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THE CLASSICAL TRAVELER | Gounod: Faust (DVD Review)

By Paul E. Robinson on November 17, 2014

JK DVD Cover Faust

Gounod: Faust
Jonas Kaufmann (Faust). René Pape (Mephistophélès). Marina Poplavskaya (Marguerite).
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Dir: Des McAnuff
Live Performance: 2011
Decca DVD 0743811 (2 DVDs)(187 min)

One might be forgiven for thinking that the strong Canadian presence in this performance is the key to its success. Baritone Russell Braun and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin are both in top form. And director Des McAnuff, formerly the artistic director of the Stratford Festival, has produced a fresh and powerful interpretation of Gounod’s perennial favourite.

But nearly every aspect of this performance is exemplary. Jonas Kaufmann seems to be everybody’s favourite tenor these days and his Faust is remarkable. Pape and Poplavskaya are not far behind.

The Faust story has been updated in this 2011 Met production. Faust appears to be a nuclear physicist, somehow responsible for the development of the atom bomb near the end of World War II. As the opera opens we see the ruins of Hiroshima after the first atom bomb has been dropped by the United States. Dr. Faust is an old man reflecting on his own unhappiness and the sorry state of the world. He decides to take poison. The rest of the opera is essentially his dying dream fantasy. As Marguerite ascends to heaven in the last scene Dr. Faust completes the act of committing suicide and falls to the floor, dead.

While the imposition of this modern take on the Faust legend does not fit the opera in every detail – American physicist and World War I French soldiers? – it is nonetheless compelling. The sets by Robert Brill add to the power of the concept with high, steel platforms on either side of the stage and vivid projections on screens in the back of the stage. Numerous special effects reinforce the supernatural elements of the story.

Best of all, McAnuff has worked hard with his illustrious cast to bring their characters to life. Great singing from such a cast is not unexpected but the acting is just as impressive. From René Pape we get consistently fine singing, but we also get a Mephistophélès who is far more sophisticated than the stock Devil we usually get in Faust productions. Pape exudes authority by doing virtually nothing in some scenes and never exaggerates the character’s demonic elements.

Jonas Kaufmann as Faust is in splendid voice, nailing high notes throughout the opera and demonstrating a control of dynamics that is breathtaking. His love scene with Poplavskaya is exquisite in its tenderness. With Nézet-Séquin in the pit Kaufmann and Poplavskaya achieve miracles of phrasing at extraordinarily slow tempos.

In the final scene Poplavskaya was totally convincing as Marguerite gone mad and dominated the scene with a performance of devastating intensity.

This was a Faust for the ages with an ideal cast and conductor, and a director who made the timeless Faust legend come alive for Twenty-First Century audiences. The performance was first streamed to theatres in the Met’s Live in HD series in 2011, and is now available in DVD format, complete with all the intermission interviews from the original theatrecast. The host and interviewer is Joyce DiDonato.

Paul E. Robinson

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