Gounod - Faust - Alagna, Mula, Pape - Plasson, Orange 2008Roberto Alagna, Inva Mula, René Pape, Jean-François Lapointe
Production from Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Nicolas Joël stage director. Soloists and chorus Les Chorégies d'Orange, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Michel Plasson. Théâtre Antique, Orange, France. 2. 8.2008
Opera can be magic in Orange, and magical it was last Saturday when tenorissimo Roberto Alagna hobbled onto the stage as the old Faust, made his famous, if regrettable deal and cart-wheeled off the stage, in fine vocal form as well - can there be any doubt that this forty-five year old French tenor has made a pact with some supernatural force?
Needless to say, opera in Orange's huge Théâtre Antique is about big singing, and as usual the Chorégies d'Orange did not disappoint. Albanian soprano Inva Mula rendered Margarite in vocally perfect terms, her splendid musicianship bringing fresh life to Margarite's tired, too-often-heard arias, her frail physique belying the physical force she brings to Gounod's too easily seduced then tortured heroine. Red-suited German bass-baritone René Pape made a dashing, absolutely irresistible Mephistopheles, and Canadian baritone Jean-François Lapointe, a world-famous Pelléas, stated his case as one of the world's great Valentins. --musicweb
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