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GREAT
RECORDINGS phase
10
GOUNOD: FAUST
Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda
Boris Christoff, Ernest Blanc, Rita Gorr
Liliane Berton & Victor Autran
Churs et Orchestre du Théâtre
National de l'Opéra de Paris
André Cluytens
5 67967 2
{Angel 5 67975 2}
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'A treasurable collaboration between two great
singers: Christoff, as Méphistophélès, occupies
the centre of the stage, incomparably vivid and invincibly powerful,
and Victoria de los Angeles, with her charm and pathos, is an adorable
Marguerite. Additionally, Gedda's eager style and mellifluous tone
earn gratitude throughout.' (Gramophone)
Award: Diapason d'Or, France
Gounod's opera, based on the first part of Goethe's
dramatic poem Faust, was first performed in Paris in 1859 and rapidly
achieved worldwide fame and popularity. Indeed, its gramophone history
began as early as 1909 (when Caruso recorded extended highlights).
The famous recording reissued here was made in
Paris in 1958 and features almost as good a cast as can be imagined.
Victoria de los Angeles was already well-established as Marguerite
(which she had sung in Paris in 1949 and in New York in 1951) and
Nicolai Gedda, the tenor 'find' of the early 1950s, had a voice
and style perfectly suited to the title role.
The great Bulgarian bass Boris Christoff is a
towering presence as Méphistophélès, to whom
Faust sells his soul in exchange for a renewal of his youth and
passion, a pact that has tragic consequences for him and for the
young girl with whom he falls in love.
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