Ivan Fischer’s latest Budapest Festival bull’s-eye realizes the full breadth of Liszt’s vision, focusing to near-perfection Faust’s anguish (starting with the Allegro impetuoso at 2'28''), Gretchen’s tender modulations (try from 3'38'' on track 2) and the cynical thematic transformations that keep Mephistopheles alive and kicking. It is, above all, a profoundly authentic – or should I say authentically ‘lived’ – production, consistently animated (lightning shifts from piano to forte and back again are meticulously gauged), vividly recorded (note the tuba’s presence at 3'06'' into track 1) and with heavily scored tutti passages granted maximum impact. And yet Fischer is not beyond tweaking the odd instrumental line. At the passage starting at fig. X in “Faust” (Andante mesto, 15'52'' into track 1), the espressivo horns are ‘stopped’ (16'32''); while at the beginning of “Mephistopheles” (track 3), Fischer has the bass and cello semiquavers bowed fairly near the bridge (almost sul ponticello, much as Bernstein does on his Boston recording).
Flutes and clarinets at the outset of Gretchen suggest a chaste, winsome maiden and the Tristanesque passage at 8'34'', where strings exchange affections over a fluid woodwind accompaniment, is beautifully phrased. As to Mephistopheles, no other performance in my experience projects the devilish, quick-witted variants of Faust’s principal themes with as much keenness of attack as Fischer does here – certainly no other performance on disc. The Budapest woodwinds are outstanding, and the strings have real bite. In fact, Fischer’s orchestra sounds like a classy throwback from before the war. Select string portamentos sweeten the texture and there is no hint of the glutinous, excessively homogenized ‘sound blanket’ that evades the musical issue on so many modern recordings. Furthermore, Ivan Fischer affords us the rare opportunity of hearing Liszt’s first (purely orchestral) ending, which Wagner so admired for its lack of “forced excitement or arousal of attention”. I have to say that I heartily agree with Wagner, though lovers of the better-known – and more extended – “Chorus mysticus” have the chance to enjoy that, too. The edited ‘crossroads’ occur at fig. Jj (after a brief musical rest), which means that you can programme your player to deliver either ending (the alternatives are on tracks 4 and 5 respectively). Hans-Peter Blochwitz sings well, and so do the Hungarian Radio Chorus.
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. Now could we please have the Dante Symphony and at least some of the tone-poems? (The Hungarian Rhapsodies are already en route.)'