“FAUST : Gounod
Original Air Date: 01/04/1958
Cast: Morel; Gedda, Güden, Hines, Merrill, Roggero
Media: MOD Audio SID.17410319 Tags: Archive; 2017
Gedda (in his first season and his first broadcast) is extremely fine. This
performance is also available on MOoD. The other bulwark is Robert Merrill’s Valentin. Guden and Hines are OK, but certainly not the first interpreter you would want to hear.
Gedda and Merrill are top drawer, but I prefer several Marguerites to
Guden, and Hines while earnest is far from Siepi’s league. Siepi has
not one but TWO broadcast Fausts from the Met with Bjorling– 1950
and 1959 and these are long overdue for retransmission and listing in
MOoD. Siepi has six broadcast Mephistopheles, only two of which have
been on Sirius, the 1955 with Peerce and De Los Angeles and Merrill
(also on MOoD) and 1964 with Morell and Moffo.
This has been on before and Gedda and Merrill certainly are very fine in their parts, but the continue avoidance of the TWO Bjoerling (1950 and 1959 my preference is for 1959) broadcasts is a big gap in the Met broadcast legacy on Sirius. I wouldn’t mind the 1949 with Kirsten and DiStefano either. The Morel being played this week is also on Met Player.”