Alexander Gibson & Royal Opera House Orchestra – Gonoud: Faust – Bizet: Carmen (Multichanell Hybrid SACD, Analogue Productions)

This 1960 album is another spectacular track from the well-known RCA Living Stereo series. The Royal Opera House Orchestra under the direction of Scottish conductor Alexander Gibson presents the ballet music from Charles Gounod’s opera “Faust” and the orchestral highlights from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen Suite” in London’s Kingsway Hall. Alexander Gibson is a master of this repertoire and the orchestra brings the very different styles and moods of the two works to the point with perfect play: dark mysticism and masterful orchestral treatment on the one hand meet rhythmically concise and colorful Spanish folklore on the other. As a special “encore”, Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Marionette”, best known as the theme song for the television series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, was also performed.