Gounod - Faust / Kraus, Ghiuselev, Gonzalez, Guingal, Teatro Regio di Parma

Starring:Gounod, Alfredo Kraus, Nicola Ghiuselev, Ana Maria Gonzalez, Alain Guingal, Parma Opera, Roberto Coviello
Studio: Hardy Classics DVD
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Sounds Fine, Looks awful
A fine dvd.
two versions
THERE'S A MISTAKE - THIS IS A 1986 PERFORMANCE FROM PARMA
very disappointing

Gounod - Faust / Kraus, Ghiuselev, Gonzalez, Guingal, Teatro Regio di Parma
Starring: Gounod , Alfredo Kraus , Nicola Ghiuselev , Ana Maria Gonzalez , and Alain Guingal
Manufacturer: Hardy Classics DVD
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Berlioz - La Damnation de Faust / Jose van Dam, Anne Sofie von Otter, Keith Lewis, Peter Rose, Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra
Gounod - Romeo et Juliette / Mackerras, Alagna, Vaduva, Royal Opera Covent Garden
Bellini - I Puritani / Gruberova, Bros, Alvarez, Orfila, Gorny, Madrid, Pierotti, Haider, Barcelona Opera
Delibes - Lakme / Joan Sutherland, Huguette Tourangeau, Henri Wilden, John Pringle, Richard Bonynge, Opera Australia
Leoncavallo - I Pagliacci / Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana / Domingo, Stratas, Pons, Bruson, Obraztsova, Pretre

ASIN: B0000665WO
Release Date: 2002-07-23

Customer Reviews:

Sounds Fine, Looks awful.......2007-01-23

I just received the DVD of this 1986 performance. It is a DVD version of a VHS tape, and suffers from the transfer. The scenes are almost uniformly too dark--in many cases, nothing is visible. The live performance from Parma convinces me that I will never want to see another. Casting of the principals was good, especially Mephistofeles, but was done--as usual-- for the voices rather than personality. The choristers, while singing adequately, should never have been shown in close-up, as most were geriatric, and their movement was VERY badly blocked and mechanical. The same can be said for the ballet.

All that being said, operas are for the music, not the staging; Ghiuselev, as Mephistofeles, was magnificent. Unfortunately, the sound quality is a bit fuzzy, probably due to the age and transfer.

A fine dvd........2006-10-12

A fine dvd of a provincial Italian (Parma) opera company which never the less gives a good performance. Recorded live in 1986. Picture quality: slightly fuzzy, ***1/2. Sound quality, good, not great, ***1/2.
Cast: good. Mephistopheles: excellent. Marguerite: excellent. Alfredo Kraus as Faust: FANTASTIC! His big aria stops the show. What a great artist he was.

two versions.......2006-05-10

There are two different versions of this Faust available on the net. Both star Kraus, Ghiuselev,and Gonzales as the leads and Guingal as the conductor. Unfortunatly, I purchased a VHS copy of the poorer version, produced by the Bel Canto Society in 1986.

Both video and sound quality are extremely poor on this version, although the leads sing quite well.

The Faust drama itself is very intriguing (What do you want most in the world, and what would happen to you if you got it?)

This music drama is well worth purchasing in the better version. But beware of used copies being sold elsewhere.

THERE'S A MISTAKE - THIS IS A 1986 PERFORMANCE FROM PARMA.......2005-11-17

I have no idea what the other reviewers on this page are talking about ----- nor do I even know the performance to which they are eluding. It is certainly not this one. I purchased a VHS of the 1986 Parma "Faust" with Alfredo Kraus and the cast noted above. It most emphatically cannot be the one to which my fellow reviewers are referring. To begin with, I found the picture, even on VHS, to be vastly superior to many other live performances. State of the art it's not, but it's perfectly watchable, and, at times, pretty darn good. Moreover, I found the sound to be good enough to dub onto C.D. directly from the VHS. Since Alfredo Kraus never recorded Faust commercially, I wanted this performance in a CD format as well as a VHS one. With that established, I would like to say that tenor Kraus, soprano Gonzales, and bass Guiselev are all excellent. The entire ballet sequences are included here, and, as I have already said, I can't understand that which the other reviewers are referring. Is it possible that Amazon accidently posted these reviews to the wrong performance? They give the year as 1957, which is obviously incorrect. Alfredo Kraus didn't incorporate the role of Faust into his repertoire until much, much, later (probably the mid 1970's). I found this performance visually satisfactory and musically excellent. My only reservation is that there is some minor peaking in some of the louder passages ------- but no distortion. Again I reiterate -------- this cannot be the same performance eluded to in the previous postings. I believe that these reviews were posted incorrectly.

very disappointing.......2005-07-24

I find it hard to believe that people could rate this DVD with more that one star. The singers are very good, but... its recorded from an old video tape. The singing and the orchestra sound very bad. The picture is very dark and it reminds me of films from the begining of the 20th century. I wonder why it is sold. Oh, yes, on the back of the DVD there is a warning (in small letters) that some parts are not very clear (I don`t remember the exact words, as I sent the DVD back to the producers in Italy, and have not heard from them since... ). Some parts? all of the DVD is, excuse me, a torture to watch, and listen to. Lovers of Gounod`s opera wait for some good DVD.

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