Samuel Ramey plays the devil in Nice!

I came back from Nice on Saturday(17TH) at noon in a fantastic mood, feeling somehow regenerated after having met Mephistopheles in person in La Damnation de Faust by the beloved Hector Berlioz.
Direction Musicale : Philippe Auguin
Mise en espace : Yves Coudray
Lumières : Bernard Barbero
Faust : Sergeï Semiskur
Marguerite: Oksana Volkova
Méphistophélès : Samuel Ramey
Brander : Jean-Marie Frémeau
Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice
Chœur de l’Opéra de Nice
Samuel Ramey, this fantastic bass is almost my twin brother and looking at his smart appearance, his piercing and shining eyesight, sharing and feeling his tremendous passion for this role, I felt young again. On Friday night, in 'La Damnation de Faust'he gave us the proof of his eternal youth! In a recent interview in 2010 he said:
"Singers can't really hear themselves that well," "A singer's voice is just like an automobile: You have to have somebody take it in for a 20,000-mile checkup.(...)
"My teacher, when I see him now, we just try to work on things to try to keep the voice from sounding the age that it is," Ramey says. "I just try to bring out what's left of the youth in the voice."
Indeed on friday night(16th), he demonstrated that there is a lot of youth left in his voice. His passion for this music and this role gave energy to the whole cast as soon as he stepped on stage. He sounded terrific with a complete mastering of a role he has been performing for twenty years at least. What a treat!I like this tale, the eight stories and the music in any case, but with him, it was like "paradise' even in hell!
Young Charles Castronovo was Faust, and was not expected so that was a nice surprise too! ( he was replacing Sergeï Semiskur, he must have been informed at short notice, he was following the scores in this semi-staged performance).
I was thrilled again by his subtle rendition and enjoyed the first act, the renewal of nature with the peasants' dances, which will never be shared by him, because he is depressed by all his knowledge and is incapable of sheer happiness. CH.Castronovo was very cautious with all the high pitched notes, and negociated some very fine ones. He was quite loud over the thumping orchestral waves and chorus, he made a real achievement on top of the rocking orchestra, very convincing too. The Russian mezzo, Oksana Volkova, was also at ease vocally, with a wide vocal range and perfect French sounds. Her very slim figure was well matched with the 'neat and tidy' looks of Faust- charles Castronovo. I ravished at her 'Roi de Thulé' (always a hit), and the cello was brilliant too. Brander was good, but very conventional and oldish. (He was Don Gormès in le Cid, with whiter hair than Don Diègue). I would have prefered some one like Eric Martin Bonnet who managed to be witty, having some very personal way of making us actually see this poor rat run along his arms...before being roasted!
The whole story was well lit-up with contrastive reds and blues, it had few moves to the side boxes, one figuring Marguerite's bedroom the other one for the master of ceremony to command the various journeys until the last one for Faust, and the chorus also made some moves on request of Mephostopheles's gestures. It was not at all static and could be followed like eight tales in action. The only furniture were two armchairs on both sides, the Royal looking one for
both Faust in his study and then for Mephisto, the smaller one for Marguerite's dream. A swirl of passion rocked the house! As for Samuel Ramey's voice, even if it slightly wobbled at times, it kept an immense resounding effect and a deep command of the acting. He simply loved it and made his young fellow singers join his passion. He boosted Castronovo when he appeared in part II. Then it gave to this Berlioz piece (which had been a flop at its creation in Paris, 6 December 1846), the jubilant touch it deserves. He simply was grand! I was so happy to be in the audience for Berlioz's Damnation. I always try to attend a Berlioz production, I think I understand and love his music more and more. Of course it is always fascinating to follow a live 'Ride to hell' here both Faust and Mephistopheles were holding to their score-stands (with no scores for Samuel Ramey of course!) pretending to ride their black horses. Faust's singing part is huge, his ode to Nature is a momentum "'Nature immense, impénétrable et fière". Charles Castronovo was convincing and impressive in this colossal part.
My last Damnation was at Marseilles Opera House with a daring Marguerite, Anna Caterina Antonacci, and the same conductor LINK . This time, the four voices were top class and they were all acting this pseudo opera which does not really need to be staged. The orchestra and chorus are part of the imagery: it is all depicted in the music. Each time, I enjoy the sarcastic parts like the"Amen", 'Voici des roses", and "petite Louison ( I have memories of 'Bonne nuit...AH!' sung to me when I was a child!)"the Flea" or the"Rat' tunes! That friday night Samuel Ramey was magnificient in all his hits and the audience was under the spell! Marguerite and Faust have true lyrical romances to sing and they were also very moving, adding the delicate touch to this fairy tale which ends like a nightmare. Being both young and attractive, their meeting was even more credible! The awesome Devil was the center of this performance and I was moved to applaude Samuel Ramey on this provincial stage... forty years of loyal services to this Art form... with all my respect to such a beautiful artist and person, and to Berlioz!
I do hope to see some young singers tackle this Mephistopheles's role in the style Samuel Ramey has been doing it.
I left my friends after an admirative converstion about the artists and Samuel Ramey. They went back stage to greet him (I did not, sticking to my old habit of waiting for the artists at the stagedoor, they did not appear,they had a party after the show, very well deserved!).

It was a very warm night, and I stopped for another drink under the pepper trees, thinking it was such a treat to have seen this performance in Nice, where I was born, where my parents learnt the art of singing too...where my two grandparents families settled so many years ago, and where dear Berlioz stayed to recover and write some music in the Tower of Nice Castle, with a stupendous view on the bay....

Bonne Nuit! LINK- Samuel Ramey "A date with the

Devil"