Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust [Original recording remastered]

Gabriel Bacquier (Performer), Hector Berlioz (Composer), Georges Prêtre (Conductor), Alexander Gibson (Conductor), Janet Baker (Performer), Paris Orchestra (Orchestra), Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris (Orchestra), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Maria Peronne (Performer), Nicolai Gedda (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Gabriel Bacquier, Janet Baker, Maria Peronne, Nicolai Gedda
• Orchestra: Paris Orchestra, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Georges Prêtre, Alexander Gibson
• Composer: Hector Berlioz
• Audio CD (April 24, 2007)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B000NPCMEE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,763 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A viscerally exciting Faust with excellent soloists, February 23, 2008

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (Audio CD)

I was ready to give this EMI budget two-fre of Berlioz's Damnation de Fuast three stars, strictly on my memory of Georges Pretre's bald-faced, sometimes brash conducting. But once I begn listening again, a lot caught my ear. It's always a god sign when Faust's treacherous opening solo is well sung, and Nicolai Gedda is first-rate, singing with apparent ease and lovely style. Then there's the very French orchestra and chorus. They add a particular flavor that even the greatest orchestras outside France can't match--Berlioz sounds at home in Paris, as Johann Stauss does in Vienna.

Even though the mezzo doesn't have a large part, I originally bought this recording for Janet Baker, who is intense and superb in every way--as she is in the filler, her classic recording of La Mort de Cleopatra (which can be had in several reissues; I'd find oe with the latest remastering since the sonics here are a bit thin and edgy). By the time I got to Gabriel Bacquier's exciting and sinuous Mephistopheles, a really nasty, confident devil, I was hooked.

It's only because of the staggeringly strong competition from Myung-Whun Chung and Igor Markevitch, both brilliantly performed in the Gallic vein, along with estimable version from Colin Davis and Charles Munch, that I can't quite put this set in top place. It certainly has a great deal of drama going for it, however, and the wide-ranging sonics are thrilling.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impassioned and authentic, February 1, 2009

By 

Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" (Bishop's Stortford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (Audio CD)

If you take a glance at my review of the woeful Davis/LSO Live version of this wonderful work, you will see that, like the Santa Fe listener, I put this set near the top of the list of recommendations. Unlike him, I do not rate the Chung recording; for me, there is no better account than Solti's riotous 1981 set, with an infinitely touching Von Stade almost as good as Janet Baker here in the Pretre recording, and Van Dam in incomparable form - much better than his later assumption, when the voice had started to dry out - as a subtle, insinuating demon. I almost always have reservations about Nicolai Gedda's slightly bleaty tone, but he is fully up to the demands of the eponymous rôle, and while Bacquier is not quite so elegant and vocally impressive as Van Dam, he characterises marvellously. Add to that the authentic Gallic idiom provided by Pretre and French forces, and you have a winner. This set is made even more desirable by the inclusion of Janet Baker's astounding account of "La Mort de Cléopâtre" - one of her finest performances ever on disc and you have an irresisitible package at a bargain price. Having said that, another excellent alternative version, especially if French authenticity is your priority, is the wonderful Markevitch set (see my review).

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Berlioz!, May 2, 2009

By 

Ailsaellen "ballet devotee" (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (Audio CD)

"The Damnation of Faust" by Berlioz is the most wonderful music and this cast is superb. "Damnation" is not an opera but rather a symphonic piece of music with many wonderful operatic scene and arias. This music is usually performed in a symphony concert format, but recently had an excellent stage production at the Metropolitan Opera.

If you are not familiar with this music you are in for a treat! If you are familiar with Marguarite's famous aria "D'amour l'ardente flamme" you will love Janet Baker's singing. She has a sweet, true mezzo voice but without the deep passion and complexity of a mezzo such as Olga Borodina.

I have become addicted to this recording and usually listen to it every day!