Lewis Liu wrote:

>Recently, I saw advertisement on the BBC Legends series.  This series was
>already released in UK.  Could anyone give me the whole release story, the
>issue plan? Has anyone listened to these recordings and could you please
>leave us some comments? Thanks!

Few days ago I bought 'Damnation of Faust', conducted by Pierre Monteux,
which turned out to be from that series.  There is no information on the
other releases in the booklet.  The quality of the recording and packaging
is excellent.  It's high mid-price.  The 1962 performance is live from
Royal Festival Hall in London.  The soloists are Regine Crespin, Andre
Turp and Michel Ruox.  Andre Turp is as good a Faust as any I have heard.
Crespin sings well, although sounds somewhat dull to me, - I prefer Baker
in the Pretre recording.  My guess is that Michel Roux was the last minute
substitute.  The man does not posses a singing voice, I could hardly tell
if his was a tenor, bass, or baritone.  Critics, usually, call singers like
that - 'intelligent'.  May be.  The conducting creates a true sense of
theater and the atmosphere that links and holds all the elements together.
And the music, of course, is great!  Will be looking for more issues in
this series.

ML