Alexander Gibson - Gounod: Faust, Ballet Music & Bizet: Carmen, Suite / Analogue Productions

This 1960 album is another spectacular title from the well-known RCA Living Stereo series. The Royal Opera House Orchestra, led by Scottish conductor Alexander Gibson, presents the ballet music from

Charles Gounod's opera "Faust" and the orchestral highlights from Georges Bizet's "Carmen Suite" at London's Kingsway Hall. Alexander Gibson is a master of this repertoire, and the orchestra brings out the

very different styles and moods of the two works with perfect playing: somber mysticism and masterful orchestral treatment on one side meet rhythmically incisive and colorful Spanish folklore on the other.

As a special "encore", Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" was also performed, best known as the theme tune for the television series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents".

The reissue of the great recording by the British Decca team around sound engineer Kenneth Wilkinson convinces with extraordinary clarity and excellent sound imaging and transparency.

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" LP cleaner to wet wash your vinyl. Even new records of high quality production will benefit from this.

Title

Side One

Charles Gounod: Ballet Music From Faust

1. Waltz

2. Ensemble (Adagio)

3. Dance of the Nubians

4. Cleopatra’s Dance

5. Dance of the Trojan Maidens

6. Helen’s Dance

7. Bacchanalia

8. Funeral March Of A Marionette

Side Two

Georges Bizet: Carmen Suite

9. Carmen Suite: Prelude; Entracte-Aragonaise; Habanera; Changing of The Guard; Intermezzo; Smuggler's March; Entr'acte-Dragoons of Alcala