1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Its a vast improvement....., July 12, 2010
This review is from: Gounod - Faust / Studer · Leech · van Dam · Hampson · Mahé · Denize · Barrard · Capitole de Toulouse · Plasson (Audio CD)
over the available competition. My only complaint was some "ambient" noise surfacing during the more quiet moments (felt almost like a live performance). Worth having as with the Ghiarov set.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very good standby Faust, February 18, 2007
This review is from: Gounod - Faust / Studer · Leech · van Dam · Hampson · Mahé · Denize · Barrard · Capitole de Toulouse · Plasson (Audio CD)
If you look over the reviews for the various Faust sets, too many people call their personal favorite "the best ever." By any objective standard we haven't had a thoroughly excellent Faust on disc, with only three serious competitors over many decades. Those are the pre-LP historic Beecham performance, the 1958 Cluytens on EMI with de los Angeles, Gedda, and Christoff (a stereo remake of the same cast and conductor in mono from 1953), and the 1987 Colin Davis version on Philips that is excellent in every way except for a tepid Te Kanawa as Marguerite and a somewhat unstylish Faust in Araiza. Those are the basic facts one must work with, unpalatable as they may be.
This set under Michel Plasson and his Toulouse Opera forces is a decent contender, thoroughly French in style--even if none of the lead roles are taken by French singers (Van Dam is Belgian)--and dramatically convincing. But it's far from ideal. To begin with, Faust is a very long, very uneven work, and only the best conducting, or a good deal of cutting, enables a listener to hold interest over the long haul. Beecham prfers the cuts, Davis tries for extended drama. Plasson is merely good, rating higher than his Teldec rival, Carlo Rizzi, but not as high as Cluytens, much less Davis. Also, it's fairly obvious that his orchestra and chorus aren't first-rate. The final, fatal flaw is Plasson's preference for slow, loving tempos, the last thing this wandering opera needs.
As for the singers, they make the show. Cheryl Studer was a miraculous artist in her brief heyday, a soprano capable of singing Wagner, Strauss, Mozart, and Gounod. It's amazing to think that a voice suited to Pamina, Elsa, Salome, and Marguerite could exist in the same person. She makes a musical, touching, and often vocally thrilling heroine, the best in modern times since de los Angeles. Her Faust, Richard Leach, makes up in style and ardor what he lacks in voice (his attractive lyric tenor is innately small), and dramatic fervor carries him a long way. Jose van Dam would have been a perfect Mephisto ten years before this rrecording was made (1994, I believe), and he's still a great stylist, but the voice itself had thickened and blurred. Even so, he is preferable to almost any other modern Devil, excepting the ultra-hammy but terrifying Boris Christoff for Cluytens. I must admit to being disappointed by Thomas Hampson's one-size-fits-all Valentin, who doesn't sound remotely like a loving brother or a soldier, either.
I've tried to offer a realistic appraisal of this enjoyable Faust, which makes a good standby while we wait for the ideal performance. I'd place it well below the Davis and just below the Cluytens.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There isn't a better digital FAUST!, May 8, 2003
This review is from: Gounod - Faust / Studer · Leech · van Dam · Hampson · Mahé · Denize · Barrard · Capitole de Toulouse · Plasson (Audio CD)
This recording really has it all! A first rate Faust in Richard Leech, he glids through the high notes with ease and confindence unlike anyone else I have heard. His voice is rich and full and doesn't tapper off in the high register. His "Salut... demeure" is such a pleasure. Cheryl Studer was the stand out suprise for me... I was expecting a washed down sloppy Marguerite, boy she really impressed me. She scaled down her signature tone under the ever watchful Plasson, who reads Gounods colorful score with a reserved passion fit to the likes of Beecham. Jose va Dam might not have the power of Christoff, but he is elegant and refined in his Mephistopheles, and you can't find any fault with his singing. And Hanpson gives a lovely reading of Valentin. You really can't go wrong here, there are no sour notes! Heads above the new Rizzi recording with a cast that can't compair.
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