Opera no 135
Gounod: La Reine de Saba
Soloists
Toulouse capital orchestra
Michael Plasson
Gounod is so associated with Faust that is sometime difficult to remember that he wrote several operas. Romeo and Juliet gets the occasional revival but the rest of his operatic output had almost sunk without trace. This is another example of a French opera with an exotic setting although this one has fewer exotic features than some of the others I have listened to in this series. This is a post-Faust opera but seems more old fashioned - it is very much in the grand opera tradition with little of the elegance which one associates with Faust. Much as I enjoy French Grand Opera there was not much where which grabbed the attention - even the obligatory ballet music seemed to be rather routine. This was an old live performance from the 1970s with lots of distracting stage noise and almost comically prominent bass drum and cymbals . So perhaps I didn’t really get the best listening experience - but even so I don’t think that this is an opera which I will be returning to.
