Search - Franz Liszt, Riccardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra :: Liszt: A Faust Symphony

Sterling

David Saemann | 04/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best played Faust Symphony I ever have heard. There are wonderful recordings by Solti/Chicago, Barenboim/Berlin, Bernstein/Boston, and Horenstein/Baden Baden, but for sheer sumptuousness Muti's takes the cake. It was recorded in 1982-3, two and a half years after Ormandy's departure, but his first chairs were still present and they play the socks off the thing. The sound engineering is unusually good for an early digital recording, full, clear, and with plenty of impact. As an interpretation, Muti strives for drama and achieves plenty of it. His performance of the Gretchen movement is somewhat lacking in lyricism, but this does have the advantage of avoiding bathos. The chorus and the tenor in the finale are excellent, and the total sonority is beautifully captured by the engineers. I must disagree with the review by the esteemed Santa Fe listener. Riccardo Muti is a conductor who really has the goods, and he throws off sparks on this CD."