“FAUST : Gounod
Original Air Date: 02/26/1972
Cast: Rich; Domingo, Zylis-Gara, Tozzi, Sereni, von Stade
Media: MOD Audio SID.18390103 Tags: Archive; 2018, Domingo
This over-programmed Faust is on again, but there are so many better Fausts on the shelf. Domingo is better than expected in one of his early broadcasts, but Tozzi, a Met stalwart, is in poor form. Mercifully, the rotation has slowed down on this performance.
There are a number of excellent Fausts, 2 with Bjorling (and Siepi) which Sirius has never played, and there are several much better Fausts in the Sirius rotation. This one does not deserve such airplay.
Nicolai Gedda is third in all-time performances (42) as Faust surpassed only by Jean de Reszke at 71 and Giovanni Martinelli at 56, and yet is represented by only one Faust broadcast in MOoD and Sirius reports replay of the 1972, but neither his 1966 or 1969 with interesting casts have been heard on either. Nicolai Gedda is still with us, A little more attention on him please. He was a Met star tenor for two decades, and we mostly hear him in Vanessa (where he is remarkable), but he was the leading Faust in the world with the passing of Bjorling his Swedish countryman.”