Search - Gounod, Te Kanawa, Araiza :: Faust

Best Digital Faust

Scott Jelsey | Houston, TX United States | 07/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The is the best of the digital Faust recordings. The Rizzi recording is wildy overrated and poorly conducted. Colin Davis gets everyting just about right and his singers are all in prime voice. Te Kanawa pours forth gorgeous, creamy tone in this her very best French role. Araiza sings with great style and ease on high - he and Kiri blend beautifully together. Nesterenko is a very animated devil, putting his big ringing bass to good use. The recording is one of Phillip's best - full, clear, nicely balanced.
Wonderful recording."

An odd but interesting version

montecastello | 11/20/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Davis approaches this as if it were a German opera rather than a French one and the whole thing lacks charm, which is a very serious drawback. Faust can sound second or third rate if cast and conductor fail to find just the right, idiomatic touch. When they find it, even a less than distinguished company can produce amazing results, and when it is lacking no conductor however thougtful or cast however gifted otherwise can hold our interest for long. Kanawa was a famous Marguerite and I would have enjoyed hearing her in another setting. Araiza and Nesterenko are unconvincing and unidiomatic. Davis, however, is the real disappointment--his dark and heavy view of the score is interesting, but first time listeners are unlikely to understand why this opera has stayed in the repertoire for well over a century."

For better or worse, the Faust of choice on CD

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Gounod's Faust went into serious decline after WW II, which marked the demise of the French singing tradition that this quintessentially Gallic opera needs. On LP and CD we've suffered through one mediocre version after another, all of them international in casting rather than French. No use listing the failures, which include almost all but the Cluytens on EMI with Gedda, de los Angeles and Christoff (the same cast appears in two version, one mono, the other stereo, that appeared within a few years of each other). Instead we can celebrate what's good here. Colin Davis conducts a very fine Faust in terms of orchestra and chorus. He's not Beecham and he's not French, but this is one ofDavis's most vigorous and involving opera recordings.



And his cast holds up very well. The Faust is Mexican, the Marguerite English, the Mephito Eastern European, so their French is coached rather than native, but each one sings with conviciton, and nobody hams things up. In fact, camping up Faust or making the pseudo-erotic parts sexier is about the only way that modern audiences will accept this faded flower. Davis doesn't do either; he gives the best, most honest case for a work that, after all, held the stage in prime form for over a century. Gounod supplied a dozen memorable tunes, and theyy're still enjoyable.



Araiza isn't French in style, and his voice has always sounded strained on records, but his Faust is more dramatically real than Domingo's for Pretre (EMI). Nesterenko avoids the temptation to be a Punch-and-Judy devil, and he doesn't chew the scenery like Christoff (one almost wishes he would--this isns't Bach), and he's in very good voice. Don't expect the essence of either malice or witty mischeif, however. But the main draw, of course, is Te Kanawa, whose portrayal was criticized by The Gramophone for being lackadaisical. There's some truth to that, and the voice doesn't sound at all girlish. It's too bad Te Kanawa was caught too late, because her tone is perfectly suited to the role of Margeurite. Technically all the notes are there, just don't expect the kind of joy and abandon that arks really successful portrayals.



So there it is, a very well conducted Faust that's too well-behaved (for sheer melodrama I'll stick with the Cluytens) and yet still maintains its place as the best of the lot among modern Fausts."