Mefistofele review – rare outing for a 19th-century standout

Arrigo Boito is probably most familiar as the remarkable writer and librettist who provided the elderly Verdi with the texts for Otello and Falstaff. However, he was also an exceptional composer in his own right, and Mefistofele, the better known of his two operas, ranks among the great works of the 19th century.

It derives from Goethe’s Faust, although Boito, not content with simply adapting the Gretchen episode like Gounod, dauntingly confronts the play’s elaborate disquisition on the metaphysics of evil as well as tackling the Helen of Troy scenes from Goethe’s Part II. Indebted as much to Wagner as Boito’s Italian contemporaries, the score still startles with its combination of harmonic and orchestral daring, emotional ambiguity, and vocal and choral splendour. It’s at once magnificent and utterly unique.

We haven’t heard it in the UK for some time, though, so the Chelsea Opera Group’s concert performance, conducted by Matthew Scott Rogers, was more than welcome. Rogers has the measure of the work’s complexities, and his interpretation had lyrical warmth and dramatic cogency. Playing and choral singing had tremendous conviction, though the internal choral balance occasionally came awry, with tenors over-prominent and the sopranos sometimes tentative.

The cast was strong. The great performance came from Pablo Bemsch as Faust, effortlessly voiced, the mix of sensuality and moral agony superbly conveyed. Vazgen Gazaryan sounded terrific as Mefistofele, but didn’t always capture the corrosive nihilism and bitter humour the role ideally needs. Elizabeth Llewellyn, playing both Margherita and Elena, was marginally more suited to the latter, though her singing had great beauty and poise.