Customer Reviews

Bizet: Carmen (Great Recordings of the Century)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's just start with saying that this is a wonderful 'Carmen'. And that is probably because everyone who was involved with this recording turned in stunning performances. Let's begin with Victoria de los Angeles, whom I think makes The best over all performance of Carmen on disc - perhaps because she came from Spain, just as 'Carmen' is a spanish woman, but she also was a perfect interpreter of french opera with faultless accent and pronunciation, and 'Carmen' definately is french in style. De los Angeles is charming & humourous, seductive & fatal and not least, proud. She perfectly moves from being naive and childish in the beginning of the opera, to the more mature woman in the final acts - leaving no listener unmoved. Many of her individual parts are highly memorable, 'Pres le remparts...' and the card scene maybe the favorites. She might be a little genteel in her vocal style, but missing none of the caracter's many nuances. As her Don José we have Nicolai Gedda - an almost idiomatic french tenor with lots of wit and elegance. His 'flower song' is probably the best I've ever heard, thanks to his smoothness and perfect technique. He's also very moving in the duet with Michaela - on of the records real highlights. The only weakness with Gedda's performance is that he in the last act misses some of the dark intensity that the role calls for, making his despair a little childish, but that's a minor objection to a very good performance indeed.

The other parts are very well sung as well. Michaeu as Michaela is utterly moving. When the 'parles moi de ma mere' ends I always wish it would last a little more, just to hear the perfect collaboration between Michaeu and Gedda. Ernest Blanc is good, no more no less, as Escamillo, bringing the so oftenly missing french style to his part, putting forth the caracter as a kind of stupid oneway-mind, very selfconfident indeed.

Beecham then, how does he handle the score? Well, he certainly brings forth the elegance & the passion, the wit & the tragedy. There is never a boring moment from the orchestra, and the underlaying thrill of the score is always present. Many are the times when I at the end at a certain piece wishes it to last just a little longer, because it feels so right. I definately think that this is the best conducted Carmen I've ever heard.

The sound also is good, mostly in the aspect of the balance between singers and orchestra, which is perfect. The sound itself is a little old but clear enough, a lot better than on the original LP-set, since it's been elaborately digitally remastered.

Since I like Carmen (on record) better with recitatives, I don't mind the Guiraud's used here.

Compared to other sets, I consider this is an over all winner. It's strongest competitors, and these are strong ones indeed, I think are the old Karajan set with Price and Corelli (RCA), and maybe the Abbado set with Berganza & Domingo (DG). What both of these sets misses is french style, the former being very italian in style, although bewitchingly sung. I think that Karajan's sounds very much like a performance of songnumbers more than a theatrical whole. The Abbado set has a unmoving but extremely beautiful sung Carmen in Berganza, and a very powerful Don José in Domingo, but unfortunately little else when looking at the other roles. As I said, these are very good sets, but this Beecham, now at this low price, is the most french (and spanish) perfomance, with a cast and conductor perfectly matching each other, they all go for the same goal, and they succeed! I can't recommend it enough.

Beecham's conducting and the performance of Victoria de los Angeles in the title role raise this performance of this much-performed and recorded opera to the level of one for the ages. Both of them realize, as many others do not, that Carmen was and is a French as well as Spanish heroine in Bizet's incarnation, and that Carmen the opera was originally conceived as an _opéra comique_, not a grand opera. Thus, there is a lightness and even humor to their reading that makes the more starkly dramatic and violent moments all the more telling in contrast. Even the use of the tired Guiraud recitatives cannot detract from the validity of their basic conception.

Victoria de los Angeles has been described as "a Carmen in a thousand" and the description still holds true after more than four decades. She applies her naturally beautiful voice, untaxed by high notes, to create a bewitching, alluring heroine. She is well-supported by her male colleagues, Nicolai Gedda and Ernest Blanc; only Janine Micheau disappoints slightly, sounding too mature and vocally not altogether comfortable in her big third-act aria. All this is not to say that there are no other performances of Carmen worth hearing; but as a totality this one has stood the test of time and more.

This Carmen has been praised like the glorious Callas-Tosca, the amazing Falstaff with Gobbi, the legendary Berlin-Lucia and the celestial Boheme with de los Angeles and Björling. I heard this first when I was a teenager and found de los Angeles to be more like a noble princess than a sexy woman but she grows on you, each time you listen to her. I prefer her over all the Pin-up-Carmens because of her noble pride and Spanish charisma. She is not a dark, dangerous or haunting Carmen like Callas or Cossotto but a cheerful one with noblesse and a dignified sex-appeal, think Grace Kelly (Whom I find to be sexier than for example Marilyn Monroe). Her habanera is cleared of all the hip-swinging and cheap mannerisms, absolutely adorable. Her segeduilla is like a ray of light, enticing, yet impossible to catch. Her singing in the card-aria and finale doesn't have the magnitude of a Resnik or Baltsa but it as a Spanish flair I rarely ever heard here. Wonderful her cold elegance as she defies Don José, just sublime and dignified. Carmen has been portrayed as a man-eater and [...] way too often, de los Angeles set the record straight!
Nicolai Gedda is in excellent voice, even more so than on the Carmen he did with Maria Callas several years later. Wonderfully controlled, yet passionate and stylistic singing ala George Thill. Blanc is wonderful as Escamillo, yet I prefer Massard. Beecham is my favourite conductor for Carmen together with Maazel. Every opera-collection is incomplete without this! A+++++++++++

Put this "Carmen" in your trolley and you'll become the owner of exactly what the packaging says, a "Great Recording of the Century". The conductor Sir Thomas Beecham makes it great. This is his "Carmen", rather than the "Carmen" of the particular singers who take the leading roles. Even in the final moments of the opera, when death and despair and being enacted on stage, it is Beecham who dominates. Listen to the magical moment before Jose's final outburst, "Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adoreé". It is what the orchestra is doing, and very softly too, that communicates the force of the tragedy.

Most of this set's virtues have been detailed in the excellent review by Jed Distler, a member of the Editorial team. Although most critics and reviewers have agreed that no other recording of "Carmen" has been able to displace this one as first choice in the forty years since it was made, the casting of Victoria de los Angeles in the title role has sparked controversy. I certainly can't believe at times that I am listening to a gypsy who works in a cigarette factory and who is charged with stabbing one of her work mates. Opera lovers will be familiar with my difficulty. We all need to suspend beliefs of one sort or another.

"I love her to distraction," sings Escamillo, the toreador. This is an opera recording that you will love too.

Really I must say this verion of Carmen is one of the best ones If not the best.
Victoria de los Angeles portrays the character beautifully, even not having the dark timber that I like in Carmen her singing is just glorious and makes you feel that she is acting while she sings on the studio. A seductive Carmen with an exelent pronunciation of French by de los angeles.
I must say that Gedda is a very convincing Don Jose, you can really feel his suffering, one of the greatest with Corelli (althought his french is a disaster).

The one I loved too in this version is Blanc's Escamillo, showing the listener that the true hero in this opera is him and not Don Jose. Toreador song is exelently interpretated.

The one thing that didn't convinced me at all is Micheau's Micalea. She dosen't put all that tender in the carachter and sound at moment very weak, but still nice.

Beecham isn't my very first choice If you ask me in this Carmen but I must say that he does a great job. Maybe I found out the prelude to act free too fast and four very slow, as well as Carmen an Don Jose's last duet in act two. But the rest is Great job from the orchestra!!

Please enjoy, and listen to the Carmen cheerful and seductive in the first two acts by de los Angeles and not to the bad humorous Carmen's of other versions.

The good stuff: Nicolai Gedda is in absolutely glorious voice. His high spinto-like tone presents an alternative to the often gruff Don Joses one hears elsewhere. The voice here is fresher than on his recording with Callas. The duet with Micaela is superb.

The conducting and pacing by Beecham provides a sheen over the entire recording. But...

There is the matter of De Los Angeles. Normally, one of my favorite singers. Fabulous with Bjoerling in La Boheme and, especially, Madama Butterfly. Exquisite recording of Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne. But the problem here is that she has no allure. Her slides in the Habenera are forced. Her attempts at sarcasm in singing fall flat. There is just nothing "sexy" about her.

There are two fine alternatives to this recording. The best all-around is Grace Bumbry, in the inexpensive Black Dog series. Now there is some "sexy" singing! And a big, buff Jon Vickers turned into a little lap dog by it! Mirella Freni is fine (if rather vanilla) Micaela. And their French is excellent.

If poor French doesn't bother you, Leontyne Price as Carmen is a revelation! Big chesty low tones, with a terrific "come on" appeal. Corelli is in fine voice. Best of all, Robert Merrill remains the best Escamillo ever recorded. Von Karajan takes a rather Wagnerian approach to the score, and it works very well.

Bizet and Beecham.
Wouldn't it be great to have a drink with these guys?
A fantastic performance well preserved for future generations.
Seven stars !!!
Victoria de los Angeles leads
an intuitive Beecham interpretation
which was lovingly
transferred and remastered at
EMI London from the 1959 or 1960 master tapes.
BRAVO EVERYBODY. This is how it's done.
Mike Brydalski Buffalo New York
Remember Lana Clarkson,Syd Barrett, and John Barrett

There is not much that can be said about this recording. It is the quintessence of Carmen in every way shape and form. Beecham's directing gives astonishing life to one of the most beloved operas. Ms. de Los Angeles provides the perfect blend of sultriness and vocal control need for Carmen. A must have recording for any opera fan, 5 stars are not enough!

Cette version enregistrée en 1959 est une peut-être la meilleure intégrale. Victoria de los Ángeles est une des rares à être expressive sans faire de Carmen une mégère. Timbre et interprétation sont des références. Cette modération et cet équilibre se retrouvent chez presque tous à commencer par Beecham le chef d'orchestre qui rend parfaitement justice à cette fantastique partition qu'est «Carmen». Nicolaï Gedda est le partenaire vocal idéal de Victoria de los Ángeles. Quant à Ernest Blanc en Escamillo, il mérite comme d'habitude tous les superlatifs. Il faut bien sûr un bémol et il s'agit ici de la Micaëla de Janine Micheau, au mieux sans intérêt, au pire irritante, comme d'habitude. Il est étonnant en tout cas de voir qu'une des meilleures Carmen était une Espagnole, alors que cette Espagne d'opérette n'existant qu'en France ne pouvait que lui être étrangère. Par contre que cette Espagnole ait été une spécialiste du répertoire français n'était bien sûr pas un hasard pour l'intelligence du rôle et de la musique. C'est cependant avec nostalgie que l'on écoute maintenant les duos entre Nicolaï Gedda et Victoria de los Ángeles, témoins d'une certaine école de chant, actuellement bien révolue.

Beecham wanted a very idiomatic French produciton of Carmen, and he achieved it on all ocunts--except for Carmen herself, who is a lovable kitten rather than a fiery temptress. And except for Don Jose, who is a Swedish operetta singer just gaining the heft to move into grand opera. The two leads don't fit into the overall Gallic spirit of hte recording, and at times I listen around them.

But no one has ever conducted a fresher, more buoyant Carmen, and since Beecham didn't have a tragic bone in his body, it makes sense that he would favor a charming soprano for his leading lady. She gives no trouble and she sings like an angel.