Scenen aus Goethes Faust (Scenes from Goethe's Faust)

"Antoni Wit has at his disposal an excellent chorus and a very fine orchestra. He unclogs Schumann's textures by having timpani play with hard sticks and by encouraging the brass to play with a characterful, unblended sonority. Trumpets, horns, and trombones retain their special timbre, especially in pianissimo, while the woodwinds color the string parts that they so often merely double. Wit's tempos flow with unforced naturalness and real excitement where called for. The concluding Chorus Mysticus (Wit chooses Schumann's original version) really takes off at its "Lebhaft" second half.

Best of all, Wit has an outstanding lineup of soloists. Christiane Libor sings Gretchen (later Una Poenitentium and Not) with a really beautiful, steady tone. Her Church scene, with Andrew Gangestad's suave Mephistopheles, is gripping. Jaakko Kortekangas makes an excellent Faust/Doctor Marianus. Faust's death is deeply moving, and in Part 3 he gets the lines that Mahler later assigned to a tenor, and it works just as well (better in this context, of course). He's a pleasure to listen to.

The Naxos engineers capture the whole production in sonics of great warmth, clarity, and naturalness. It may be that Schumann's Faust will never regain its 19th century popularity, but it contains some wonderful music, and this version will be hard to beat."
(10/10 ClassicsToday Dec 2011)