BERLIOZ: “La Damnation de Faust.” Maria Ewing,...

BERLIOZ: “La Damnation de Faust.” Maria Ewing, Denes Gulyas, Robert Lloyd, Manfred Volz; Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Kolner Rundfunkchor, Sudfunk-Chor Stuttgart, Chor des NDR Hamburg, conducted by Eliahu Inbal. Denon 81757 9200-2. In the final entry of what has been a mostly mild-mannered Berlioz project, Inbal continues to be maddeningly cautious. As usual, Inbal insists upon soft-focused, homogenized blends of voices and instruments, letting Berlioz take care of business when the going gets turbulent but rarely giving him an incisive push. Ewing is a fascinating, alluringly sensual Marguerite, Gulyas’ Faust holds steady except in a few higher flights, Lloyd is a somewhat marble-mouthed Mephistopheles. Denon’s sound on this two-CD recording is tremendous, particularly the spectacularly recorded descent into hell.