impossible to find these days. If you do find it… please let me know where. ;)