Special offer. Schumann: Scenes from Goethe's Faust, WoO 3
Iwona Hossa (soprano I), Christiane Libor (soprano II), Anna Luban´ska (alto I), Ewa Marciniec (alto II), Daniel Kirch (tenor), Jaakko Kortekangas (baritone) & Andrew Gangestad (bass)
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra & Warsaw Boys’ Choir, Antoni Wit
Wit's new version concedes little or nothing to Harnoncourt except sound - excellent, nevertheless - and improves on his interpretation with less mannered, more natural pacing. The soloists...
Special offer. Schumann: Scenes from Goethe's Faust, WoO 3
Iwona Hossa (soprano I), Christiane Libor (soprano II), Anna Luban´ska (alto I), Ewa Marciniec (alto II), Daniel Kirch (tenor), Jaakko Kortekangas (baritone) & Andrew Gangestad (bass)
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra & Warsaw Boys’ Choir, Antoni Wit
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Wit's new version concedes little or nothing to Harnoncourt except sound - excellent, nevertheless - and improves on his interpretation with less mannered, more natural pacing. The soloists...
About
A first recording for the Naxos catalogue, Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust is acknowledged by many as one of his finest scores.
Goethe’s Faust exerted a powerful influence on Romantic composers, offering Robert Schumann a number of unforgettable scenes drawn mainly from the mystical second part of the epic poem which he incorporated into this immensely moving large-scale cantata.
Opening with the first love scene between Gretchen and Faust and concluding with the climactic scene of Faust’s redemption, Schumann created a sweeping panorama of dramatic episodes with Mephistopheles’ trickery ultimately overcome as legions of celestial beings bear Faust’s soul to heaven.
Conducted by Naxos stalwart Antoni Wit, who has already recorded the four symphonies and Piano Concerto for the label, it is a memorable addition to the catalogue.
Contents and tracklist
- Iwona Hossa, Christiane Libor, Anna Lubańska, Ewa Marciniec, Daniel Kirch, Jaakko Kortekangas, Andrew Gangestad
- Warsaw Boys Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
- Antoni Wit
Awards and reviews
March 2011
Wit's new version concedes little or nothing to Harnoncourt except sound - excellent, nevertheless - and improves on his interpretation with less mannered, more natural pacing. The soloists are also fine, especially Jaakko Kortekangas's Faust, reminiscent of Fischer-Dieskau but silkier, and Andrew Gangestad's Mephistopheles...the playing is excellent.
April 2011
the quality and musical intelligence of all concerned with this studio album generally match, and often exceed, what more famous names have brough to Schumann's Faust on record...Witt's [sic] sense of architecture and consequent handling of tempo and phrasing bring light and life to Schumann's emotionally supercharged score.
9th April 2011
To succeed it depends on a sense of dramatic continuity, unifying the disparate panels of Schumann’s grand scheme. Wit achieves exactly that, setting the pace with a wonderfully idiomatic overture and continuing with a performance of character and intensity...Jaako Kortegangas makes a noble Faust, Andrew Gangestad a gritty Mephistopheles and Christiane Libor a sympathetic Gretchen.
17th February 2011
the best of the soloists, baritone Jaakko Kortekangas's Faust and Andrew Gangestad's Mephistopheles, are first class. Above all, Antoni Wit is a profoundly idiomatic Schumann conductor, presenting his credentials in a superb account of the overture, and bringing the same dramatic sweep to all the choral numbers that follow.
