Warsaw Boys' Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/ Antoni Wit Naxos 8.572430-31 (2 CDs)****

The name probably says it all. S cenes from Goethe's Faustdoesn't suggest a work with a grand, unified plan, and Schumann's two-hour cantata, with its large team of soloists and multiple choirs, remains a real rarity in the concert hall. It may be a curate's egg of a piece, but plenty of it is first-rate, with chillingly dramatic writing in the Scene in the Cathedral, and a forward-looking chromaticism for the Chorus Mysticus in the closing movement, Alles Vergängliche is nur ein Gleichnis. Antoni Wit and his Polish performers have a responsive finger on Schumann's romantic pulse, and, with a sturdy team of soloists, seem sure to bring this still little-known piece to a wider audience at Naxos's bargain-basement prices. See url.ie/57c6