Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
English National Orchestra and Chorus of English National Opera conducted by Martyn Brabbins. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/297mlkx4
I - Prologue in Heaven "Die sonne tönt, nach alter Weise": 0:00
II - Act I [Faust's study]: Scene I. Night "Habe nun, ach!" (17:30) - Scene II. "Es klopft? Herein!" (26:05) - "Ich bin allhier erst kurze Zeit" (37:56)
III - Act II. Prelude through the air (53:18) - Scene I. Street "Mein schönes fräulein" (55:00) - Scene II. Evening, Gretchen's room "Ich gäb' was drum" (1:00:39) - Scene III. Gretchen with a lamp "Es ist so schwül, so dumpfig hie" (1:09:58) - Scene IV. Gretchen's room, alone at the spinning wheel "Meine Ruh' it hin" (1:16:45)
IV - Act III. Scene I. Night, street outside Gretchen's house "Wenn ich so saß bei einem Gelag" (1:21:39) - Scene II. Cathedral "Wie anders, Gretchen, war dir's" (1:36:04)
V - Act IV. Scene I. Gloomy day, a field "Im Elend! Verzweifelnd" (1:47:25) - Scene II. Night, an open field (1:55:57) - Scene III. Prison "Mich faßt ein längst entwohnter Schauer" (1:59:25)
Brian's "Faust" was composed between April 1955 and May 11 of 1956, being 80 years old by the time he finished it. The composer didn't live to hear the work performed, not even the handful of scenes and orchestral fragments he extracted afterwards. Seven years after his death was the "Prologue in Heaven" performed in a BBC broadcast of Radio 3 on March 9 of 1979, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. As of today the work has neither been staged nor publicly performed in its entirety. Only between August 27-30 of 2019 was the piece recorded in its entirety by the label Dutton Epoch.
Like the rest of Brian's operas, it was composed with no prospects of it being performed and with little consideration to the practicality of performing such works, far removed from the contingencies and compromises that happen in the operatic world. Brian made some occasional attempts to have them performed, but due to a mixture of bad luck and a lack of interest from opera houses, only the last of them, "Agamemnon", was staged in the lifetime of the composer.
Faust is a setting of the first part of Goethe's magnum opus "Faust". Brian had been long fascinated with the work and identified himelf with the figure of Faust, serving as inspiration for the first, purely orchestral part of his enormous Gothic Symphony. Unlike the dramatic settings of other composers, most notably Gounod and Berlioz, Brian didn't modify a word from Goethe's original text, only cutting a substantial part of episodes outside the core tragedy of Faust, Gretchen (or Marguerite) and Mephistopheles. These omissions (while sorely missed) make the first part of Goethe's Faust an actual workable dramatic entity to be transformed into an opera. Also worth noting is that the opera is in the original German.
Faust is a kind of music drama with motifs associated with the major characters, Faust, Mephistopheles and Gretchen. Orchestrally it is heavily contrapuntal and there are times when the vocal and orchestral elements operate almost in parallel, the orchestral writing functioning symphonically, which imparts a strange sense of dislocation but reinforces Brian’s intellectualised vision. Not for nothing had he inscribed lines from Part II of Faust on the score of his Gothic Symphony, namely "He who strives with all his might/that man we can redeem". Some scenic elements bear noting. In the long Prologue, where one finds Raphael, Gabriel and Michael as well as God and Mephistopheles, there’s a kind of trio for the first three mentioned and on Mephistopheles’ appearance Brian grants the orchestral strings a tremolandi, and lower brass glowering; a small whiff of sulphur is conjured up, the effect – for so often austere a word setter as Brian – is somewhat stagey.
Brian’s orchestration is worthy of attention. He often, within the contrapuntal drama of his setting, sets low brass against piercing winds, and he succeeds in communicating Faust’s urgency as he summons up the Earth Spirit in his study. But Brian’s music, here or in the symphonies, is never without expressive lyricism as can be heard as early as the first meeting of Faust and Mephistopheles. It deepens in Act 2 – after the deftly aerial Prelude for orchestra – when Faust meets Gretchen, the writing here being beautifully calibrated and touching, even Elgarian in his lighter manner.
[review continued in the comments section].
Pictures: [left] "Faust and Mephistopheles" (1827) [right] "Marguerite at the church" (1850) both by French painter Eugène Delacroix.
Sources: Recording booklet and tinyurl.com/2347wxmf
To check the score (voices and piano): tinyurl.com/2bj3guu6
English National Orchestra and Chorus of English National Opera conducted by Martyn Brabbins. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/297mlkx4
I - Prologue in Heaven "Die sonne tönt, nach alter Weise": 0:00
II - Act I [Faust's study]: Scene I. Night "Habe nun, ach!" (17:30) - Scene II. "Es klopft? Herein!" (26:05) - "Ich bin allhier erst kurze Zeit" (37:56)
III - Act II. Prelude through the air (53:18) - Scene I. Street "Mein schönes fräulein" (55:00) - Scene II. Evening, Gretchen's room "Ich gäb' was drum" (1:00:39) - Scene III. Gretchen with a lamp "Es ist so schwül, so dumpfig hie" (1:09:58) - Scene IV. Gretchen's room, alone at the spinning wheel "Meine Ruh' it hin" (1:16:45)
IV - Act III. Scene I. Night, street outside Gretchen's house "Wenn ich so saß bei einem Gelag" (1:21:39) - Scene II. Cathedral "Wie anders, Gretchen, war dir's" (1:36:04)
V - Act IV. Scene I. Gloomy day, a field "Im Elend! Verzweifelnd" (1:47:25) - Scene II. Night, an open field (1:55:57) - Scene III. Prison "Mich faßt ein längst entwohnter Schauer" (1:59:25)
Brian's "Faust" was composed between April 1955 and May 11 of 1956, being 80 years old by the time he finished it. The composer didn't live to hear the work performed, not even the handful of scenes and orchestral fragments he extracted afterwards. Seven years after his death was the "Prologue in Heaven" performed in a BBC broadcast of Radio 3 on March 9 of 1979, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. As of today the work has neither been staged nor publicly performed in its entirety. Only between August 27-30 of 2019 was the piece recorded in its entirety by the label Dutton Epoch.
Like the rest of Brian's operas, it was composed with no prospects of it being performed and with little consideration to the practicality of performing such works, far removed from the contingencies and compromises that happen in the operatic world. Brian made some occasional attempts to have them performed, but due to a mixture of bad luck and a lack of interest from opera houses, only the last of them, "Agamemnon", was staged in the lifetime of the composer.
Faust is a setting of the first part of Goethe's magnum opus "Faust". Brian had been long fascinated with the work and identified himelf with the figure of Faust, serving as inspiration for the first, purely orchestral part of his enormous Gothic Symphony. Unlike the dramatic settings of other composers, most notably Gounod and Berlioz, Brian didn't modify a word from Goethe's original text, only cutting a substantial part of episodes outside the core tragedy of Faust, Gretchen (or Marguerite) and Mephistopheles. These omissions (while sorely missed) make the first part of Goethe's Faust an actual workable dramatic entity to be transformed into an opera. Also worth noting is that the opera is in the original German.
Faust is a kind of music drama with motifs associated with the major characters, Faust, Mephistopheles and Gretchen. Orchestrally it is heavily contrapuntal and there are times when the vocal and orchestral elements operate almost in parallel, the orchestral writing functioning symphonically, which imparts a strange sense of dislocation but reinforces Brian’s intellectualised vision. Not for nothing had he inscribed lines from Part II of Faust on the score of his Gothic Symphony, namely "He who strives with all his might/that man we can redeem". Some scenic elements bear noting. In the long Prologue, where one finds Raphael, Gabriel and Michael as well as God and Mephistopheles, there’s a kind of trio for the first three mentioned and on Mephistopheles’ appearance Brian grants the orchestral strings a tremolandi, and lower brass glowering; a small whiff of sulphur is conjured up, the effect – for so often austere a word setter as Brian – is somewhat stagey.
Brian’s orchestration is worthy of attention. He often, within the contrapuntal drama of his setting, sets low brass against piercing winds, and he succeeds in communicating Faust’s urgency as he summons up the Earth Spirit in his study. But Brian’s music, here or in the symphonies, is never without expressive lyricism as can be heard as early as the first meeting of Faust and Mephistopheles. It deepens in Act 2 – after the deftly aerial Prelude for orchestra – when Faust meets Gretchen, the writing here being beautifully calibrated and touching, even Elgarian in his lighter manner.
[review continued in the comments section].
Pictures: [left] "Faust and Mephistopheles" (1827) [right] "Marguerite at the church" (1850) both by French painter Eugène Delacroix.
Sources: Recording booklet and tinyurl.com/2347wxmf
To check the score (voices and piano): tinyurl.com/2bj3guu6
