Setting Goethe’s most extensive drama, »Faust«, to music was a seemingly impossible task, which is precisely why it held such a strong appeal for many a composer. And with his moods, which often verged on the manic, Robert Schumann was arguably particularly well-suited to capturing the tragic inner turmoil of Goethe’s conflicted hero. With their characteristic intensity, the Balthasar Neumann Ensembles now present Schumann’s »Scenes from Goethe’s Faust« in a gripping performance, whose prominent cast of soloists is led by none other than tenor superstar Julian Prégardien.
Schumann, a gifted writer, addressed the enormous length of Goethe’s drama by basing his composition on his own selection of key scenes. In this way, he succeeded in creating a suspenseful distillation that traverses the drama’s central stages in just under two hours. Somewhere between a secular oratorio and a giant symphony with choir and solos, this unusual work asserts its unique position as a dazzling hybrid and continues to move audiences to this day with an emotional arc whose highs and lows encompass the entire spectrum of human feeling.
PERFORMERS
Balthasar-Neumann-Chor und -Orchester ensemble
Konstantin Krimmel baritone
Katharina Ruckgaber soprano
Julian Prégardien tenor
Florian Boesch bass
Domen Križaj baritone
Marie Lys soprano
Thomas Hengelbrock conductor
PROGRAM
Robert Schumann
Scenes from Goethe’s »Faust« for Soloists, Choir, and Orchestra, WoO 3
