You'll notice Busoni's peculiarly fascinating methods right off the bat in Faust's orchestral prelude. A repeated minor third figure occurs almost as an ostinato, and "trained" ears will probably hear it as the fifth and third of a major triad. And yet Busoni has this interval floating above a wash of massed tonalities that completely alters the way most astute listeners would normally perceive it, making it fundamentally ambiguous and strangely diaphanous--about as diametrically opposed to the foundational solidity a major triad usually imparts. That ambiguity plays perfectly into Faust's themes of temptation, power and ultimate redemption, helping to musically illuminate the twisted soul that inhabits its lead character.

Busoni had been fascinated with the Faust legend since his early childhood, but like a lot of artists, felt initimidated by the overwhelming mastery of Goethe's version. It took the composer years to divorce himself from Goethe's vision and craft one that contains, obviously, several of the same elements while positing it all in a magical-fantasy environment that is positively Felliniesque, to use a film comparison. Once Mephistopheles has possession of Faust's soul, the "good" Doktor embarks on a journey of hallucinogenic proportions, leading, of course, to his ultimate demise, but leaving (if I may be permitted a short detour into 1960s pop music for a moment) "one child born to carry on."

Doktor Faust is unusually structured. Highly episodic, the opera makes incredible demands of its eponymous baritone, who pretty much has the stage to himself for over a half an hour at the top of the piece. American superstar Thomas Hampson is in complete control in this role, his mighty voice roaring through Busoni's declarative melodies. That's not "fake" sweat that's popping out all over Hampson by the time Mephistopheles (Gregory Kunde) makes his entrance--it's no doubt perspiration caused by the sheer physical effort it takes to sing this valiantly nonstop with nary a break. It's an amazing opening gambit, one that Busoni must have known would tax even prodigiously talented professionals, but Hampson, despite losing a little of his personal water table, does magnificent work.

Klaus Michael Gruber stage directs this version with a fair degree of visual audacity. The curtain opens on a gigantic scrim of Faust's lab, filled from floor to flies with bottles and other paraphernalia of the alchemist's trade. There are brilliant, if patently bizarre, little touches throughout this production which help lend it its hallucinatory air. The three students who deliver the book of black magic to Faust are all painted different colors, even as they wear perfectly nice suits and fedoras. The Parma Court scene is like the Loveland sequence of Sondheim's Follies seen through a psilocybin haze. Later, in the tavern scene, the students all bear weird slashes and painted faces. When Faust has his vision of Helen of Troy, she's a diaphanous blue nude who seems cloaked in Saran Wrap. The effect is to make Faust's journey one akin to Orpheus' in Tartarus--Faust is literally going through hell to finally achieve something close to redemption.

While Kunde sings magnificently and has a certain menace as Mephistopheles, the one design and directorial misstep is in his costuming and characterization. Clad in a black cape, with a weird glove containing what looks like a plastic red finger, Kunde comes off at times as Count Dracula playing a used car salesman. Now I'm sure some of you would aver that a used car salesman is about as close as most of us come to dealing with the Devil in real life, but in this context it deflates the intensity that is needed for Lucifer's interactions with his captive Doctor.

This is a magnificently sung and played Faust by all accounts. Busoni had a special relationship with Zurich, and the beautiful Swiss city repays that history in full with this sweeping production conducted by Philippe Jordan. Television director Felix Breisach does a mostly excellent job of focusing attention where it needs to be, though he occasionally frames his wide shots too wide, allowing the top of the proscenium, where the German supertitles for the live audience are projected, to be seen.

Overall, though, this is an eye-popping production full of some of the most expressive music written in the early 20th century. Faust remains such a potent iconic figure for many reasons, not the least of which many of us wonder if society at large has sold its soul to the Devil, considering the straits we often find ourselves in. Busoni's version gives us hope that, though damned to hell as we may well be, there's redemption out there, waiting to be found. It's a message that seems especially reverberant in these times.

The Blu-ray

Video:
Normally these ArtHaus Musik BDs are at the very least quite good, but Doktor Faust has some pretty bad artifacts cropping up regularly in its 1.78:1 AVC image (1080i, which I guess could account for some of this, but it seems strange). Most distressing is nonstop line shimmer on Hampson's long wig, but there are similar anomalies in the long lines that make up the pillars of main laboratory scrim, and the same thing occurs later in the Parma ball scene on several costumes. If you can get past all of that, the image is sharp, with some beautiful color. The bulk of the opera is played out beneath various shades of blue, and this BD creates that cobalt environment gorgeously. Detail is excellent, aside from the artifacts; you'll be able to see the incredible complexity of some of the costumes and, as mentioned, you'll be able to see Hampson sweat more than a little.

Sound:
Both the DTS-HD MA 7.1 and PCM stereo mixes are excellent. The 7.1 mix may seem like overkill in an opera that has long stretches with only one or two people singing, and yet there's some great surround channel use in this, including in the regular use of offstage voices (for example, when Faust first is visited by various spirits and must decide which is Mephistopheles, there's excellent use of surround sound). Everything is crystal clear in this sonic presentation, with voices balanced perfectly against Busoni's surging orchestra. Subtitles are available in English, Italian, German, French and Spanish.

Extras:
Two brief interviews with Hampson (who speaks awful good German for a Spokane boy) and conductor Jordan are offered, as well as trailers.

Final Thoughts:
This is one of the most audacious visual operatic presentations I've seen recently. Busoni's music straddles a fine line between traditional late 19th century diatonicism and something not quite atonal but certainly not locked into scalar cliches. Hampson is magnificent in the title role, and if you can overlook some unfortunate authoring anomalies, this BD is Highly recommended.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet