The Gold of Troy

For years, European travelers have raved about two operas almost never performed in the U.S.: Hector Berlioz's Les Troy ens (The Trojans) and Ferruccio Busoni's Doktor Faust. The latter is staged mainly in Germany, where its intellectual depth and murky symbolism are much admired. The Berlioz has been visible in France, Italy and Britain, usually in truncated form, for it was thought too sprawling for stage presentation in one evening. Only parts of Les Troyens have been commercially recorded. Only orchestral bits from Doktor Faust had ever been recorded at all.

In Philips' recording (five disks, $29.90) Les Troyens turns out to be better than even its most extravagant admirers have claimed. Nor does it seem all that long: uncut, it runs a bit under four hours, shorter than either Die Meistersinger or Parsifal, roughly the length of Tristan und Isolde. It is Berlioz's greatest work, epic in scale, richness and power.

It is incomprehensible that Les Troyens had to wait 112 years to be heard as Berlioz had written it. If it were not for the superlative skill and dogged determination of Conductor Colin Davis it might not have happened at all. For over a century, the French publishing house of Choudens owned the score but refused to release it. At one point, English Musicologists Cecil Gray and W.J. Turner even tried to hire the Parisian underworld to burglarize Choudens. The attempt failed. Fortunately, the Bibliotheque Nationale owned Berlioz's manuscripts. British Musicologist Hugh MacDonald began the immense job of deciphering them and in 1969, the German firm of Barenreiter was able to publish the full score. The first complete performance in French--with Conductor Davis at Covent Garden in September 1969--made the Philips recording economically feasible by saving expensive rehearsal time.

Cast in the old-fashioned molds of aria, duet, octet, chorus, etc., Les Troyens looks a bit archaic on paper. But in performance, the music churns with energy. Berlioz's restraint and sharp musical delineation of character are on a level with Mozart, Gluck and Wagner at their best.

None of the singers have flawless French diction, but otherwise the Philips cast seems nearly perfect. Tenor Jon Vickers' heroic-sounding Aeneas has both muscle and gentleness; Mezzo-Soprano Josephine Veasey sings Dido with a burnished-bronze quality that can range from love to outrage. As Cassandra, Soprano Berit Lindholm is splendidly equipped to trumpet the doom of Troy, even if her voice is a bit too high for this low-ranging role.

If Les Troyens is France's prize contribution to the legend of unperformed masterworks, Busoni's Doktor Faust (Deutsche Grammophon; $17.94) is Germany's candidate. Born in 1866, Busoni was not content to be one of the world's greatest pianists; he yearned to be a greater composer. But his compositions usually fell short of greatness. Power-hungry and lustful, Busoni's Faust is well advanced on the road to hell before the opera begins. Mephistopheles only provides the transportation. Busoni wrote the libretto in 1914 and began composing the opera two years later. But it was unfinished when he died in 1924 and was completed by the composer's student, Philipp Jarnach. The music is somber, introverted, intellectual, not particularly theatrical --fairly typical of Germany just before it burst into Berg. At its best, the score strikes to the heart of the basic grimness and mysticism of the Faust legend. At its second best, it subsides into pedanticism.

DGG's recording fails to do Busoni justice. Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dies-kau as Faust is vocally undernourished, offering artistry where voice is needed. As the Duchess of Parma, Hildegard Hillebrecht flounders through one of Busoni's best scenes. Only Tenor William Cochran is up to the music--and the appalling high notes strewn throughout Mephistopheles' role. Conductor Ferdinand Leitner leads a performance blighted by cuts of a page here, a page there. The case for Doktor Faust is still open --for lack of evidence.

-- Robert T. Jones

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