Gounod: The 2 Symphonies; Faust Ballet Music

Charles Gounod (Composer), Neville Marriner (Conductor), Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
• Conductor: Neville Marriner
• Composer: Charles Gounod
• Audio CD (July 20, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00000JLFE
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,359 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Symphony No. 1 in D major: 1. Allegro molto

2. Symphony No. 1 in D major: 2. Allegro moderato

3. Symphony No. 1 in D major: 3. Scherzo. Non troppo presto

4. Symphony No. 1 in D major: 4. Finale. Adagio - Allegro vivace

5. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major: 1. Adagio - Allegro agitato

6. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major: 2. Larghetto

7. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major: 3. Scherzo. Allegro molto

8. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major: 4. Finale. Allegro, leggiero assai

9. Faust, opera: 1. Les Nubiennes, valse. Allegretto

10. Faust, opera: 2. Adagio - Animato

11. Faust, opera: 3. Danse antique. Allegretto

12. Faust, opera: 5. Les Troyennes. Moderato con moto

13. Faust, opera: 6. Variations du miroir. Allegretto

14. Faust, opera: 7. Danse de Phryné. Allegro vivo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Dances!, January 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Gounod: The 2 Symphonies; Faust Ballet Music (Audio CD)

Like the reviewer who preferred John Lubbock's performance of these symphonies on ASV, I gave high marks to Lubbock's disc elsewhere on the Amazon Web site. But listening again to this Philips CD (to tell the truth, I have so many CDs that I forgot it was in my collection!), I found Marriner not at all opaque or lumbering. Instead, I think he captures just as well as Lubbock the gentility and sprightliness of these very fine little symphonies that inspired Bizet's glowing Symphony in C. Yes, that scherzo from the Second Symphony is a pencil sketch for the more famous "Funeral March of a Marionette," but jazzed up and with a more Puckish drollery. Wonderful. And the last movement, maybe the finest in both symphonies is this Frenchman's own "apotheosis of the dance." Marriner and his well-oiled machine of an orchestra capture it all with grace and elegance. Great music this is not, but I hope there is a place for such first-rate second-rank music!

With the Faust Ballet Music we have the product of a perhaps more skilled and experienced musician, but he's pandering here to the French taste for spectacle, and even though the music has its moments, it's somewhat trashy compared with the urbane utterance of the symphonies, for my money. Still, it's good, clean fun and underlines the essentially balletic nature of Gounod's orchestral music-making--true right up to the marvelous Petite Symphonie of the composer's last years.

In the Ballet Music, that protean ASMF Orchestra sounds properly beefier and heftier, producing gorgeous sounds that most pit orchestras (the Met Orchestra excluded) could never produce. Add to this a very refined recording from Philips--finer, I think, than the one on ASV--and you have a better bargain with this excellent Marriner disc.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Performances of works that deserve recognition., November 30, 2001

By 

Hany Aziz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gounod: The 2 Symphonies; Faust Ballet Music (Audio CD)

These are excellent performances of works that deserve better recognition. Gounod's symphonies are delightfull. Fully remininscent of Haydn (esp. Goudnod's first Sym.) and early Beethoven (Gounod's Second). Marriner and the ASMF provide excellent playing; superbly recorded. The Faust ballet suite is the icing on the cake.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unknown symphonies deserve more performances, June 23, 2005

By 

HB "HB" (Fort Mill, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gounod: The 2 Symphonies; Faust Ballet Music (Audio CD)

If you live in USA, the chance of hearing either of the Gounod symphonies is very poor. American orchestras rarely play short, easygoing symphonies like these two works. Even the early Schubert symphonies are rarely played. These two works of Gounod are not great masterpieces but they are delightful and these performances are magnificent. As a bonus there is the wonderful ballet music from "Faust", a real masterpiece.