‘World premiere on video’ announces Dynamic’s cover of this release of Busoni’s magnificent but problematic operatic masterpiece. It’s a false claim, I’m afraid: there’s already a filmed version from Zurich, conducted by Philippe Jordan and starring Thomas Hampson and Gregory Kunde, given a guarded welcome in these pages (3/08).

Like the earlier version, this new performance opts for the 1925 completion by Philipp Jarnach. Antony Beaumont’s later completion – drawing on extensive sketches not used by or unavailable to Jarnach – remains unavailable on video. It was, however, recorded by Kent Nagano in the late ’90s (Erato, 11/99).

Dietrich Henschel sang Faust on that recording and reprises the role here. The intervening years have taken a major toll on the voice but there’s an earnest intensity and intelligence at play in his performance, and he is moving in the final scenes (where the Jarnach completion remains more theatrically compelling). Daniel Brenna is strained as Mephistopheles, too, but has a nice line in louche malevolence.

Joseph Dahdah leads the rest of the cast, singing with appealingly Italianate tone (and accent) in his two roles, and Olga Bezsmertna is a fine Duchess of Parma, singing with fearless freedom in the upper range. Wilhelm Schwinghammer is authoritative as Wagner and the Master of Ceremonies. The other singers in the extensive line-up acquit themselves well. So does Cornelius Meister, conducting by turns with sensitivity and vigour, and capturing effectively the haunting, mysterious sound world of the piece. The orchestral playing could be more refined but doesn’t lack for commitment.

Davide Livermore’s production presents the action relatively straightforwardly, with Giò Forma’s sets serving as much as anything as a canvas for D‑Wok’s video projections. The projections can be a bit over-busy, but it’s an ingenious set-up: I took a fair bit of time to work out what was set and what was video.

Livermore takes a couple of liberties (the Intermezzo takes place in a morgue rather than a church, for example), while his major idea is to highlight Busoni’s own relationship with his subject. For the poet’s introduction, then, we hear fractured texts read by multiple voices against projections of Busoni portraits, while characters invariably carry a Busoni mask with them. It’s a valid approach, I suppose, but feels a little undercooked.

Indeed, though this is a respectable achievement and a welcome addition to the catalogue, the wait for a truly compelling and satisfying Doktor Faust on video continues.