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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Is The Opera-Comieque Bizet Originally Envisioned,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera); Mirella Freni; Jon Vickers; Grace Bumbry (Audio CD)
Too bad the previous review is too critical and a bit biased, most likely because that person, like most people, are used to listening to the traditional Carmen- arias linked by scenes but no spoken dialogue. However, the traditionally staged or recorded Carmen was not Bizet's original version. This album, starring Grace Bumbry as Carmen, Jon Vickers as Don Jose, Mirella Freni as Micaela and Kostas Paskalis as Escamillo- recorded in 1970-1971, is a performance that accurately follows Bizet's original score. This album exists in cd form as part of the Black Dog Opera book/cd series as well. I own both these recordings. The book, with illustrations and background on the singers and composer, explains in depth and detail how the Carmen most opera fans are familiar with today (and for the past 100 yrs or so) is the "Italianized" version of what is really an opera-comique. Opera Comique was a short-lived form of French opera which did not use recitative but actual dialogue, in much the same style of German Singspiel- (Mozart's Abduction From The Seraglio and Magic Flute). Yes, it is a bit unusual to hear French actors who are so clearly not the singers- Bumbry, Vickers, Freni or Paskalis did not act their spoken lines. But if you can get past this, you will enjoy a truly wonderful and dramatic opera. Carmen is pure drama, with nuanced characters and a music that manages to be subtle, colorful and powerfully climatic, especially in the finale. Rafael Kubelik De Burgos conducts with integrity and easy fatalism.
Grace Bumbry is by far my favorite mezzo-soprano of this time, the 70's, and her voice was capable of dramatic prowess and stunning beauty. Her roles include both mezzo and soprano heroines- Princess Eboli in Don Carlos, Venus in Wagner's Tannhauser, Dona Chimene in Le Cid, Tosca and even Norma. As Carmen, she gives it her best, providing the most authentic Carmen I've ever heard. I cannot think of any other soprano who took on the role with more integrity of character and brilliance of vocal ability. Her rendition of the Habanera is seductive, "Moorish", playful and virtuosic, as is her Seguidilla. Her interpretation of the scene in which she reads her own fate in the tarot cards is by far her greatest moment, her voice soaring with pain and suffering and acceptance, all carried out with an undercurrent of grave and serious nobility. She made a sexy Carmen on stage. Her African-American background, which included Gospel singing, made her a singer with a spirituality and freedom that is so necessary in Carmen, who should never be relegated to a "vamp" or oversexed man-crazy Gypsy. At this time, black opera singers was still an innovation, though soprano Leontyne Price was singing at this time to great acclaim and Shirley Verrett was also singing the same repertoire as Bumbry. Truly, Bumbry as Carmen is her greatest role and she is on fire, all passion and liberty as she confronts Don Jose and awaits his stabbing. "No No No! Carmen will never give in to you !" "Carmen has never lied, she was born free and she will die free !"- no other interpretor of Carmen, not Leontyne Price, not Callas, not Marilyn Horne- can hold a candle to the wild and fatal power with which Bumbry incoporates in those lines. Jon Vickers is a bit of "wonder" tenor. How could a voice so big-in fact the biggest in tenor history- he has a higher and stronger strength of voice than the late Mario Del Monaco, Pavoratti. His voice is Wagnerian in its size. Yet, he was comfortable in a lyric-dramatic role like the one of Don Jose. This character should not be performed as an overgrown boy. He is actually an innocent, obedient and dutiful soldier who gives up his faith, his fiancee Micaela and his regiment, for the love of the wild child Carmen. Think of Carmen like a Spanish Angelina Jollie back in her own wild days. Somehow, through sheer strength of will and discipline, Jon Vickers produces beautiful, lyric and lush tones that are not necessarily "Italianate" or "Wagnerian". He becomes Don Jose in all his true colors, particularily obscession and psychosis. Listen to how he sings the Flower Song. He ends the aria not on the traditional high note but with a soft B flat ? So as to accentuate the chilling effect that he has become dangerously addicted to Carmen. In the Finale, he is a raging lion of possession and domination, nearly like Verdi's Othello. His voice is perfect for Don Jose. Please don't bash Vickers. He is Don Jose in the most authentic way. Mirella Freni is Mirella Freni, singing the heck out of Micaela, making her out to be a tragic heroine, a victim, but one who is strong and determined to have her Don Jose back from the hands of Carmen. This is the effect I got from Freni's version of "Je Dis Que Ne Rien Me Pouvante" or Micaela's Prayer Aria. Freni has a big, lush, lyric voice that is even a bit too noble and heroic for the lackluster Micaela, but this is good because Micaela should not be lackluster at all. We msut feel for her crisis too. And Mirella Freni does a terrific job in producing this empathy/sympathy we have for the character. Baritone Kostas Paskalis was under-recorded and obscured by the more famous baritones of his generation- Sherill Milnes for one. But he is an outstanding Greek baritone, with masculinity and vigor and boldness. I love the scene in which he duels with Jose and in the Bullfight. His Toreador Aria is the best. This recording is the absolute best Carmen there is....no doubt about it. The music is the closest to Verdi's vision, the singers are dramatic and individualistic in their approach to these "real" or "verisimo" characters- not campy flat characters. Carmen is not about beautiful Spanish gypsies, cigarette girls, bullfighters and soldiers, its' a dark, human story about a crime of passion, about jealousy and possession, about a woman who would not give up her freedom though it cost her life. This is the first "verisimo" opera- the first opera in the 19th century (1875) to ever break away from the Romantic norm and deal with gritty themes as lust and murder among shady, corrupt commoners.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
She Talks, She Sings, She Seduces- The Real Carmen,
By
This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera); Mirella Freni; Jon Vickers; Grace Bumbry (Audio CD)
My first performance of Carmen: Catherine Malfitano in the title role, Placido Domingo conducting. That version was the traditional edition most audiences are familiar with- the Guiraud version with recitatives. This 1969-1970 studio recording is a valuable recording all opera lovers and hardcore fans should own because it's the original Bizet concept- the Choudens score featuring spoken dialogue. This provides an immediate, realistic, visceral and verisimo quality to the opera, and Bizet wanted it that way. Carmen is not a pretty story. It's a dark, cynical tale about a liberate Gypsy woman who corrupts an innocent soldier/mama's boy who becomes so obscessed and possessive of her he kills her when she becomes unfaithful. Furthermore, the setting is the dangerous world of smugglers. The opera includes a nasty brawl in the cigarette factory, seduction and a murder. Yet, for all these things, we are treated with beautiful music where sex as power is the undercurrent and moreover, Death as Fate is the absolution. No wonder this was philosopher Friedrich Nietzche's favorite opera!! In this recording, we are blessed with the best possible interpretors of Carmen and Don Jose- Grace Bumbry and Jon Vickers. They have electricity coursing in their confrontation scenes, and genuine chemistry. Vickers portrays Don Jose as a strong but mentally unbalanced man, who is consumed by passion and jealousy. Grace Bumbry makes for a realistic Carmen. Thanks to the spoken dialogue, she comes off as seductive, playful, with a wicked sense of humor, liberal and defiant.
We are further blessed with the talents of Mirella Freni and Kostas Paskalis. Mirella Freni at this time was rising to stardom, but singing only the lyric roles of Mimi, Micaela and Marguerite. She is a prima donna in her own right, and even as the ingenue Micaela, she delivers passion and spirituality. We really feel for poor Micaela, who looses Don Jose to a dangerous woman. Sadly for Greek baritone Kostas Paskalis, he was outshined by such baritone stars as Robert Merrill and Sherill Milnes. Such a shame to see such a fine baritone fall into obscurity. His Escamillo may not shine too brightly, but he puts forth a performance that is masculine and passionate. What even fewer people realize was that he was hailed as the finest interpretor of Macbeth. Grace Bumbry is the real star here. Everything she intones as Carmen is absolutely brilliant. I cannot hear any other Carmen. She takes the trophy. Sorry for all the fans who enjoy Maria Callas as Carmen, Leontyne Price as Carmen, Rise Stevens as Carmen, Giuletta Simionato as Carmen, Tatiana Troyanos or Marilyn Horne as Carmen. None of these outstanding ladies compare to Grace Bumbry. What is it about her performance that makes me want to hear it again and again. It's a captivating performance, its intensely dramatic. What a ride all of it is. We know the inevitable final confrontation in which Carmen is stabbed is coming but the journey to that moment is exceptional. This is THE CARMEN.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Meticulous restoration,
By
This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Complete Opera); Mirella Freni; Jon Vickers; Grace Bumbry (Audio CD)
There are a fair number of early scores extant, and considerable scholarship has gone into subsequent editions. But for me, nothing trumps the composer's final thoughts. Those appear to be reflected most directly in the Choudens vocal score, where Bizet's imprimatur was probably affixed for the last time. While we have to rely on an earlier score, also authoritative, for the full partitur, it is in the Choudens where we can view Bizet's final editorial decisions as to structure, keys and so much else. And in all the scores preceding the composer's untimely death, the structure of this opera is "opera-comique", meaning that the set pieces are separated by spoken dialogue, not sung recitatives, which came along after Bizet's death and were composed by Ernest Guiraud.
To my knowledge, only one recording follows the Choudens version meticulously: this Bumbry/Vickers/Freni/Paskalis CD version. I'm grateful to have this for that reason. At the same time, the set that compares most directly with this one is the celebrated Cluytens set, the first LP set to base its performing edition on the original opera-comique version, more or less. The Cluytens set is an older recording than this Bumbry one, made in mono in 1950. And in addition to its mono sound, the Cluytens also opts for a few relatively negligible cuts here or there. Yet this Bumbry recording uses special "imported" speakers for the dialogue without a scintilla of similarity to their singing counterparts. The result is a fragmentary reading of the work from a dramatic point of view with not enough continuity to compensate for the faithful performing edition being used (IMO). Also, wonderfully effective as some of the individual singers are in the Bumbry, there is not that spontaneous give-and-take, even in the musical sequences, of the Cluytens set; and finally, one must contend with the felt absence of idiomatic French artists in the principal roles. I would not regret having this Bumbry CD set. It is an invaluable reference set for the scholar. But to appreciate the full genius of this work as an inspired flow of music and drama, I feel that the Cluytens stands alone (featuring Michel and Jobin in the leading roles). Hence my awarding 4 stars rather than 5 to the Bumbry recording.
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