Gramophone
'This recording and its production keep the stage in view, and it is particularly good to have the chorus in such clear focus. The principals, too, form a strongly gifted team. Paul Charles Clarke, the Faust, is an interesting tenor, thrustful both in tone and manner yet capable of gentleness and delicacy.
Opera in five acts (with ballet music)
Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
English translation by Christopher Cowell
The Cast
Paul Charles Clarke, tenor - Faust
Alastair Miles, bass - Méphistophélès
Mary Plazas, soprano (PMF Scholar) - Marguerite
Garry Magee, baritone - Valentin
Diana Montague, mezzo-soprano - Siébel
Matthew Hargreaves, bass-baritone - Wagner
Sarah Walker, mezzo-soprano - Martha
Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Philharmonia Orchestra
David Parry - conductor
Recorded in Blackheath Halls, London
27-31 July 1998
Producer - Brian Couzens
Sound engineer - Ralph Couzens
Assistant engineer - Richard Smoker
Alastair Miles... vocally... is very impressive indeed, the fine texture of his voice showing up to great advantage, his production admirably firm and even, his style unfailingly musical. The Valentin, Garry Magee, has a fine, vibrant baritone and rises well both to his high notes and his big moments. Diana Montague is an excellent Siébel (and how effectively she rises to hers). The Marguerite, Mary Plazas, is totally likable, ingenuous but not winsomely so, touchingly sincere in her love and her loss, clean in the scale-work of her Jewel song...'
