Customer Reviews

Gounod - Faust / Studer · Leech · van Dam · Hampson · Mahé · Denize · Barrard · Capitole de Toulouse · Plasson

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Not to many operaphiles and critics seem to enjoy this recording of Gounod's Faust, most likely because it's a lesser orbit next to the shining star recordings starring Joan Sutherland or the one with Placido Domingo and Mirella Freni or even the recording with Samuel Ramey, Jerry Hadley and Cecilia Gazdia. But this recording is very gratifying for me because Michel Plasson conducts it the way that Gounod would have done it. The innately French musical score is treated with reverence and bel canto-ish grace and grandeur. The singers are skilled and highly lyrical, to the sacrifice of dramatic interpretation.

Leech is by no means the greatest Faust, especially after you've heard Placido Domingo or Jerry Hadley. But Leech has a strong voice that has a beautiful tone and bloom. He is actually the only tenor who excelled in mainly French repertoire. Other roles he has sung with acclaim (in French-Canada) include Raoul from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, not an easy role as he has a lot of difficult music and that opera is very long.

Cheryl Studer as Marguerite is equally beautiful and she holds her own opposite Leech. Her voice is bright, crystalline and feminine. She sings Marguerite with all the technical abilities of past Marguerites like Victoria De Los Angeles and even Christine Nilsson at the turn of the century. Thankfully, the sound is great and Studer's Marguerite sounds well on record. Her account of each aria is a vocal feast. But in this respect, she's like Joan Sutherland. It's all razzle-dazzle and beauty but she has killed all dramatic effect. She does not live her role nor attempt to sound dramatic, like Mirella Freni does in the Pretre recording with Domingo. It is true though that Gounod did not give enough drama to the role of Marguerite. If sung in an old-school manner, she's simply a coloratura vehicle in the tradition of bel canto heroines like Lucia. But if you're a devotee of Cheryl Studer, this is a must have, as she is in top form and sings with utmost confidence and beauty. I especially love her voice in the final trio "Ange Pure Ange Radieux".

Jose Van Dam does not excell in the role of the Devil. This is not how the Devil from Faust should be sung. If you want to hear how it should be sung, look for Nicolai Ghiurov in the Pretre recording with Domingo and Freni or Samuel Ramey in the Rizzo recording with Hadley and Gazdia. Van Dam does not have enough of a dark edge to his voice, nor does he put forth any true effort to sound devilish and nasty. It's simply a lot of bel canto singing in the bass voice.

Doesn't deserve 5 Stars but it's a beautiful recording and one that is the most French of the Fausts I've heard, thanks to the great conducting of Plasson. You should always keep in mind that he is always conducting in the old French school style when you hear his version of Bizet's Carmen or Massenet's Manon.

I can't believe anyone who has heard this recording would have the nerve to give it one star!!! This recording is absolutely ravishing, and the best 'Faust' I have heard on recording! Cheryl Studer is superb, as is the rest of the cast. Trust me, if you want to hear 'Faust' this is the recording to buy!!!
It is outstanding!!!

First off, I really can't believe that anyone would give this miserable recording anything than one star. In all fairness though there are some remarkable things on this set, but not enough to make it worth buying.

Plasson is a good conductor, or at least the best french one we have at the moment, (compliment or sacrasm? I'll let you decide). However, any sense of dramatic pacing seems to elude him. All the big moments just seem to pass by in a flash. Every important scene has just the same weight and drama as the most trivial. He has a good view of the whole picture, but not of the parts that make it up. Besides that he is a rather OK conductor, with perhaps tempo a bit too fast at times.

I was a bit suprised by Studer. As of late she has been moving into heavier, more dramatic-soprano type roles. Here though she does a decent turn as Marguerite. My only complaints would be she doesn't have much in the way of a trill & in softer passages she tends to let her singing get a bit loose.

Leech makes a decent Faust, but in comparison with say, Gedda, he is totally blown out of the water. He does have a nice bright voice that is rather firm with no howled notes (Corelli) & a decent middle range. But on the whole his performance is so terribly bland that it ruins any enjoyment you could get out of his performance.

Van Dam's status as a bass-baritone seems to have gone to his, (or the producers) head. In no way is this a Mephistopheles voice. He can sing all the notes well enough & only runs into any sort of trouble on the lower-lying passages. But after hearing a true bass in this role (ie: Christoff, Ghiaurov). He sounds undernourished & a bit dry. Hampson makes an average Valentin, nothing new, nothing remarkable enough to mention.

On the whole, this is a dramatically dull recording with some aimless conducting. Nobody really seems to get that this is an opera, interpretation from all the soloists is pretty much nil. Also, if you thought of buying just for the extra 15 minutes worth of music, don't bother. There was a reason that Gounod cut it out after all.