Search - Gounod, Pendachanska, Sabbatini :: Faust (Opera Higlights)

Better than Bjoerling?

W. Hauff | Surfers Paradise, Australia | 01/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Have you ever heard anyone sing, "Salut! demeure chaste et pure" better than Jussi? Well, perhaps Giuseppe Sabbatini makes the grade in this recording as a refreshingly light-toned yet masculine Faust. Nicolai Ghiaurov's Mephistopheles aria, "Le veau d'or" is also a standout. The Margarethe, Alexandrina Pendachanska, sings well but her Jewel Song lacks excitement.

The recorded sound is generally good/fair.

Lacking one of the finest finales of any opera, these "highlights" must have been selected by one of the inmates from the final Act. There is far too much orchestral music (including 6 1/2 minutes of Introduction and 17 minutes of the Ballet Music). The opera is in the singing - or should be!"