[Met Performance] CID:204410
Faust {589} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/8/1965.
(Debut: Nicolai Ghiaurov
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
November 8, 1965
FAUST {589}
Faust...................Barry Morell
Marguerite..............Jean Fenn
Méphistophélès..........Nicolai Ghiaurov [Debut]
Valentin................Robert Merrill
Siebel..................Marcia Baldwin
Marthe..................Gladys Kriese
Wagner..................Russell Christopher
Dance...................Ivan Allen
Dance...................Sally Brayley
Dance...................Patricia Heyes
Dance...................Edith Jerell
Dance...................Fern MacLarnon
Dance...................Hans Meister
Dance...................Nira Paaz
Dance...................Howard Sayette
Conductor...............Georges Prêtre
Review of Harold C. Schonberg in The New York Times
Out of Bulgaria has come Nicolai Ghiaurov. He is a basso, 36 years old, and has been receiving the kind of adulation all over the world normally reserved for sopranos and tenors, and last night he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. "Faust" was the vehicle-not a bad opera to display the gifts of a basso.
The man indeed is sensational. He not only has a remarkable voice, but he is also big in every way. A good actor, though somewhat of the old school, he simply dominated the stage. He has presence, the kind that his illustrious predecessors had, the kind that jumps over the footlights and seizes the listener in a palpable embrace.
If the voice has any defect, it is in the lower range, where it sounds just a shade thin and even uncomfortable. But around a C it takes on strength, and from there it is a thing of glory. They say that Mr. Ghiaurov can go up to high A full voice. The equivalent would be something like a running high jump of nine feet.
As contrasted with a "black" bass, Mr. Ghiaurov is a basso cantante. He has a smooth line, a voice of velvet and of unusually large size, and he handles it with utmost flexibility. It is a dominating voice but not an aggressive one, and it fits beautifully into ensemble work. Mr. Ghiaurov appears to be an artist. He did not try to sing through the second-act quartet, and his entire work was that of a good trouper trying to fit into the unified conception of the opera...Mr. Ghiaurov is a 19th century orthodox kind of devil. He is not bored with Faust's soul. He wants it very much. He is a bit of a bully, with a streak of cruelty, and he really likes his work. He is romantically evil, a big, mean strutting devil, all over the stage, the central figure wherever he is.