DESCRIPTION:
Along the years, there's been some argument in the musical press whether Ferruccio Busoni was a great composer or if he rather was, as Richard Strauss's own pun on himself, a first class second rate one. Well, this work, one of the most intriguing operas written during the 20th Century, is indeed a very serious argument towards establishing Busoni among the great composers. It has been slow in gaining recognition since its premiere in 1925, with all too infrequent performances, a kind of cult item that saw the stage, alongside Pfitzner's Palestrina and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler, only in solemn, festive occasions and mostly in the German-speaking orbit, the three works characterised as they are by an aura of deep philosophic content, in their different approaches dealing with the struggle of the creative artist in an hostile environment; of the three, Doktor Faust is by a notch becoming the better known, with gradually less infrequent performances during the last 15 years or so. London's first staging took place only in the 1980's and New York's the following decade, in a pioneering event at NYCO that the Met only followed in the 2000's.

Klaus Michael Grüber's production for Zürich seems intent to maximize that episodic nature and the attempt to flow the acts together with a cinematic liquidity makes the "choppiness" (for lack of better word) of the work all the more noticeable. The enormous stage design seemed to me a blending of a hyper-realism mixed with the symbolic. To that end, watching this I was reminded (more than once) of the great silent movies, and the larger-than-life performances, odd costumings (for all but Faust and Mephistpheles) all enhance that feeling. At the same time, Grüber's staging has a church pageant feel to it, almost enhancing the static qualities of the opera Mr. Hampson appears to be one of those always good looking fellows whose looks actually seem to only improve with age and here, even exhausted and greasyhaired, he looks terrific. The voice, always attractive is gorgeous in this incredibly difficult music and even when the music threatens to overwhelm him he is never less than compelling - giving everything he has. The last half hour of this piece is my favorite as it's almost entirely Faust in this Wagnerian length soliloquy of ineffable beauty and power. [Amazon US]

CAST AND CREW:
Doktor Faust: Thomas Hampson
Wagner, his Famulus and Master of Ceremonies: Günther Groissböck
Mephistopheles: Gregory Kunde
The Duke of Parma: Reinaldo Macias
The Duchess of Parma: Sandra Trattnigg
A Lieutenant: Martin Zysset

Chorus and Orchestra of the Zürich Opera House
Libretto: Ferruccio Busoni  Wikipedia
Conductor: Philippe Jordan
Stage Director: Klaus Michael Grüber
Video Director: Felix Breisach

Recorded live at the Opernhaus Zürich, 2006.

Source...........: BD50 Retail
Distributor......: Arthaus
BD Release Date..: 27 January 2009
Screen Format....: Widescreen 1.78:1
Program used.....: AnyDVD (Region Code Free)

EXTRAS:

1. Foyer Talk with Thomas Hampson (26:29), 480i
2. Interview with Philippe Jordan (15:34), 480i
3. Five Trailers