La damnation de Gergiev

La Damnation de Faust - LSO / Gergiev - Barbican 22 September 2009

A curious evening that caught fire intermittently, but never really took off. Gergiev’s preferred preapration method – rehearse the corners, wing the straights - can produce stunning results in slow-burn symphonies. But it’s fundamentally unsuited to the desperately shoehorned ragbag of ideas (“Let's all improvise a fugue!”) that is La damnation de Faust. Faust’s final ride to the abyss truly burnt with the flames of hell, but a few manicured details aside, the first half was largely directionless and often surprisingly (for Gergiev) tentative. All the beauty and delicacy of the woodwind playing couldn’t compensate for a lack of purpose.

The problems could have been compounded when the scheduled Méphistophélès, Thomas Quasthoff, pulled out due to illness on the morning of the show. But Willard White, flown in from Copenhagen, was a magnificent replacement, despite the twinkle in his eye warning his bluster and beguilements shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

Joyce DiDonato, in a gorgeous cornflower gown and tumbling curls, sang beautifully but seemed not entirely at home in the Berlioz idiom. Her Marguerite had the radiant purity of youth but not the ardour that Susan Graham can bring to the part.

Florian Boesch almost stole the show as Brander, but Michael Schade’s Faust was a disappointment. He placed notes accurately and words carefully in his none too intelligible French, but his hard nasal tone is too unvarying and too unyielding in this part. What a pity there was so much of it. The London Symphony Chorus too had a long and tricky sing. They managed heroically, if with more gusto than finesse - for which Gergiev’s flutterfingered non-beat was not entirely to blame.

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Comments

[Kit]

I have to say I was bored rigid and this has put me off Berlioz for life. Definitely not diDonato's fach (and I am a big fan) - although she performed beautifully and musically - the music brought to the fore a slightly over-plangent tone that I don't like in her voice. The whining tenor really did ruin it, and the choir sounded more am than dram. As my friend said - "that's 3 hours of my life I'll never get back ..."

[Ed]

when will les troyens come back to covent garden.. long overdue in my opinion..

[inter mezzo]

in 2011-2 I think. With Jonas Kaufmann!

[HairMan]

From my upper vantage point the night went well - apart from the tenor and the sopranos...the highlight was having Willard White as a replacement - there are supersubs, and then there are supersubs...

[dolcevita]

I love Joyce but I see very well your point Intermezzo. Except that Susie Graham is pretty much in the same zone concerning Marguarite as Joyce. You need a tad heavier mezzo for this role but who can hit the high notes effortlessly - rare birds, I know, but you find them. Look what Ekatarina Gubanova does :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppPRUUoy9Sw

To me that's a good approximation to the GOAT interpretation of Marguerite, which must be this one :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrAKBNMZQds

Cheers

[Hal]

Needless to say, Joyce had a somewhat different take on the whole thing:

http://yankeediva.blogspot.com/

[dolcevita]

Nah Hal!

She wrote that BEFORE the concert i.e. after the rehearsal. (yeah, I know it sounds unbelievable to connect Gergiev and rehearsal in the same sentence but that's true ;) )