Customer Reviews

Bizet: Carmen

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Carmen is the most popular opera in the world and of course has been recorded by all sorts of singers. The previsible result of this is that we always feel puzzled when we need to buy Carmen. First, you need to ask yourself: what Carmen am I looking for? If you want a elegant Carmen, choose Berganza. If you want a victime-of-the-fate Carmen, choose Gheorghiu. But if you want a real Carmen, able to be sexy and, at the same moment, able to show a great cruelty and coldness, choose Resnik. When I listen to her Carmen, I can see that sexy woman who shows us her perfid character, that woman who thought she was the imortal godness of Love. That was Carmen and that is Resnik's Carmen. Some people criticize her interpretation saying she seems Klytemnestra. That's not the case. I heard her Klytemnestra and can see that those people forgot something: both are cruel and selfish, but Carmen, instead of Klytemnestra, who kills to conquer love and richness, use the weapons of love. I love this recording exactly because of that: Resnik isn't elegant and even the godness of sensuality, but a cruel, sexy and, specially, vulgar woman.
Joan Sutherland as Micaela is the opposite of Resnik as Carmen. She's sweet and innocent, specially in the first act, and her powerful voice is gorgeous. Usually when we think of a sweet role to soprano like Micaela, we imagine a short voice, and that's the common rule. It's not what we hear in this great recording: we listen to the greatest coloratura soprano in the XX century! It means, we have a completely perfect Micaela, vocally and dramatically.
The cast also includes a good Mario del Monaco, with a magnificent voice that emphasizes the weak personality of Don José, and one of the best Escamillos ever sang, Tom Krause. I must remind you Escamillo was one of the best roles sang by the pleasant bass-baritone.
Besides, Thomas Schippers conducts the orchestra with a soft French soul and with power and competence. Another great detail is the pair formed by Spannelys and Minton (Frasquita and Mercedes, respectively), who sing the most gorgeous "Melons, coupons" I ever heard.

Carmen is not about perfect French style or whether the heroine sounds matronly or if the Escamillo sounds `comfortable' at the bottom of his range. What is it about? Let's see...

A beautiful, sexy woman wants to make out with who she wants, when she wants, and how she wants. Her current lover wants her to himself... and is willing to kill her to make sure that she does. A handsome devil-may-care man with a big ego wants Carmen too.

Don Jose fights with his superior officer to keep Carmen. He does his best to kill Escamillo. When he finally gets it through his thick skull that Carmen does NOT love him, he stabs her. (Carmen is one of the few operas in which the tenor is the villain. Although Escamillo is a braggart, he turns out to be a reasonably decent man. Listen to the opera or read the libretto to find out why I say this.) Don Jose deserts Micaela to be with Carmen. Sound like a reasoning man, full to the brim with Christian charity and love? No. He's selfish, love-stricken, and extremely passionate. To me, that does not mean the tenor should fill the role only with those wonderful French subtleties, but fill the stage with fire and blood. I admit that del Monaco is not very subtle here, but he also does not just shout the role. Nor does he bellow the Flower Song. He becomes Don Jose on this recording, making the man into a frighteningly emotional powerhouse.

Resnik sounds great here. Feminine, emotional, taunting, fearful... with a full and sumptuous voice. She's deep into the role and it sounds it. She became one of MY favorite Carmens upon hearing her here.

Krause is a fine Escamillo- full-voiced and extroverted, brimming with confidence. He reminds me here of Robert Merrill- and that's no small compliment. Does anybody who might be reading this remember Lawrence Tibbett's incredible version of the Toreador Song? That man had the bottom notes one of the other reviewers wants. Nobody else I've heard touches Tibbett on this, but Krause is an asset to this recording.

I would prefer several other sopranos from the time for Micaela, the one character who helps reveal that Don Jose does have a streak of humanity in him... but Dame Joan does a fine job here. As usual, the voice is luscious and is used in service to the composer and to the character.

Thomas Schippers died way too young. I've yet to hear a performance of anything lead by him that disappointed me, this Carmen included. The chorus and orchestra come alive under his able leadership, as well as the soloists. I first heard this version at a friend's house, not knowing who was singing what or who the conductor was. It drew me right into the story and never let me go. Give it a try! I really doubt you will be bored!

At first I was alarmed by the breakneck tempos; this could possibly be the fastest Carmen on disc. But as I listened I realized that the pace doesn't interfere with the drama, it is a part of the concept of this production. The entire team dispatches this opera like a flower tossed over the shoulder, devil-may-care.

Regina Resnik is a faultless Carmencita; she hits all of the acting beats of the role. In Act One she plays the seducer with an alluring smile in her voice. In Act Two she rages fiery indignity at her lover's hesitance then quietly reconsiders when he reveals his true devotion. Acts Three and Four - her annoyance with, and defiance of an ex-lover who won't let go.

Mario del Monaco has a clear, ringing tone that I find refreshing. His is not the most nuanced Don Jose, but at the end of Act Three, when he is torn between clinging to Carmen and returning to his dying mother, we hear him become the ardent, obsessed stalker of the final act.

Tom Krause is a fun Escamillo. You can almost hear this bullfighter smoothing his eyebrow in the presence of adoring fans.

Joan Sutherland as Micaela... this is faint praise, but she doesn't get in the way. Instead of La Stupenda we get another member of the ensemble adding to the forward motion of the drama. No star turn at all.

Thomas Schippers leads the orchestra and chorus through a brisk but cleanly detailed performance. L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is immediate without being overbearing, thanks to John Culshaw's production talent. The Choeur du Grand Theatre de Geneve makes a lively troupe of soldiers, gypsies and smugglers, making every word intelligible.

I hold back a star for some awkward choices in stage direction. The text indicates that Act Two opens with a gypsy song accompanied by dancing, so we are treated to some increasingly manic flamenco steps pounded out on the sound stage. The overdubbing of canned crowd noise in the tavern and outside the corrida adds more distraction than atmosphere.

You get a thin CD booklet with an act-by-act synopsis but there's no libretto with this release. If you can afford two Carmens, the Chandos Opera In English set provides an idiomatic translation that keeps to the rhythm of the original French.

To sum it up, this is a highly enjoyable performance with an emphasis on character and action. The budget price of this Double Decker set makes it the best-valued Carmen out there. Pure smuggler's gold.

For opera aficionados, A, B, and C are not just the first letters of the alphabet, they also stand for the three staples of most opera companies and the probable most performed operas in the history of the art form: AIDA, BOHEME, and CARMEN. Of the three, Carmen is probably the most performed and many of its melodies are the best known tunes in all of music. Just about all of the greatest sopranos have wanted to take the stage as opera's ultimate bad girl. In this recording, Regina Resnik is an admirable in the title role. While there are others I prefer in the role (my first recording had Rise Stevens in the title role and I am biased toward her, I also grew up listening to Callas in the role), Resnik does more than sing the role. She does give it a dramatic intensity, except in the final act where she is somewhat lukewarm in the role. Mario Del Monaco is admirable as the indecisive Don Jose and his ""Le Fleur que tu m'avais jestee" is one of the best renditions of this standard tenor aria.

While Resnik and Del Monaco are reason enough to buy any recording, I purchased it for two other reasons. First, I wanted to hear Joan Sutherland as operas ultimate "good girl" Micaela. While I know that one could argue that Elizabeth in TANNHAUSER is the ultimate good girl with her forgiving attitude toward the wretch Tannhauser, Tannhauser at least has a spine and Elizabeth could perhaps see his potential virtue. Done Jose, on the other hand has few redeeming characteristics, which in my opinion makes Micaela's devotion more generous. Sutherland's voice conveys a sweetness and simplicity that fits the role of Micaela beautifully. Her Act I duet with Del Monaco is breathtaking and her Act IV aria "Jen e me trompe pas" is performed in a way that conveys Micaela's innocence and goodness. Tom Krause's interpretation of Escamillo is a bonus for this recording. Another plus is that of the conductor Thomas Schippers. Schipper's premature death was a loss to the musical world and his handling of the orchestra gives us a glimpse of what we missed.

I would not recommend this as a primary CARMEN. Others recordings of the work, such as the Domingo, Milnes, Berganza, and Cotrubas recording or the Callas and Gedda recording under the direction of Prete would be better choices. Yet this set does have some interesting portions that make it well worth listening to, and since it is a mid-priced recording, it is still reasonably a good purchase.

Potential buyers should know that this recording does not have a libretto.

I pulled this set off the shelf after quite a while, trying to see if it really sounded as bad as the rumor mill still says. Of course, one person's moment of opera greatness can be another person's exhibit A for bad or poor taste; but from the opening of the prelude, I thought: This is much better than I had remembered. Many record critics labeled this performance, Disappointing, when it first arrived.

Yes, all involved take a rather traditional Grand Opera style approach to Carmen. This was probably way before the original instrument and early period style approaches got our attention very much. Later, Carmen was restored to something much closer to its original performing version, a L'Opera-Comique. So what?

A period or original instrument approach can give me a different view of the music for all sorts of compelling reasons, but I can still get the point of, say, how Furtwangler did that late, great recording of the Beethoven Ninth from the Lucerne Festival. This Carmen is that sort of thing. So the question really becomes, How do the folks do here?

Thomas Schippers leads with great strength, and vivid imagination. His tempos may sound whirlwind at first. He isn't lounging or languishing against lamp poles to ask pretty girls what their star signs are, even when he adopts a slower tempo. But he is also consistently adept at bringing out orchestral details which color and emphasize the musical genius of Bizet's characterizations. A whole scene's mood is captured, a character's motivations are deepened even as they shift or change or develop, and the whole opera comes to life in ways which I could not hear, for example, under some other conductors who have led quite competent, generalized performances of this opera.

The orchestra keeps up with Schippers, and the chorus, too. Individual opera chorus voices stand out momentarily in passing, just as in any decent regional opera company performance. But nobody strays too far from either the technical or dramatic targets.

Any opera performance must finally fall or stand on its main singers. So with this Carmen. Regina Resnik takes the star female role. She may not have the special vocal identity I have previously associated with my favs - Victoria de los Angeles, Marilyn Horne, Grace Bumbry, Maria Callas - but she knows her own particular voice inside and out, and she uses it with great intelligence, bringing out all her vocal strengths and beauties in service of her role. She may be taking a traditional Grand Opera approach, but like Schippers at the helm, her singing is anything but boring business as usual. She sounds involved with Carmen, not just taking up pre-determined stage positions to spout rote like a Victrola spinning while her mind goes elsewhere. Resnik is present, and she gives a good account of herself.

Micaela is sung by the younger Joan Sutherland. She manages to sound girlish, despite her large-sized voice and brilliantly resonant head registers. She fairly disappears into being Micaela, and this is all welcome, because we have come to Carmen today, partly, because we expect a Micaela to show up. She is nothing but admirable in all her duets, and for once Micaela is not too light weight by virtue of having been matched with an old-style heroic Italian tenor.

Mario del Monaco had a huge voice and could do Othello (and indeed recorded one for old Decca/London), so he could have been predicted to be overcast, just as Sutherland for Micaela. While his basic physical-vocal identity remains, he too tends to disappear into the role of Don Jose. He doesn't bother all that much with finesse or nuance. He is still a heroic, tragic male lead. His passing brusqueness of phrase still has gold in it, and his singing is masculine, and true. He makes an excellent duet partner, for both Micaela (Sutherland), and of course for Carmen herself (Resnik). His dramatic exchanges with his serious rival, Escamillo (Krause) are - well - dramatic. These guys are fighting over what they think is Carmen's love, after all. Each maybe with just that necessary touch of self-delusion that makes them desire Carmen because she so obviously refuses to be dominated, even by love.

Tom Krause sings the bull fighter, Escamillo. He can hit all the notes without stretch or strain, and keeps his character as self-admiring as any new rock/rap star on MTV ever thought of being. He is that most dangerous of people having his fifteen minutes of fame. He knows he may die in the ring, and he knows he at least partly has the thrill-seeker's courage that provokes an encounter with real death in order to face it down in public. Of course Grand Opera is replete with these men and their olden-style masculine honor codes - ever willing to duel with each other over their wounded male vanities. But Krause is good enough to mesmerize as Escamillo, bluffing, formal toreador dress, and all. He may take his infatuation with Carmen as lightly as she probably takes her own feelings for him.

The smaller roles are taken by smaller voices who still know what they are doing with their characters. So no complaints by me.

My bottom line is that I'm leaving this Carmen on my play shelf. I still do not want to trade it for Callas, for de los Angeles, for Horne, or for Bumbry. But I think this performance continues to have its own value, and certainly is a way better recording than so many of the critics have tagged it to be. As a first Carmen it will give you much, much enjoyment. You can hear some great voices of a past operatic era, devoting themselves to their dramatic roles. I wish every Grand Opera were given the color, fire, and life that this Carmen gets under Thomas Schippers.

Recommended, then.

This 1962 studio recording of Carmen represents a time before 1967(when Karajan's Salzburg Festival Carmen starring Grace Bumbry changed audience's perceptions of how Carmen should be performed AND before Maria Callas' Carmen recording on EMI). This is a very old school Carmen, the Carmen that was performed a la Italian grand opera/verisimo style. Regina Resnik has a powerfully dramatic mezzo soprano voice, which is fine for some moments in Carmen. She does the best she can with her instrument and shines especially in scenes with Mario Del Monaco and in the climatic finale. However, she lacks the beauty of tone and lyrical spirit of such Carmens as Grace Bumbry and Teresa Berganza. Bumbry, especially, keeps audiences aware of the fact that Bizet wrote danceable arias for Carmen- Habanera, Seguidilla and Gypsy Song, and should be seen as a free spirit, a woman who is playful and very rarely serious. Her only serious aria is the Death Card Reading Aria. There is nothing wrong with Resnik's portrayal, if you keep in mind that her technique is purely dramatic and influenced by the Italian opera repertoire. In the decades before Carmen got a makeover and became Gallic/lyrical, there were even Carmens sung entirely in Italian and treated like grand verisimo. There is the Carmen of Giuletta Simionato and Franco Corelli for example. Corelli sang Don Jose only in Italian for many years until he learned to sing the role in French (or his version of French) for the RCA Red Seal recording starring Leontyne Price. But fans of Resnink's style and Del Monaco will want to own this recording. Also fans of Joan Sutherland, in what may be her earliest recording will want to own this one. She sings the role of Micaela, a minor role, with beautiful youthful ardor. She is in her prime and had not yet debuted at the Met. Sutherland's Carmen is ravisihing to hear. Resnik and Del Monaco electrify in a grand manner. Del Monaco's huge voice may not be entirely suited for the role of Don Jose but he manages to live the role so that he convinces us as a passionate man who becomes fatally obscessed with Carmen. He directly influenced another heavyweight Don Jose- that of Jon Vickers.

It is hard to believe that an album like this has received such a low rating. Well, everyone has his/her own tastes, which is perfectly understandable. For me, this album is just very enjoyable. I have three versions of Carmen (Schippers, which is this one, Solti, and Mazzel) and an album "Great Operas in the MET" that includes Carmen highlights from 1900 to 1970. Previous reviewers will probably not believe this - "Près des remparts de Seville" from this CD set is included in "Great Operas in the MET". Schippers and L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romandethe did a very decent job - every magic yet subtle note from every piece of instruments is amazingly lively. Resnik's Carmen is by far the most passionate one I have experienenced: voice of mezzo-soprano mixed with such expressive tones, now that is a Boheme woman who is faithful to her own feelings. Sutherland's Micaela is almost angelic. Personally, I have to say that Monaco's Jose is a little bit "over-easy", far from being a man who leaves everything behind to pursue the woman he loves and eventually kills her, while Escamillo is not manly enough to be a Toreado. But that does not necessarily drag me away from the appreciation of their interpretation. Frankly, even if this album had been priced higher than what it is now, I would have still gone for it. This is the Carmen that I like, with such strong personalities.

This is a controversial recording. Some people hate it and some love it. Resnik shows us a strong, independent and passionate Carmen. Mario Del Monaco is my favourite José! It is true that he is not in his best voice anymore here as this recording is from the 60's. But his José is still the most exciting portrayal of the role on record. The young Joan Sutherland is perfect for the role of Micaela and Tom Krause sings his role with excellent taste, as always.

Regina Resnik practically owned the role of Carmen in the 1960s and, as such, this recording is a good document of her interpretation. Unfortunately, her voice is a bit matronly for the part; sort of a "Klytemnestra sings 'Carmen'". By this point in his career, Mario del Monaco had little subtlety left in his voice and the 'Flower Song' is absolutely blasted. Tom Krause makes little of Escamillo while Joan Sutherland, a bit of luxury casting as Micaela, sings accurately but without feeling and she tends toward 'droopiness' in her tone. The smaller roles are sung by French artists which helps to give authenticity to the proceedings while Thomas Schippers keeps things moving. If you are a Resnik fan, you will want this momento of one of her greatest roles. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

Regina Resnik is a wonderful, sexy Carmen, but I can't take del Monaco and the way he shouts through every role. There's also some stupid effects, like the flamenco shoe tapping during Les tringles des sistres tintaient. It's enough to drive you crazy, so I agree with many comments in the negative reviews.

However, even with all it's faults, this is a must have because of Joan Sutherland as Micaela. Her voice is breathtakingly beautiful in this role. "La Stupenda" brings to Micaela what Montserrat Cabelle brings to Liu in the Mehta Turandot. For the rest of my life, I will judge all other singers by their exquisite performances in these recordings. Singing does not get better than this.