GOUNOD: FAUST

Leech, Fleming, Ramey, Hvorostovsky; Nelson

Label: WH
Catalog #: WH161
Stereo
Broadcast
Chicago: January 20, 1996
Disc(s) in set: 3

Richard Leech is one of the most alluring tenors to have sung Faust. He has every nuance at his command. Another tour-de-force performance from a singer too little heard today. Renée Fleming was born to sing Marguerite. Her solo scene is beautifully shaped and the waltz demurely tossed off. Then in the prison scene, she surprises with theatre-filling vocal bravado. Samuel Ramey is a most captivating Méphistophélès. And Dmitri Hvorostovsky demonstrates why audiences would become hysterical by his singing. As a bonus, hear an absolutely glittering performance from Renée Fleming singing the two major scenes for Amina from Bellini’s LA SONNAMBULA.