As a bonus, Emma Eames’s lovely voice is heard at the end in the Jewel song and Pierre Gailhard’s still sturdy bass (but half-a-tone above pitch) in Mephistopheles’s Serenade. But these should not entice any prospective buyer towards this set in preference to the vastly superior one (transferred by Marston) on Pearl (9/93). The recording is venerated partly because the conductor was a friend of Gounod’s and because Journet was one of the great basses of the century. Even so, the performance as a whole is by no means distinguished, the Faust, Marguerite and Valentin being almost totally inexpressive, and only the Siebel, Marthe Coiffier, imparting some authentic French charm. '