Siepi, De Los Angeles, and Peerce live at the Met in 1955 - Trio and finale from "Faust"

[Maripudelmonaco]

DIOS, ,MIO QUE TRES CANTANTES MARAVILLOSOS !!! HOY DIA NO  SE PUEDE ESCUCHAR NADA IGUAL....

[racheleleeba]

Superb. Thank you.

I went to see the Met HD encore tonight of Faust. I need brain bleach.

[VinylToVideo]

@racheleleeba Exactly why I've never bothered with Saturday Met broadcasts.

[Lovelytenor1]

Siepi only recently left us. RIP. What a wonderful cast!

[billyguns2]

How unfortunate that recording contracts in those days prevented certain artists from recording with others; how marvelous this cast would have been on disc, but Siepi was a Decca artist, de los Angeles EMI, and Peerce RCA. I wish someone would upload excerpts from Siepi's FAUST with Steber and Conley, conducted by Cleva!

[VinylToVideo]

@billyguns2 That's why I collect Met recordings; the best of the day singing together no matter who they recorded for. Wish I had that "Faust;" not sure if Sony put it on their Heritage series with some of the other recordings from that era.

[billyguns2]

@VinylToVideo Yes, that MET FAUST did appear briefly on the Sony Heritage series!

[lesrondee]

I love this finale: just when Mephistopheles (the Devil) is about to take Marguerite and Faust away to eternal damnation, Marguerite takes a stand for God at that critical moment and a shot at redemption, and she gets it.

[petrina1022]

I have de los Angeles singing with Nicolai Gedda on LP.  She had the PERFECT voice for the role of Marguerite, and he was superb as Faust.

[InBoccaChiusa]

Magnificent!

[sospello]

I had not heard Peerce as Faust--wonderful singing by all in one of my favorite trios. Thank you.

[gaytenor]

As to werther Peerce ever sang Salut demeure in the original key I'd say its possible that the recording of the aria for his old radio show might be in the original key. I cannot honestly say since I have not pitched it. The power of De Los Angeles is quite amazing in this trio the same is true for the performance with Tucker and Moscona from New Orleans. Great!!!

[ShawDAMAN]

Thanks for this great recording... incidentally did Peerce ever sing the "Salut demeure" with a top C? Just curious =)

[VinylToVideo]

I would say yes, definitely. Was it ever recorded? No idea.

[billyguns2]

Fantastic! Exciting, "you are there" feel to this performance, magnificently conducted and sung. Siepi did leave us the best Mephisto on records on the old Cleva FAUST recording, and de los Angeles left two recordings of Marguerite, but as far as I know this is the only documentation of Peerce's Faust; IMO Peerce was ideal for the role. Thanks for sharing this treasure.

[VinylToVideo]

This was the only broadcast of the opera with Peerce but I'm sure some audience "in house" recordings of later performances exist; he performed Faust at his final Met performance in 1968 which I guarantee was recorded but might be hard to come by. He also made some studio recordings of excerpts from the opera including this same trio with Pinza and Peters. De Los Angeles is a great Marguerite but personally I prefer Pinza singing this role to Siepi (and there are 8 broadcasts of it with Pinza).

[billyguns2]

I confess I have never heard Pinza's Mephisto; of the ones I have heard I think Siepi is supreme. I wish someone would upload excerpts from that old Columbia LP set of FAUST; Eugene Conley is a pretty decent Faust and Eleanor Steber sings well even if her French is not exactly "de rigeur."

[VinylToVideo]

I've posted two excerpts from "Faust" with Pinza; the first this trio from a 40s broadcast and the other the Serenade although from 1953 when he was older. Will send you both.

[jmccracken1963]

That final Met performance of FAUST in 1968 was actually a "park concert" performance, so, unless somebody in the audience taped it, it WOULD be hard to come by.