The devil made me do it... Mefistofele Samuel Ramey Faust Richard Margison Wagner/Nereo Peter Hoare Margherita/Elena Nellie Miriciou Marta/Pantalis Patricia Bardon Conductor Bernard Haitink Royal Opera Chorus (with boys' chorus) and Orchestra The chorus are "heavenly host, cherubim, penitents, hunters, villagers, students, witches, warlocks, coryphaei, warriors" and some uncredited nymphs. It's one of those works that's almost unstageable. If Boioto had written an oratorio, he could have kept the poodle. (The monk is a decent anti-clerical joke, though, and a monk going round in circles is quite funny.) At any rate, both Goethe's play and Boioto's libretto work as narrative poems. Mefistofele is ideal for a concert performance. Briefly, this one was stunning, mainly because of the superb orchestral playing and the chorus. Ramey puts a lot into his signature role, but he struck me as more of a butch imp than a proper devil, though he got over the (somewhat deracinated) humour of the devil quite well. Richard Margison I found a bit puzzling. He's got a solid voice, but doesn't do anything at all with it. He's shorter than Ramey, which is mildly amusing. Patricia Bardon sounded gorgeous in the minor roles. I found Nellie Miriciou a bit close to wobbly, and she mauled the Italian at times, though she was totally sympathetic in both parts, particularly in Elena's vision of the destruction of Troy. This massive performance was so loud that there was some feedback on some of the speakers in the hall. It was close to physically overwhelming at times, but it a civilised sort of way. I kept thinking that Boioto's problem with Faust II was a spurious one -- he didn't need to do it at all, because his highly Italian treatment of Faust I embodies the synthesis of ideal and real that Goethe saw in Italian culture, and which is the unstated synthesis of Germanic and classical culture to which Goethe's Faust aspires. I hope all the microphones in the hall meant that there will be a broadcast.