July 28, 2012
by Michael J. Moran
Berlioz called his “Damnation of Faust” a “dramatic legend
in four parts,” but given its life-and-death text, its larger-than-life
characters, and the passionate intensity of its music, he could just as aptly
have called it an opera in four acts. The concert performance by the Boston
Symphony Orchestra under frequent BSO guest conductor Charles Dutoit brought
the score to vivid life in the suitably grand acoustics of the Koussevitzky
Music Shed.
The orchestra was impressively joined by mezzo-soprano Susan
Graham as Marguerite, tenor Paul Groves as Faust, baritone Sir Willard White as
Mephistopheles, and bass-baritone Christopher Feigum as Brander, along with the
Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the PALS Children’s Chorus, well prepared by
their respective conductors, John Oliver and Andy Icochea Icochea.
The BSO has a long and distinguished Berlioz tradition, most
notably under French music specialist Charles Munch, but among living
conductors only Sir Colin Davis rivals Dutoit’s command of the composer’s
singular style. This riveting account of “Damnation” featured a wide palette of
instrumental colors, from the coarse tuba-like ophicleide with the drunken chorus
in Auerbach’s cellar to the lovely solo viola that accompanies Marguerite’s
plaintive song about the King of Thule. The sensitivity of Berlioz’s
orchestration could be heard not only in the massive choral-orchestral passages
but especially in the delicate sounds of three piccolos portraying
will-o’-the-wisps and two harps evoking heaven in the final scene.
The contributions of the vocal soloists and choruses were
consistently fine. Graham lightened her sumptuous tone to express Marguerite’s
youthful innocence, then deepened it to summon the ecstasy of her romance with
Faust and her grief when he abandoned her. Groves was by turns a movingly
world-weary scholar, an ardent lover, and a tormented victim of his lust for
life. White drew an often humorous, over-the-top portrait of Mephistopheles as
a prankster who reveled in his deadly work, while Feigum sang a rousing “Song
of the Rat” poisoned in Auerbach’s cellar.
Prolonged applause after the two-hour-plus intermission-less
concert should alert BSO management that this large Tanglewood audience would
welcome the presentation of more eccentric but rewarding masterpieces like this
one.
