Faust: Arnold Bezuyen (Faust), Gregory Reinhart (Wagner) and Robert Bork (Méphistophélès) photo: Mirco Magliocca

Philippe Fénelon´s opera

Faust entered the operarepertoire at Opera de Paris Wednesday March 17th 2010. With a very interesting and visual good scenography, beautiful and wellfunctioning costumes and a good regi all by Pet Halmen, lightning by Tobias Loeffler and choreography by Luca Masala it has become a good and interesting performance. Text by  the composer after Nikolaus Lenau.

The music by Philippe Fénelon. He has composed over 100 works. Faust is his opera number 4 out of 6,  La Cerisaie, after Chekhov, is to be  premiered as concert performance at the Bolshoi Teheatre in November 2010. He has too composed one ballet, Yamm, (Paris Opera 2000).

Faust is musically a combination of surrealistic, some times a tonal music and singing, with some times extremely high coloratura soprano in the role of Annette, very weel sung by the swedish coloratur soprano Karolina Andersson, which succedes splendid, spite in all the too high tunes, that she nearly has to scream to reach. Very well done.

Faust, Arnold Bezuyen on top, Robert Bork as Mephistophélès in the right eye. Photo: Mirco Magliocca 3387_-ND32806.jpg

Up in all this surrealisme, where I hear inspiration from both Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messian, Stockhausen and others from the same a tonal “family”. I also got the completely opposite in the wonderful and beautiful sung choire parts and the ending Lacrimosa, – Choire leader Patrick Marie Aubert– , where we are back many centuries in the music world. These combinations is a strenght for the Fauts production, so to say, hat when the audience is starting to getting tired of the atonal parts, we are getting some resting points of great beauty. Intelligent combination

. But the whole production is being a success because of the good cooperation with the regi and scenography. I feel I am being well entertained. Only the last 15 minutes, I was starting looking at my wretchwatch. 

In the leading roles we enjoyed Arnold Bezuyen as an outstanding Wagner tenor as Faust, I am shure he is good as Mime and Loke. Robert Bork is a great choise for Mephistoteles, he has the power the look, the voice and we are trusting in him, – ell as much as we dare to trust in the Mephistoteles figure. A new figure is being in to Mr. Fénelon´s Faust history is The Man – Görg, sung and well performed by Guilles Ragon
. As La Femme du Forgeron. and the Princess Marie-Adeline Henry.

Faust, photo Patrice Nin

In the minor roles, we enjoyed the brilliant swedish tenor Johan Christensson as Kurt, Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Hans and Guillaume Antoine as Michel. And as the wimens Zoé Nicolaidou as Kathe, Ilona Krzywicka as Suchen and Aude Extremo as Liebchen. Gregory Reinhardt is Wagner, Bartlomiej Misiuda Le Forgeron and Eric Huchet the Duke and the Captain. 

This production was originally made for the opera, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The scenography was some times extremely well, as for exemple when Mephistoteles, Robert Bork, is standing in top of the kranium, and this is repeated four times with for large mirrors, who makes that the audience in the beginning believed that it was 5 mens on 5 kraniums in a circel repeting the same movements. Perfect lighten up. Very well done.

Faust: The wedding scene. first plan Arnold Bezuyen (Faust), Robert Bork (Méphistophélès) and Gilles Ragon (The Man, Görg) - on second plan Karolina Andresson (Annette) , photo: Mirco Magliocca

I would have liked to see the Interlude, the opening scene with a bit lightning from the front side, during the beautiful Midsummer´s night procession, very well choreographed by Luca Masala, as to enjoy the costumes and their colours. We did see the one costume when the Princess, Marie-Adeline Henry is posing on top of the kranium, only to see the details in the costumes and the colours. By the way her costume could have had an underskirt, specially, when it is so much lighten up from behind.

Unfortunately the stage personal had difficulities some times to get all the details running perfectly, One horse stopping, some columns, which didn´t want to come up, Difficulityes in moving two too high mirror wall decorations. But it worked and no one was disturbed by that.     

Faust: Arnold Bezuyen (Faust) and Robert Bork (Méphistophélès), photo: Mirco Magliocca

I am looking forward to enjoy other operas, ballets and music by Philippe Fénelon.