Product Details

• Actors: Gounod, Alfredo Kraus, Nicola Ghiuselev, Ana Maria Gonzalez, Alain Guingal
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hardy Classics DVD
• DVD Release Date: July 23, 2002
• Run Time: 190 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000665WO
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,845 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but outdated, June 10, 2004

By 

wvmcl "wvmcl" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gounod - Faust / Kraus, Ghiuselev, Gonzalez, Guingal, Teatro Regio di Parma (DVD)

Another reviewer is confusing this with one of the many film versions of Faust done as a straight drama. This DVD, however, is a 1986 production of Charles Gounod's grand French opera based on the first part of Goethe's work. It was recorded "in house" by the theatre and not really intended for broadcast or release. It's in color, but the lighting and camera movement is not of broadcast quality. The sound, however, is surprisingly good and is in true stereo. It seems to be a complete rendering of the opera, including the ballet.

Despite its flaws, this is the best version of Gounod's "Faust" currently available. The only other one, the 1985 Vienna production with Ariaza and Raimondi, has better video but is, in my opinion, a weaker production and leaves out the ballet. I hope we will get a more recent, and hopefully complete, rendering on DVD at some point.

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THERE'S A MISTAKE - THIS IS A 1986 PERFORMANCE FROM PARMA, November 17, 2005

By 

L. Mitnick (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gounod - Faust / Kraus, Ghiuselev, Gonzalez, Guingal, Teatro Regio di Parma (DVD)

I have no idea what the other reviewers on this page are talking about ----- nor do I even know the performance to which they are alluding. It is certainly not this one. I purchased a VHS of the 1986 Parma "Faust" with Alfredo Kraus and the cast noted above. It most emphatically cannot be the one to which my fellow reviewers are referring. To begin with, I found the picture, even on VHS, to be vastly superior to many other live performances. State of the art it's not, but it's perfectly watchable, and, at times, pretty darn good. Moreover, I found the sound to be good enough to dub onto C.D. directly from the VHS. Since Alfredo Kraus never recorded Faust commercially, I wanted this performance in a CD format as well as a VHS one. With that established, I would like to say that tenor Kraus, soprano Gonzales, and bass Guiselev are all excellent. The entire ballet sequences are included here, and, as I have already said, I can't understand that which the other reviewers are referring. Is it possible that Amazon accidently posted these reviews to the wrong performance? They give the year as 1957, which is obviously incorrect. Alfredo Kraus didn't incorporate the role of Faust into his repertoire until much, much, later (probably the mid 1970's). I found this performance visually satisfactory and musically excellent. My only reservation is that there is some minor peaking in some of the louder passages ------- but no distortion. Again I reiterate -------- this cannot be the same performance eluded to in the previous postings. I believe that these reviews were posted incorrectly.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars very disappointing, July 24, 2005

By 

Dr. Eliezer Domke "operalover" (Haifa, Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gounod - Faust / Kraus, Ghiuselev, Gonzalez, Guingal, Teatro Regio di Parma (DVD)

I find it hard to believe that people could rate this DVD with more that one star. The singers are very good, but... its recorded from an old video tape. The singing and the orchestra sound very bad. The picture is very dark and it reminds me of films from the begining of the 20th century. I wonder why it is sold. Oh, yes, on the back of the DVD there is a warning (in small letters) that some parts are not very clear (I don`t remember the exact words, as I sent the DVD back to the producers in Italy, and have not heard from them since... ). Some parts? all of the DVD is, excuse me, a torture to watch, and listen to. Lovers of Gounod`s opera wait for some good DVD.