Main Performer: Dame Joan Sutherland (Soprano); Franco Corelli (Tenor); Margreta Elkins (Mezzo soprano); Monica Sinclair (Soprano); Nicolai Ghiaurov (Bass)
Orchestra / Ensemble(s): London Symphony Orchestra; Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Date of Release: 14/10/2002
Label / Distributor: The Compact Opera Collection / Universal Manufacturing and Logistics
Pieces in Set: 3
Running Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Genre(s): Stage works
Stereo: Stereo
SPAR Code: ADD
EAN: 28947056324
Catalogue Number: 470
Work 1
Work Title: Faust
Excerpt(s): 1. ACT 1 - Introduction 2. Rien! En vain j'interroge; Salut! ô mon dernier matin 3. Mais ce Dieu; Me voici! D'où vient ta surprise? 4. A moi les plaisirs; O merveille! 5. ACT 2 - Vin ou bière (Kermesse Scene) 6. O sainte médaille; Avant de quitter ces lieux 7. Le veau d'or 8. A votre santé! (Sword Scene) 9. Nous nous retrouverons; Ainsi que la brise légère; Ne permettrez-vous pas; Valse 10. ACT 3 - Faites-lui mes aveux 11. Quel trouble inconnu; Salut! demeure chaste et pure 12. Je voudrais bien savoir; Il était un roi de Thulé 13. O Dieu! que de bijoux!; Ah! je ris (Jewel Song) 14. Seigneur Dieu, que vois-je!; Prenez mon bras; Eh! quoi! toujours seule? 15. Il était temps!; Il se fait tard!; O nuit d'amour; Il m'aime! 16. ACT 4 - Elles ne sont plus là! 17. Si le bonheur (When all was young) 18. Déposons les armes (Soldiers' Chorus); Gloire immortelle 19. Qu'attendez-vous encore?; Vous qui faites l'endormie (Serenade) 20. Que voulez-vous, messieurs? (Duel Scene) 21. Par ici! (Death of Valentine); Écoute-moi bien 22. Seigneur, daignez permettre (Church Scene) 23. ACT 5 - Walpurgis Night 24. Mon coeur est pénétré d'épouvante!; Attends! Voici la rue; Et voici le jardin charmant 25. Alerte! alerte!; Anges purs 26. BALLET MUSIC 27. Les nubiennes; Adagio; Danse antique; Variations de Cléopâtre; Les troyens; Variations du miroir; Danse de Phryné 28. ADDITIONAL: Come vorrei saper
Composer: Charles (François) Gounod (1818 - 1893)
Genre: Stage works
Date Written: 1859
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Orchestra / Ensemble: Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Orchestra / Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra
Main Performer: Dame Joan Sutherland (Soprano), Franco Corelli (Tenor), Margreta Elkins (Mezzo soprano), Monica Sinclair (Soprano), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Bass), Raymond Myers (Baritone), Robert Massard (Baritone)
Opera Part(s): Dame Joan Sutherland (Marguerite), Franco Corelli (Faust), Margreta Elkins (Siébel), Monica Sinclair (Marthe), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Méphistophélès), Raymond Myers (Wagner), Robert Massard (Valentin)
Advantages: Great performances of popular favourites and some rare gems Disadvantages: Barely none, with perhaps slight issues with sound.
...1961 Mercury recording of Antal Dorati conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Though the sound is a little thin due to the age of the recording, it is still a very good performance and the sound is crisp and clear. Gabriel Fauré's "Le Pas Espagnol" from the Dolly Suite is slightly comical and parodies Spanish music with much good humour, tambourines and trumpets creating a scene of festivity with considerable élan. Another great little make-weight. Christoph Willibald Gluck's famous "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" then creates a nice soothing, almost lullaby-like feeling for the listener, something that would indeed be most suitable for falling asleep with.
Charles Gounod takes centre stage next with the two pieces that he is best remembered today from. The Waltz from his smash-hit opera Faust is about as "buttery" as music can get...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good for upsetting opera lovers Disadvantages: You could lose the will to live
...as it has more than just Florence Foster Jenkins on it. The best (or rather, the worst) is saved till last. One day (a date I haven’t yet discovered) two people, Jenny Williams and Thomas Burns, walked into the RCA recording studios and asked to record some extracts from Gounod’s opera, “Faust” at their own expense and for their own use. RCA eventually persuaded them to release the record for public enjoyment (I think that’s the right word). The results are almost indescribable; though as I’m supposed to be describing them I’ll do my best. If Madame Jenkins’ voice was merely off key, these two have no tonal quality whatever. Indeed, it’s not clear from which of their bodily orifices the sound is coming.
I would give a track-by-track commentary to this CD but I haven’t been able to bring myself to it all the way through. You can only...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Classic recordings from a master of his trade. Disadvantages: Mono recordings, Crackly in parts.
...imagine it could be bought much more cheaper if you shop around. It has 2 CD's with around 41 tracks and gives more than 21/2 hours listening pleasure. It is recorded in Mono which I know is a totally alien concept for today's music lovers. The sepia photograph of Caruso on the front cover has him looking like a gangster from the Untouchables time period and the list of Italian composers could certainly be a Mafia list.
Here is the general information relating to this two CD set:
Release Date 15th June 1999
Label: RCA Victor
There are various composers featured such as :
Bizet, Donizetti, Franchetti, Giordano, Goldmark, Gounod, Handel, Massenet, Meyerbeer, Ponchieli, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Leoncavallo, Rossini
The performers are: Enrico Caruso, Josephine Jacoby, Pasquale Amato, Luisa Tetrazzini, Angelo Bada, Marcel Journet...
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This product has not yet been reviewed. 
06.05.2006
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29.02.2008
