Setting Goethe’s »Faust«, the most expansive of all his dramas, was an apparently impossible challenge – and for that very reason one that proved irresistible to many composers. With his often intensely volatile emotional world, Robert Schumann was perhaps especially well suited to exploring the tragic inner life of Goethe’s conflicted hero. With characteristic intensity, the Balthasar Neumann Ensembles now bring Schumann’s »Scenes from Goethe’s Faust« to life in a compelling performance led by an outstanding cast of soloists headed by none other than star tenor Julian Prégardien.
Faced with the sheer scale of Goethe’s drama, the literarily gifted Schumann based his composition on a carefully chosen selection of key scenes. In doing so, he created a powerful condensation of the work, tracing its central episodes in the space of just under two hours. Neither quite secular oratorio nor fully symphony with chorus and soloists, this unusual composition occupies a category of its own.
Poised somewhere between worlds, it retains its unique status as a fascinating hybrid and continues to captivate audiences with an emotional trajectory whose peaks and valleys encompass the full spectrum of human experience.
PERFORMERS
Balthasar-Neumann-Chor und -Orchester ensemble
Konstantin Krimmel baritone
Katharina Ruckgaber soprano
Julian Prégardien tenor
Florian Boesch bass
Domen Križaj baritone
Marie Lys soprano
Thomas Hengelbrock conductor
PROGRAM
Robert Schumann
Scenes from Goethe’s »Faust« for Soloists, Choir and Orchestra, WoO 3
