Gounod’s Faust
became enormously popular from the beginning. It was played
regularly in all the big opera houses, at least until the early
20th century, so much so that the Met was once called
the “Faust-spielhaus”. Later it fell more or less out of fashion,
being regarded as too sweet and sentimental. However, during
the last decades it has again been in vogue. Since the advent
of the LP around a dozen “official” complete recordings have
been issued, most of them quite successful. For a general recommendation
EMI’s stereo remake from 1959 (Cluytens conducting and Victoria
de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda and Boris Christoff singing the
major roles and available at mid-price in the Great Recordings
of the Century series) still leads the race. There are however
several other sets worth consideration and this twelve-year-old
WNO recording has a lot to offer. It comes at budget-price,
is well-filled, the chorus sings well, the WNO Orchestra is
well up to the mark and the sound is good with a wide dynamic
range, maybe too wide. As with many modern recordings, if you
want to hear the pianissimo passages you need to turn up the
volume to a level that makes the fortissimos unsociable. The
choice of items from an opera that is filled with gems is always
a delicate matter and is here sensibly done, even though I would
have liked Marguerite’s Thule ballad to be included. Someone
stumbling over this disc in their record store and wanting a
cheap collection of highlights from Faust, maybe as a
complement to a complete recording, will certainly not be disappointed
with the singing, which for most listeners will be of prime
interest.
Two star mezzos
are to be heard briefly in the minor parts of Siebel and Marthe,
Susanne Mentzer and Brigitte Fassbaender. The little we hear
from them is well-sung with Fassbaender’s characteristic timbre
being immediately recognizable. Valentin is sung by Alexandru
Agache, who has a fine voice, evenly produced. He has a silvery
legato and he sings the first act aria, Avant de quitter
ces lieux with ravishing beauty. In his death scene he is
rather restrained and his curse of Marguerite is sung pianissimo,
which seems realistic for a dying person. Samuel Ramey is of
course magnificent as Mephistopheles. It is a pleasure to listen
to his strong, steady, incisive singing, unsurpassed I would
say during the last thirty years or so, although others may
have delved deeper into the character. Le veau d’or is
a tour de force and he is suitably diabolic in Vous qui faites
l’endormie. The singing of the title role is crucial to
any performance of this opera and Jerry Hadley is an unusually
lyrical Faust. He sings with an elegance, lightness and beauty
of tone that, among modern interpreters of the part, only Gedda
could match. Hadley has always, to my ears, been the most “natural”
of singers and his French is good. His cavatina, Salut! demeure
is inward and restrained, some might even call it bloodless,
and he sings the high C pianissimo in falsetto, which of course
diminishes the impact. It is however in line with his interpretation
and the whole aria is so beautifully and musically done.
Cecilia Gasdia,
too little heard on records, turns in a fine warm-toned Marguerite
who is careful with nuances. The Jewel-song is one of the highlights
on this disc and she matches Hadley well in the love duet, where
Hadley also shows some temperament.
Carlo Rizzi’s tempos
tend to be on the slow side and the whole performance feels
a bit under-powered. The drinking chorus Vin ou biêre
in act I gives a feeling that the glasses contain nothing stronger
than lemonade, but Gloire immortelle is enthusiastically
done. The three dances from the ballet music, which form an
appendix, are well played and the last of them goes some way
to make amend for the slightly tepid feeling.
As usual with these
Warner Apex highlights discs there are no texts in the booklet,
only a short resumé of the plot but without any cues to what
is actually included on the disc. There is also a discrepancy
in so far as the resumé describes the five-act version, while
the track list has four acts.
While not perhaps
being a first recommendation, this is still worth anyone’s money
for some distinguished singing. Hadley’s Cavatina, idiosyncratic
though it may be, demands to be heard.
Göran Forsling
Jerry Hadley (tenor) –
Faust; Cecilia Gasdia (soprano) – Marguerite; Samuel Ramey (bass) – Méphistophéles;
Alexandru Agache (baritone) – Valentin; Susanne Mentzer (mezzo-soprano)
– Siébel; Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo-soprano) – Marthe; Philippe Fourcade
(bass) – Wagner.
