Liszt - A Faust Symphony - Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra

Liszt - A Faust Symphony - Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra
Symphonic | Eac, flac, cue | log, cover | 1 CD, 307 MB
February 12, 2008 | EMI | RapidShare

This is the best played Faust Symphony I ever have heard. There are wonderful recordings by Solti/Chicago, Barenboim/Berlin, Bernstein/Boston, and Horenstein/Baden Baden, but for sheer sumptuousness Muti's takes the cake. It was recorded in 1982-3, two and a half years after Ormandy's departure, but his first chairs were still present and they play the socks off the thing. The sound engineering is unusually good for an early digital recording, full, clear, and with plenty of impact. As an interpretation, Muti strives for drama and achieves plenty of it. His performance of the Gretchen movement is somewhat lacking in lyricism, but this does have the advantage of avoiding pathos. The chorus and the tenor in the finale are excellent, and the total sonority is beautifully captured by the engineers. Riccardo Muti is a conductor who really has the goods, and he throws off sparks on this CD.--Amazon

Franz Liszt

1. A Faust Symphony S108: I. Faust (Lento assai - Allegro impetuoso - Allegro agitato ed appassionato assai 30:53

2. A Faust Symphony S108: II. Gretchen (Andante soave) 22:10

3. A Faust Symphony S108: III. Mephistopheles (Words by Goethe: Allegro vivace ironico - Andante mistico [Apotheosis]) 23:34