GREAT RECORDINGS phase 10

GOUNOD: FAUST
Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda
Boris Christoff, Ernest Blanc, Rita Gorr
Liliane Berton & Victor Autran
Chœurs et Orchestre du Théâtre
National de l'Opéra de Paris
André Cluytens

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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.