I received an email recently asking if I knew where George W Byng’s recording of the Ballet Music from Gounod’s Faust might be found. Some six years ago, before I had this website I did a transfer of the recording, so the time seemed apt to revisit it for a new transfer. Listening again, I get a sense of Byng’s experience as a theatre conductor – there is great life in these pieces.

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music
Royal Opera Orchestra, Covent Garden, George W. Byng

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music – Byng – part 1

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music – Byng – part 2

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music – Byng – part 3

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music – Byng – part 4

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music – Byng – part 5

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music – Byng – part 6

Gounod – Faust – Ballet Music – Byng – part 7

(mp3 files – click to play, or right click the link, then select “Save as”)

His Master’s Voice C 1462-3
Matrices CR 1443-II, 1444-I, 1445-I, 1446-II (side numbers 5-0677 to 5-0680)
Recorded 13th July 1927, Queen’s Hall, London