Georges Charles
GOUNOD (1818-1893)
Faust - an opera in five
acts - Faust on record; a look back
and into the future
Fifty years ago one
of the most popular operas in the repertoire
was Gounod’s Faust. Suddenly
it fell out of fashion among those in
control of opera houses. It was deemed
rather trite by conductors. This at
a time when the early works of Verdi
were enjoying a renaissance. Certain
critics clamoured for opera houses to
commission new works and not depend
on those from the19th century. Far too
often when such commissions come to
fruition the work concerned lacked dramatic
cohesion and anything recognisable as
a tune! This might be OK for critics
who tire of seeing the old warhorses,
but the general public like a cohesive
plot with the story illuminated by melody.
Also if the production and sets are
in a form that the public can recognise
as relating to the plot so much the
better. Among these conflicting views
Faust was forgotten, at least
in the UK. Full of tunes and dramatic
situations it became passé. It
seemed that over-cerebral administrators
and conductors tended to look down their
noses at it. At least that was the situation
until Antonio Pappano became Musical
Director at London’s Covent Garden.
In my
review of EMI’s Carmen under his
baton , and featuring Angela Gheorghiu
and Roberto Alagna, I expressed the
view that this team, with the addition
of a good basso for Mephisto, would
make a fine cast for Faust. So
when Covent Garden announced a new production
of Faust featuring this team
plus Bryn Terfel my heart beat a flutter
of anticipation. Sadly EMI, to whom
at least two of this cast are contracted,
has given up studio recording of opera
postulating the future to be with DVD
issues of stage productions. Then it
was announced that the Covent Garden
production was to be broadcast on terrestrial
television in the UK by the BBC. This
is not something that happens very often
and I didn’t feel like Nostradamus in
predicting a DVD version. The marketing
gurus will determine whether EMI will
issue a parallel CD version as other
companies have done. A CD version will
enter a market in which there is no
all-out winner. With these facts in
mind I thought it a good time to review
the Covent Garden production and the
available CD versions of this melodic
opera.
The Covent Garden production
was dressed in the time of the work’s
composition rather than the medieval
period of Goethe’s conception and Gounod’s
intention. Nonetheless the dress and
sets were such that I could easily recognise
the opera as Faust. This made
a pleasant change from a few nights
earlier when I had been subjected to
a Pagliacci where the commedia
dell’arte players were represented as
a rock band and the audience at their
supposed play threw paper aeroplanes
at each other! Needless to say the cerebral
critics didn’t think much of this Faust
choosing to focus on one of Mephistopheles’
costumes, six in all, when he appeared
in drag and tiara during the Walpurgis
Night scene. The orchestral playing
under Pappano’s well-paced and dramatic
portrayal was outstanding as was the
contribution of the chorus, so important
in this opera. The solo singing was
more mixed but never less than good.
Alagna as Faust was a little dry toned
but his French was easy and fluent and
his portrayal believable. He delivered
an eloquently phrased Salut! Demeure
chaste et pure, which was rapturously
received. As Marguerite Angela Gheorghiu
was rather too knowing in The King
of Thule and somewhat over-avaricious
as she surveyed the jewels. Nonetheless
her singing was fluent, pure-toned and
eloquently phrased throughout. Perhaps
the best singing of the evening, and
a formidably acted portrayal, came from
Simon Keenlyside as Valentin, Marguerite’s
brother. His Avant de quitter was
smooth, full-bodied and rounded of tone.
It was a major vocal highlight of the
performance. The Mephisto of Bryn Terfel
was a histrionic tour de force. His
size, stage presence and flexibility
of facial expression suit the part like
a glove. His French was good, but in
the ultimate analysis his sonorous bass
baritone, no matter how well he coloured
his tone, has not the sheer heft that
a full bass could give the part. On
DVD his acting powers will obscure that
deficiency. However, on CD with only
the sound, his portrayal will have to
stand comparison with some formidable
bass interpreters of the role.
In the post-World War
Two period EMI have dominated the commercial
recording world as far as Faust is
concerned with no fewer than five visits
to the studio. The first, in 1949, was
conducted by Beecham and is distinguished
by having a Francophone cast from the
Paris Opera ensemble. I last saw this
abbreviated version available at full
price on the Preiser label. I am surprised
it hasn’t come to the attention of Naxos
whose re-mastering of the Francophone
Carmen featuring Solange Michel
has been much admired
[Review by Richard
Lee-Van den Daele ]. For
better or worse this Faust was
quickly overtaken in the catalogue when
EMI recorded an international cast of
Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda
and Boris Christoff. This LP set was
a staple in my family and was the vehicle
by which I learnt to love the music
before being entranced by a Sadlers
Wells production that used UV light
to enhance the magical effects in the
Walpurgis Night scene. Shortly after
the advent of stereo EMI took the same
polyglot international trio back into
the studio. For this stereo remake,
in the Salle de Mutualité in
Paris, the trio were joined by French
speakers, Rita Gorr, Ernest Blanc, Victor
Autran and Liliane Berton. Despite further
EMI visits to the studio in 1978 and
1991 it has, for many people, remained
the gold standard recording and has
been re-issued as a GROC. (see review
by Tony
Haywood) The recording is rather
flat and two dimensional by today’s
best standards but the voices are clearly
placed and the orchestral playing well
caught. There is some strain evident
in Gedda’s Faust. Poor French and his
rather glottal vocal production mar
Christoff’s superbly saturnine Mephisto.
That being said all the soloists characterise
superbly with de los Angeles’ Marguerite
being an outstanding vocal portrayal.
The recording coheres into a dramatic
whole under the idiomatic baton of the
Belgium-born André Cluytens.
His interpretation has not been equalled
on record.
In 1978 EMI recorded
another non-Francophone cast in the
Salle Wagram, Paris. The warm acoustic
does not compensate for Prêtre’s
rigidity of tempo and phrase. Domingo’s
Faust is among the most vocally secure
and elegantly sung on record although
his French limits the depth of his characterisation.
Ghiaurov as Mephistopheles is good but
his singing has not the freedom and
richness he brought to the part with
Sutherland on the earlier Decca issue.
Freni is a little too heavy as Marguerite.
The best singing comes from Thomas Allen
as Valentin. This version would be more
competitive at mid-price especially
now that the EMI’s 1991 recording is
the company’s flagship. Recorded under
Plasson’s idiomatic baton this later
recording benefits from the sympathetic
acoustic of the Halle-aux-Grains, Toulouse.
Despite three of the principals being
American, all sing with good French.
Richard Leech has heroic punch and honeyed
tone as well as elegant phrasing as
Faust. Cheryl Studer fines down her
voice to portray an appealing and young-sounding
Marguerite. The Valentin of Thomas Hampson
is outstanding in tone colour, phrasing
and interpretation. The same can be
said of the Belgian José van
Damm as Mephistopheles, but he, like
Terfel, is a bass-baritone and despite
some superb singing and characterisation
lacks the ultimate ‘oomph’ that a true
bass of comparable skills would bring
to the part.
True basses sing Mephistopheles
in two other versions, one being of
particular all-round worth. The first
at mid-price from Decca features Ghiaurov
caught at his magnificent best. His
French is far better than fellow Bulgarian
Christoff and his is the outstanding
portrayal on this set. Bonynge’s conducting
is well shaped and paced. Joan Sutherland
makes a girlish but bland Marguerite;
given her diction her standard of French
isn’t an issue! Corelli sings Corelli
rather than Faust. The second bass worthy
of consideration is Sam Ramey in the
more recommendable 1993 Teldec version.
With the Welsh National Opera Chorus
and Orchestra rather unevenly conducted
by their then musical director Carlo
Rizzi, it was recorded in Swansea’s
Brangwyn Hall which provides a sympathetic
acoustic for a well-balanced recording.
Ramey’s singing is sonorous, tuneful
and beautiful to listen to. But it is
too bland to my ears, conveying little
of the sardonic and the saturnine that
should be at the heart of the role and
of any meaningful characterisation.
Of the other principals, Jerry Hadley
with his light-toned tenor as Faust
and Cecilia Gasdia as Marguerite, contribute
elegant, idiomatic and heartfelt portrayals
as individuals whilst as a pair of lovers
they are as good as any on disc. Agache
is a rather rough-hewn as Valentin.
Given its sonic quality and the excellent
singing in the lesser solo roles, this
version is worthy of consideration if
a modern recording is paramount. Other
versions feature Te Kanawa (Philips)
and Caballé (Erato). Neither
has much to commend it other than the
singing of the divas as Marguerite.
Regrettably, Jüssi
Bjorling’s name is missing from my list
of those singing Faust. Oh that it had
been he not Gedda on those early EMI
recordings. Given what is available,
the choice of the best all-round performance
rests between the 1958 early stereo
version and either the 1991 EMI or the
1991 Teldec versions. If recording quality
is paramount then the choice rests between
the latter two, both having worthwhile
virtues. It is possible to make one’s
choice and have highlights from the
other recordings, although it must be
stated that such CDs flit in and out
of the catalogue. A generous 75 minutes
of highlights from the 1958 EMI recording
is on the Eminence label at bargain
price. Frustratingly it concludes at
the end of the final trio and misses
the concluding Christ est ressucité
by the chorus as Marguerite’s soul
ascends to heaven. This is present on
the extracts from the Teldec set which
in its generous 76 minutes includes
over six minutes of the ballet music.
This has been available in Teldec’s
‘Opera Collection’ series at mid-price.
Some deleted items from this series
are being reissued on the Warner’s Elatus
label. The highlights from the 1991
EMI recording are at full price and
are the least generous at 63 minutes.
That issue also finishes with the final
trio and misses out the final chorus.
If it emerges as a
CD as well as a DVD, a new version deriving
from the recent Covent Garden performance
and featuring Roberto Alagna, Angela
Gheorghiu, Simon Keenlyside and Bryn
Terfel under Pappano’s vibrant baton
will face formidable competition as
well as adding to our choice of good
if not outstanding performances. None
of the recordings I have covered is
perfect, but all provide many moments
of listening pleasure in a work that
has not lost its popular appeal in the
UK despite lack of theatre performances.
Robert J Farr
PREISER. 1949. Georges
Nore Roger Rico Roger Bourdin Beecham
90355 Crotchet
EMI 1958
Complete as a ‘GROC’. 5 67967 2 (3
CDs) Nicolai Gedda Victoria de
los Angeles Boris Christoff André
Cluytens Review: Tony
Haywood
Highlights. on ‘Eminence’ 7 64804 2
EMI 1985
Complete. 747493 8 (3 CDs) Placido
Domingo Nicolai Ghiaurov Thomas Allen
Georges Pretre Crotchet
Highlights. 763090 2
EMI 1991
Complete. 556224 2 (3CDs) Jose van
Dam Thomas Hampson Richard Leech Cheryl
Studer Plasson Crotchet
Highlights. 754358 2 Crotchet
Teldec 1993
Complete. 4509 90872-2 (3 CDs) Jerry
Hadley Cecilia Gasdia Samuel Ramey Brigitte
Fassbaender Carlo Rizzi Crotchet
Highlights. 0630-13806-9
Decca 1966. Complete. 470 563-2
(DOC 3) Franco Corelli Joan Sutherland
Nicolai Ghiaurov Monica Sinclair Richard
Bonynge
but still available on 421 240-2 (DM3)
in Decca Grand Opera Series Crotchet
July 2004
Another recording worth
your attention and not mentioned above
is an alternative Beecham
Faust, Raoul Jobin (ten); Méphistophélès,
Ezio Pinza (bass); Valentin, Martial
Singer (bar); Marguerite, Licia Albanese
(sop); Siébel, Lucielle Browning
(sop); Marthe, Thelma Votipka (m.sop);
Wagner, John Baker (bar) Chorus and
Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera,
New York/Sir Thomas Beecham
Private recording made for Raoul Jobin
of the ‘Met’ tour broadcast,
from Boston, on 15th April 1944.
GUILD HISTORICAL IMMORTAL PERFORMANCE
SERIES GHCD 2258-59 [2CDs: 75.35+74.41]
Reviews Jonathan
Woolf Robert
Farr
.
