Faust: Vienna State Opera (Binder) [DVD] [2006] [NTSC]

The opening set is impressive, but the introduction staging puzzled me. When Araiza sings his Faust it catches the ear. Raimondi is a fine baritone and most enjoyable. The transformation of Faust is nicely done with a vision of Marguerite.
In scene 2 there is a good chorus with much dancing, Gronrods as Valentin is not bad but his voice does not quite suit my ear. Credulity ceases for a while as during the cavatina Marguerite is ordained as a nun. The dancing and chorus is spectacular and enjoyable. Towards the end of the act we are introduced to Benackova, a mellow mezzo, singing Marguerite, but a nun !
In act 2 Siebel by Sima is a delight to listen to and makes quite a reasonable young man. He/She is accompanied by a whispy ballet, irrelevant but nice. Martha is quite acceptable as sung by Jahn. There are bits of ballet throughout the act some seem reasonable but others were obstrusive or daft.
Act 3 is rather more to the point, and is the best presented of the three acts.
In scene 2 we are in church, the transformation is rather good with a great classical organ. Oh, and in this version Mephistopheles cancelled Valpurgis Night.
Scene 3 is in a forbidding prison, the chorus excels in this section, and the story moves relentlessly to Marguerites salvation, and Faust being claimed by Mephistopheles.
The sound throughout is excellent and well balanced. The picture quality is hardly top notch, being woolly round the edges.
The booklet is informative and reasonably comprehensive.
This is better overall than the Teatro Coccia with Rota, but the Royal Opera House with Pappano, Gheorghiu and Alagna is my much preferred version.

This visual production joins the growing list of nihilistic efforts to contaminate the soul of opera. The tactics are familiar by now --- a first rate cast to satisfy the ear, while the stage production does all it can to destroy, for the eye and the judgment, the very world the music and the lyrics are indicating. The intention is to replace beauty with ugliness, and replace moral poise with various forms of collapse, and none of this in keeping with the outlook of the music. For a detailed inventory of how Gounod's lovely opera has been desecrated by this stage production, see the many viewer criticisms on the American Amazon website (Amazon.com). The American viewers are far less complacent than the opinions given here, and they are numerous enough to give prospective buyers a well rounded view, replete with specifics, before a buying decision is made and money splashed out. Alas, Gounod's lovely opera has been skinned alive and salt poured into its wounds by this stage production.

Everybody agrees the singing is first rate. It's the ugly staging and the jeering at the finer aspects of the story that is so disagreeable and repellent. With the Jewel Song, we see Marguerite (as a black garbed nun!) greedily grabbing jewels with avarice and rejoicing at the gleam added to the front of her habit, spinning around to grab for more, as if seeking a second winning lottery ticket, we lose all sense of her delicacy and quiet joy at being noticed by someone as unattainable as the dashing, young Faust. Compare this traducing of Marguerite's purity with Gounod's and, in the same vein, with Schubert's delicate song of her heart stopping when she catches just a glimpse of his noble form ("sein edler Gestalt"). Ken Russell's kidney punches never let up and the present production will surely resonate with followers of Christopher Hitchens. Unless you're a Hitchens' fan and love to see forests chopped down, be very wary.

If you really are after the music, instead of splashing out £16 for this exercise in visual nihilism, there's the beautiful Pretre performance on CD, with Domingo, Freni, Ghiaurov and a lively, energetic chorus that makes the rafters ring. The complete opera is available, though I'm delighted with the highlights (at a more affordable price). The quality of the CD content is such that it puts me where I want to be. Ciao!

I was glad to be able to buy a DVD of this marvellous production, as I used to own it on a very poor quality video.The singers are very exciting, especially Raimondi's Mephistopheles, and the ideas are interesting to say the least!