Customer Reviews

Boito: Mefistofele

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This clearly underrated opera is at last given fair justice in the CD catalogue. For, with this specific recording at this price, one needs no longer hesitate, this is now the top recommendation.

It's primary strengths are the conducting of Maestro de Fabritiis and the Faust of Pavarotti. de Fabritiis here manages, unlike for example, Serafin and Rudel, to achieve a great sounding whole performance, of a piece in which there is always the risk of just presenting many great sounding numbers/moments in a row. The spaciousness in tempi may not appeal all, but it largely contribute to the feeling of a spirited whole. The only conductor to partially present a threat to de Fabritiis is in my opinion the almost totally unknown Ivan Marinov on a hard to find recording from the Bulgarian State opera on the Capriccio label. Marinovs singers though, are less notable, although the "lontano, lontano" duet is the best I've ever heard, and the coro of the prologue is just - heavenly. That recording has some flaws though, but at half the price of this, still a good bargain for those on a budget.

Pavarotti, not always one of my favorite tenors, is in glorious voice and presents the true poetry of Faust's character and music. His 'Dai campi', the second act duet with Margerita on believing (or not) in religion, the duet with Elena beginning with "Notte cupa, truce", and the "Giunto sul passo estremo" just before the closing of the opera are just a few mentioned highlights of a great performance. Where Domingo (normally my choice before Pavarotti) for Rudel sounds totally uniform and bland, Pavarotti expresses. And where del Monaco for Serafin is rather hard on the border to coarse, Pavarotti is thoughtful. The only tenor to make a portrayal that comes in the class of Pavarotti's is di Stefano, also for Serafin (but only as highlights of the opera).

Ghiaurov's Devil is rather noble and well-sounding, compared to for example Treigle (Rudel) or Christoff (Gui). Lacking something of pure evil, as you find in Christoff (Gui), Siepi (Serafin) and Ramey (Muti), he still is mightily impressive. Freni is as always, well inside her role and beautiful in voice, which naturally also goes for the luxury casting of Caballe as Elena - Her duet with Pavarotti is especially fine. The rest of the cast is very good, and it's nice to hear Piero de Palma sing the role of Wagner again, as he did 25 years earlier on the Serafin/Siepi/Tebaldi/del Monaco set, still sounding fresh and urgent.

The rivals then? Well, if thinking of this as a showcase for a bass, I must say Siepi (Serafin) and Christoff (Gui) are the best - good fun, and both have darker voices, preferable in a opera such as this. Ramey (Muti) is also good fun, but he's almost the only listenable singer in that set. Ghiaurov is not the first choice devil, nor in timbre, nor in character, but his voice and projection is first class, none the less.

As for the ladies, Freni also has stiff competition, in Tebaldi (Serafin) & Caballé (Rudel) primarily. Her greatest point is in presenting a woman more obviously troubled than both Caballé and Tebaldi - the former almost too sweet, the latter slightly detached though beautiful on the ear. Fans of either of the women will like their special performances. Having all, I slightly prefer Freni. Caballé though, has no match in the catalogue as Elena, with her magically spun tone.

So this set has 3 top of the list performances from it's leads, and the most fluent & sensitive conducting. So, only if the Devil's role is of the greatest importance to you, you might want to look elsewhere, even though you wouldn't go far wrong with Ghiaurov. As for myself, this set is now the one I will come back too for the over-all performance, still keeping the Siepi/Tebaldi/di Stefano/Serafin highlights close to my heart, definately so for the devil.

Last, for those who pays interest in useless detail - the Decca people, has choosen to give this release of the recording a catalogue number that ends with 666!

It is too bad that Boito did not not write more music. His melodic gift is stupendous. Try NOT to join in the chorus that concludes the Helen of Troy act. What notes! All the singers are wonderful, Freni giving a blockbuster portrayal. What a glorious spinto voice this is, always used to thrilling effect. Buy it. It cost mee $50 years ago and now it's cheap!

This 2 CD set by DECCA is a re-release of a 1984 recording with a superb cast that boasts Nicolal Ghiaurov as Mefistofele, Luciano Pavarotti as Faust, Mirella Freni singing Margherita and Montsettat Caballe singing the role of Elena. What's to fault there? Nothing! This is a story of Faust (based on the drama "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) who makes a deal with God in which he boasts that he can corrupt the good Faust. He succeeds all too easily. Faust makes the following deal with the devil: Mefistofele will serve Faust now in life and, in return, Faust will serve his soul to the devil in death - but there is a condition. Mefistofele must satisfy the unsettled spirit of Faust such that he will cherish life and utter the words: "Remain, for thou art fair". If it all sounds heady, it is. The score by Arrigo Boito (he wrote the libretto himself) is celestial, triumphant, inspirational and sumptuous, delivered magnificently by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Oliviero de Fabritiis. Interestsingly, when this opera premiered in 1868 it did poorly, and prompted riots and accusations of stealing ideas from Wagner. Today, we're a little more sanguine about opera and appreciative of true music as art when we hear it, and as it should, Boito's Mefistofele has become an honored great opera. You would expect faithful digital reproduction on a CD and you get it here. The accompanying booklet is helpful with some history and a good explanation of what is going on in each act. If you own this opera on tape or record, you will want to add the CD to your collection for all the reasons digital recordings offer.

Arrigo Boito remains one of the greatest librettists of all time and must be considered partially responsible for the enduring success of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, and Otello as well as Ponchielli's La Gioconda. (Could one also wish for a recording of Pick-Mangiagalli's Basi e Bote to Boito's libretto?) His own (only completed) opera Mefistofele also remains popular but has tended to divide opinion. Although I don't think it is musically an unqualified masterpiece it is a splendid work - dramatically as well as musically effective, and as a take on Faust I find it in the more compelling than Gounod's; yes, Gounod has the more immediately memorable individual numbers (and I suppose Gounod knew a trick or two with respect to creating an effective stage work), but Boito's work is by some distance more overall convincing as a musical work, and unsurprisingly sports the better libretto.

I guess this star-studded Decca recording would be the one to have as well, though I admit that I am not overly familiar with the alternatives. To a large extent the success is due to the orchestral and choral performances. The National Philharmonic Orchestra plays beautifully under Olivier de Fabritiis, who truly has the measure of the work - it is wonderfully dramatically paced, full of color, gorgeous textures, poetry, life and vigor, superbly balanced and generating plenty of momentum. The choral forces (Trinity Boys Choir and the London Opera Chorus) are equally excellent both in terms of beauty and drama, and the Decca recording warm and full-blooded.

The rhetorically obvious next step in a review would be to admit that the soloists comprise something of a mixed bag, but despite some minor objections this is really not the case. Yes, most of the major roles were taken by singers who at the time must count as "experienced", but there is plenty of youthful vigor in the singing as well. Pavarotti is an excellent, passionate Faust, displaying deep understanding of the role, emotionally as well as musically, as well as sensitivity to his partners in the duets and ensemble roles (the occasional hard top note is easily forgiven). My admiration for Freni remains unchallenged as well, even though she sometimes appears to be forced to work a little too hard for her voice; there is plenty of fire and drama left in the voice, however, as well as sensuousness, richness and beauty of tone. Caballé is a delight; breathtaking high notes and ravishing elsewhere.

Ghiaurov in the title role is masterly. If I were in a sourer mood I could have pointed out that some of his high notes are not ideally soft or full, but it's hard to put any weight behind that criticism insofar as he is utterly compelling everywhere else. He is really something of an ideal Mefistofele (though some may, I admit, prefer a slightly more subtle approach to the role), bitingly sarcastic, jeering, yet mysterious and complex - and thoroughly wicked. All the smaller roles are good as well, and the final verdict must be that this is really an astounding success of a recording; enthusiastically recommended.