‘For me, Fischer’s Faust Symphony is a clear front runner – more spontaneous than Rattle’s, more agile than Bernstein’s and better focused than Sinopoli’s [nla]’. That was how I left things in April 1998 and this new version under the gifted Thomas Dausgaard, fine though most of it is, doesn’t alter the balance of recommendation.
There are two conductors whom I’ve always wanted to record the Faust Symphony. One was Rafael Kubelik (could Bavarian Radio conceivably have a tape buried somewhere?), but the other – Bernard Haitink – could still oblige. Haitink’s LPO traversal of the tone poems was always something of an adventure ramble and I could easily imagine him making a bold statement of Faust.
Dausgaard’s performance comes closest to what I imagine Kubelik’s view of the work might have been (if indeed he ever tackled it). There’s plenty of fire where needed; the strings play with a fine ‘edge’ to their tone and climaxes are delivered with real swagger (I’m thinking in particular of the Wagnerian build-up at 18'29'' into the opening movement). The only Kubelikian quality that’s lacking is that crucial last ounce of abandon.
‘Gretchen’ inspires some genuinely soft playing (excellent solo viola), and although Mephistopheles doesn’t crackle in the way Fischer allows him to, the storms that bridge into the ‘Chorus mysticus’ are, like their first- movement counterparts, extremely exciting. Christian Elsner copes easily with the tenor solo and the Danish National Radio Choir offers him able support.
So, what’s missing? Very little that’s essential for a basic appreciation of the piece, though the orchestra’s strings are a mite undernourished and the playing in general lacks the sort of electricity that makes most of my comparisons – even the less refined among them – rather more memorable. The sound is impressively dynamic, and Jeremy Siepmann contributes excellent notes but, let me repeat, Fischer remains unchallenged.'