Sylvain Cambreling conducts "La Damnation de Faust" (The Damnation of Faust), a "legende dramatique" in four acts, composed by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). This program features soloists Vesselina Kasarova, Paul Groves, Willard White, and Andreas Macco. The DVD cover art is ominous enough. What looks like the outside of a crumbling ancient Roman aqueduct dominates the stage, with a multitiered cylinder in front. Is this what the 1999 Salzburg Festival had in mind for poor old Faust in Hector Berlioz's involving and original "legend dramatique in four acts"? Apparently so. Stage directors Alex Olle and Carlos Padrissa's demented take on a work that has been variously staged or presented simply in concert form is so disastrous that it's actually worth a look. (In its defense, it's possible that this staging needed to be experienced in person, where its physical monumentality might have approximated the masterly score.) Musically, this is a superlative performance: Paul Groves is a sympathetic Faust, Willard White is an appropriately menacing Mephistopheles, and Vesselina Kasarova is an exquisite Marguerite. Sylvain Cambreling sensitively conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin, and two excellent choirs' vocal contributions should not go unnoticed. (However, condolences to those choir members stuck in that ludicrous cylinder.) Both visual presentation and sound are, as usual for Arthaus Musik discs, first-rate; only the staging itself comes off as less than worthwhile. --Kevin Filipski P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); From the Back Cover Since the first scenic performance, many years after the composer's death on February 18, 1893, La Damnation De Faust has repeatedly been seen on the opera stage. The Salzburger Festspiele put the work on its Festspiel program in 1999. With its considerable visual and musical format, the premiere in the Felsenreitschule on August 19, 1999 turned into a much-respected international event. The spectacular scenic realization originated with the Spanish theater troupe La Fura dels Baus (staging: Alex Olle and Carlos Padrissa; sets and costumes: Jaume Piensa, one of the most outstanding sculptors on Europe's contemporary art scene; video projections: Franc Aleu), whose "extreme theater" was received as a "grandiose theater evening" and a "stroke of luck for the Salzburger Festpiele". Cast: Marguerite - Vesselina Kasarova Faust - Paul Groves Mephistopheles - Willard White Brander - Andreas Macco Orfeon Donostiarra de San Sebastian Tolzer Knabenchor Staatskapelle Berlin Conductor - Sylvain Cambreling Stage Direction - Alex Olle/Carlos Padreissa (La Fura dels Baus) Set Design and Costumes - Jaume Plensa Lighting - Heinrich Brunke Produced by - Francois Duplat Directed for Video by - Alexandre Tarta See more