Riccardo Muti - Boito: Mefistofele (2016)

Arrigo Boito, Verdi's greatest librettist, was also a renowned composer, best known for his Italian operatic treatment of Goethe's tragedy Faust. His "Mephistopheles" is much closer in spirit and letter to the original source than the French version of Gounod, written about a decade earlier. Boito seemed to be more fascinated by Mephistopheles than the title character (he also completed the role of another famous villain, Iago, in the adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello for Verdi). There are many complete versions of the recordings of "Mephistopheles" on disc, but BBC Music Magazine gave the highest rating to this 1995 live recording from La Scala conducted by Riccardo Muti: It is Samuel Ramey who dominates this new recording. Remy was already a magnificent Mephistopheles in the 1991 recording, but here he has even better command of the role and has the advantage of Muti's virtuoso conducting. Michelle Kreider is a touching Margarita, and Vincenzo La Scola is a mellifluous Faust.