Product Details

• Actors: Anna Caterina Antonacci, Andrew Richards, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Nicolas Cavallier, John Eliot Gardiner
• Directors: Adrian Noble, François Roussillon
• Writers: Georges Bizet, Meilhac & Halevy
• Producers: Opéra-Comique
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, Import, NTSC
• Language: French
• Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: FRA MUSICA
• DVD Release Date: November 9, 2010
• Run Time: 191 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0041HU3Z0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,760 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

New from the enterprising new DVD label FRA Musica, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, leads the period-instrument Orchestre Revolutionnaire et
Romantique and an all star cast topped by the amazing Anna Caterina Antonacci in a staging of Bizet s beloved opera Carmen that had critics raving. Antonacci s extraordinary vocal timbre and superb acting skills have enabled her to perform a vast and varied repertoire in the world s most important theatres. She made her Covent Garden debut in a new production of Carmen in 2008 with Antonio Pappano and recently performed a selection of Canteloube s Chants d Auvergne at the BBC Proms. Probably the most Francophile of English conductors, John Eliot Gardiner returned to the Opéra Comique in Paris for this much-acclaimed production last year. It was broadcast live to fifty theatres in France and Switzerland and also recorded for television. This followed an exciting collaboration that began with Chabrier s opera bouffe L Etoile, which opened the new theatre at the Opéra Comique in December 2007. DVD bonuses include the return to the Opéra comique and interviews with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Jérôme Deschamps & Agnès Terrier.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Carmen" -- as it was meant to be seen, November 25, 2010

By 

R.D. Monsoon - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (DVD)

Despite being one of the most popular operas, "Carmen" is rarely performed as Georges Bizet intended. It has undergone cuts and changes to the libretto, dialogue has been replaced with recitatives, and bloated productions are constantly trying to set a new record for how much livestock can be placed on stage at once.

John Eliot Gardiner is by no means the first conductor to try and undo over a century of medalling, but by using the vocal score and returning to the Opéra-Comique where "Carmen" premiered (constraining himself to its small physical size), this is by far the most rigorous attempt to restore "Carmen" back to what it sounded like at its premier.

All various cuts to Carmen are well known, as are the problems with the Oeser edition. Gardiner uses a new performing edition prepared by Richard Langham Smith that is based on the vocal score. It probably gets us closest to what Bizet actually wrote and used during the operas initial run. First time listeners to this version will be struck by the reinstatement of important character backstory, such as Don José explaining how he came to be in the army. Included in this version is the pantomime scene at the beginning of the first act. I've always felt that this scene was superfluous to the opera's narrative trajectory, but the music is solid. But more important than the proper restoration of the spoken dialogue and other musical elements is the production.

For me, the biggest offense committed to "Carmen" are the productions that treat it like "Aida" at the Verona Arena. Despite the big choruses, "Carmen" is essentially a play with musical numbers. It is tightly scripted and demands singers with real acting talent. The Opéra-Comique is a relatively small theater - 1,250 seats. In larger houses so much of the drama between Don José and Carmen is lost simply do to audience proximity to the singers. And the large set pieces and livestock only distract from the human drama Bizet crafted. By staging "Carmen" at the Opéra-Comique, Gardiner forced his team to work within the same physical dimensions as Bizet's original production.

I attended one of the performances of this production and I was struck by how intimate of an experience "Carmen" is in a small setting. You really do see the opera as a play. Scenes like the act 4 finale are absolutely thrilling when seen up close. Similarly, Carmen's charm is infectious when you see her seducing Don José only 20 feet away from where you're seated. The direction and camera work of the video recording definitely preserves the experience of seeing this production live at the Opéra-Comique.

Adrian Noble's production is a pretty standard. Despite the lack of major set pieces, the production values look high (where as a I thought the sets in the recent Pappano recording looked cheap). I particularly liked how the tobacco factory was under the stage with a mirror hung above it showing the audience the women inside of it rolling cigars throughout the first half of Act 1. Home viewers will miss that the smell of cigarette smoke was blown into the theater during Act 1.

Anna Caterina Antonacci has already appeared on recording as Carmen and she does not disappoint again - she's wild, sexy, with a brilliant voice. One of the advantages of the Opéra-Comique's small size is that singers don't have to sing as loudly to be heard in the cheap seats. They can be quieter and their dynamic range more nuanced. Antonacci, Andrew Richards and the choir all take advantage of it. Richards' Don José deserves equally high marks. He does a very believable job balancing Don José's emasculation without being overly pathetic. The only singing and performance in this recording that I was not happy with was Anne-Catherine Gillet's Micaela. Something about her singing struck me as overly melodramatic and out of place with the subtler performances given by the other casts members.

While Gardiner has a reputation for radical tempos, with the exception of a very fast overture, his pacing throughout the opera was pretty standard. His detractors won't have much to complain about here.

The 60-some piece ORR period instrument orchestra offers a cleaner sound than large opera orchestras using vibrato, but overall nothing to revelatory comes from the use of period instruments. There are a few occasions when Gardiner highlights their coarser sound, but on the whole their playing is pretty polished and sharp. Because of the hall's small size the orchestra's sound is more up front than normal, but the relatively small number of musicians prevents the sound from overwhelming the singers.

The DTS surround sound track is quite good. The recorded sound is spacious; singers and orchestra are well balanced.

Finally, the disc includes 20 minutes of dry but informative interviews in French (with English subtitles) about "Carmen."

This recording easily ranks among the best "Carmens" on recording, both audio only and video. Highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review from Amazon France - "Carmen explosive & colorful", November 10, 2010

By 

SandiegoSuzanne "Suzanne" (San Diego, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (DVD)

I extracted and translated this review Amazon France. The review is by "Stephen B" one of the top reviewers on the Amazon France site. I thought it particularly well done and informative.


"In June 2009 Carmen made its comeback at the Salle Favart in Paris, the place of its creation. Led John Eliot Gardiner this production was one of the events of the opera season and, after the broadcast in prime time (!) On France 3, one could expect a release on DVD. This is now done and we can only rejoice because this production is a great success.

This success is primarily the result of two great artists: John Eliot Gardiner and Anna Caterina Antonacci. The English conductor is the leader in his case. At the head of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, he gives us an interpretation which is particularly incisive, and biting; whipping his orchestra to draws out splendid color. He conducts this music with instinct, as he does with Rameau and Berlioz, always showing great attention to the quality of French diction. Furthermore, since he offers us a particularly complete version, he deserves high praise.

As Carmen, we have with Anna Caterina Antonacci - Antonacci the bomb! - the best of those currently performing this role. Perfect vocally, theatrically totally believable, a true stage animal that eats the boards, what a slaughter!

Whiners will probably regret the absence of Jonas Kaufmann's José. However, Andrew Richards was chosen for this production and he does more than simply represent himself well. Apart from an English accent that stands out in the spoken dialogue, his voice is very convincing; "The Flower Song" a marvel. His performance style is a great success, it works particularly well with Antonacci with whom he formed a real couple; their compatibility is obvious and they present totally credible characters to tell us what is ultimately the eternal story of Opera, - a man and a woman are, and then are no more.

The rest of the cast is a notch below, but nothing really disturbing. The stage direction of Adrian Noble is very classically done. While not done with originality, at least his direction has the merit of letting the music speak for itself and leading the actors to present a very convincing reading of the relationship Carmen-Jose.

So while there are many versions of Carmen on DVD, this production easily prevails among the best."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bizet Restored, December 1, 2010

By 

DDD (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (DVD)

This performance is a fascinating document of an opera that has had an interesting performance history. It was written for the Comique, a small house seating a little over 1000. It was never intended to be "grand opera" but a piece of theatre with music. The very first LP incarnation of Carmen was from the Comique. To this day it remains my preferred Carmen even though none of the singers (Jobin excepted--the Don Jose) had an international reputation. It simply reeked of the theatre. The tempos are recklessly fast and the singers sometimes have difficulty because of this, but the end result is a Carmen that is quintessentially French, with a lot of dialogue and performance that is unlike any other Carmen you will ever hear.

This performance is as close to that 1950 recording you are likely to hear. And while it bears the imprimatur of the Comique the Carmen is Italian, the Don Jose is American and the conductor is British. Indeed, the orchestra and chorus are Gardiner's own Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique. Gardiner, however, has worked with Antonacci in Les Troyens and she has offered us her Carmen in the superb ROH taping. The credentials for both are on solid ground for this performance. The Don Jose, Andrew Richards, was unknown to me although there there are some clips on YouTube. He is tall, slender and attractive; the voice, however, is (to me) less than beguiling. He attempts to use it musically (the quiet ending ascent to a high B at the end of the Flower Song is a case in point) but the result if often compromised. The Micaela is French with a small delicate voice somewhat reminiscent of Marthe Angelici, the Micaela of the 1950 set. The Escamillo is Nicolas Cavallier, who can be heard in the Geneva Hoffmann as the nemises of Hoffmann.

For a brief overview of Carmen one should read Rodney Milnes' brief comments in "Opera on Record" (first volume). He omits the very first recording, in German with Destinn and Jorn (1910) but begins with the first two recordings, both of which were made with French singers although one was cut to shreds. His overall comments are fascinating: dealing with all the performances up to the beginniing of the digital era he notes that no two performances use the same text. Carmen has joined the likes of Monteverdi operas, Boris, Orfeo ed Euridice (and Orphee) and Don Carlo. We have no autograph score, no definitive edition. The conductor, the producer, the intendent then is obligated to make some editorial choices. In the case of Carmen it was complicated by the death of Bizet shortly after the premier. Although not a huge success, it continued to play at the Comique; eventually Vienna wanted to stage it and at thhis point the dialogue was transformed into recits by Guiraud and the opera then traveled to most of the operatic centers of the world. Its success became assured.

It seems that any review of a recording of Carmen has to come to grips with the work of Fritz Oeser, a musicologist who made his own edition of the work. It has generally been savaged by the scholars but Milnes comments that is has made the dialogue available. I am not a musicologist, but I would love to read Winston Dean who has stated that "it is the most corrupt score of any major masterpiece published in modern times"--this in reference to the Oeser Edition. I am not sure why we have to thank Oeser for the use of dialogue; after all the Comique had it available when they committed it to tape in 1950. It is my understanding that the Met used Oeser when they staged Carmen in the first seaon post Rudolph Bing. The most recent investiture seems to be based on the conventional Carmen edition; I confess I could be way off base here since when I watched the performance courtesy of Public Television and the moment the recits were used I tuned out. The use of the dialogue would have been no problem for Alagna but our Carmen was Latvian, Micaela was Italian. Bad French is more easily tolerated when it is sung as opposed to spoken. Also the Met is a big house and dialogue can become lost and frequently badly delivered.

It is unlikely that we will come across a Carmen as performed for us in this Fra taping short of visiting Paris, Geneva, perhaps even Montreal. It gives us music that most of us have not heard before and sung in a style that will not be familiar to most of us. The edition used is the work of Richard Langham Smith. In this performance Antonacci is competing with herself in the ROH performance. She is very comfortable in the French language but one thing stands out to me: in this newer recording she makes it clear the the focal point of the opera is Carmen. In the ROH performance she had a Don Jose who was sung by Jonas Kaufmann, a brilliant and charismatic tenor of extraordiinary gifts, both in language and voice. Additionally he is a superb actor and is very good looking. That he triumpphs in the role is a given but then he has had a lot more experience than Andrew Richards so comparisons are hardly fair. Richards suggests a different kind of Jose, one who simply cannot convince Carmen that he is worth the trouble it takes to make him a smuggler. I find the ROH production superior to the Met simply because they have honored Bizet more than the Met and in so doing it is better theatre. The Comique have gone one further: they have scrubbed off the excesses of tradition and given us Bizet as he intended and good theatre as well. I would not want to be without either set.