Music: The Gold of Troy

For years, European travelers have raved about two operas almost never performed in the U.S.: Hector Berlioz's Les Troy ens (The Trojans) and Ferruccio Busoni's Doktor Faust. The latter is staged mainly in Germany, where its intellectual depth and murky symbolism are much admired. The Berlioz has been visible in France, Italy and Britain, usually in truncated form, for it was thought too sprawling for stage presentation in one evening. Only parts of Les Troyens have been commercially recorded. Only orchestral bits from Doktor Faust had ever been recorded at all.

In Philips' recording (five disks, $29.90) Les Troyens turns out to be better than even its most extravagant admirers have claimed. Nor does it seem all that long: uncut, it runs a bit under four hours, shorter than either Die Meistersinger or Parsifal, roughly the length of Tristan und Isolde. It is Berlioz's greatest work, epic in scale, richness and power.

It is incomprehensible that Les Troyens had to wait 112 years to be heard as Berlioz had written it. If it were not for the superlative skill and dogged determination of Conductor Colin Davis it might not have happened at all. For over a century, the French publishing house of Choudens owned the score but refused to release it. At one point, English Musicologists Cecil Gray and W.J. Turner even tried to hire the Parisian underworld to burglarize Choudens. The attempt failed. Fortunately, the Bibliotheque Nationale owned Berlioz's manuscripts. British Musicologist Hugh MacDonald began the immense job of deciphering them and in 1969, the German firm of Barenreiter was able to publish the full score. The first complete performance in French—with Conductor Davis at Covent Garden in September 1969—made the Philips recording economically feasible by saving expensive rehearsal time.

Cast in the old-fashioned molds of aria, duet, octet, chorus, etc., Les Troyens looks a bit archaic on paper. But in performance, the music churns with energy. Berlioz's restraint and sharp musical delineation of character are on a level with Mozart, Gluck and Wagner at their best.

None of the singers have flawless French diction, but otherwise the Philips cast seems nearly perfect. Tenor Jon Vickers' heroic-sounding Aeneas has both muscle and gentleness; Mezzo-Soprano Josephine Veasey sings Dido with a burnished-bronze quality that can range from love to outrage. As Cassandra, Soprano Berit Lindholm is splendidly equipped to trumpet the doom of Troy, even if her voice is a bit too high for this low-ranging role.