Bizet - Carmen / Migenes, Domingo, Raimondi, Esham, Lafont, Watson, Le Roux; Maazel (1984 film)

Georges Bizet (Artist), Julia Migenes (Artist), Placido Domingo (Artist), Lorin Maazel (Artist), Ruggero Raimondi (Artist), Faith Esham (Artist), Lillian Watson (Artist), Susan Daniel (Artist), François Le Roux (Artist), John-Paul Bogart (Artist), Gérard Garino (Artist), Jean-Philippe Lafont (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 25, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Erato
• ASIN: B000005E5X
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,463 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

2. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

3. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

4. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

5. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

6. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

2. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

3. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

4. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

5. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

6. Carmen, opera

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Carmen, opera - G. Bizet

2. Carmen, opera

3. Carmen, opera

4. Carmen, opera

5. Carmen, opera

6. Carmen, opera

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OK sound quality; great performances and film, November 7, 2003

By 

Frank Lin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bizet - Carmen / Migenes, Domingo, Raimondi, Esham, Lafont, Watson, Le Roux; Maazel (1984 film) (Audio CD)

It's strange that reviews on Amazon written so far on this recording seem to have focused on the film production rather than the CD set. Although this is a sound track of the Francesco Rossi film adaptation of Carmen, it is marketed(and rightly so) as an opera recording.

First on the individual singer: they are all good, but I think Raimondi {Escamillo} and Domingo {Don Jose} stand out. Both perform superbly (and this is assuming you're just listening without seeing the movie). Faith Esham's Michaela is great. Her voice is full and smooth and fits Bizet's lyrical style very well. I like Migenes-Johnson's Carmen. She sings well, with a good amount of sultry, capricious aura.

If you just listen to the CD's without having watched the film, you might have gotten a different feeling about Don Jose. Domingo's portrayal of Don Jose (perhaps partly due to his imposing physical presence) in the film is more confident than what his singing may suggest. Don Jose should be a more tentative character. {OK that's all I'll say about the film.)

Now about the sound quality. There is more background noise than other recordings. I guess this is becasue it is a sound track after all, so a lot of stage sound is not filtered out. The sound is also not too "loud," so I typically have to turn up the volumn, and end up hearing quite a bit of noise.

Recommended even just for the performances alone.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best all-round recording, September 16, 2006

By 

Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" (Bishop's Stortford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bizet - Carmen / Migenes, Domingo, Raimondi, Esham, Lafont, Watson, Le Roux; Maazel (1984 film) (Audio CD)

I sympathise with those who want their Carmen quintessentially French, more in the Opera Comique tradition, with lighter voices, perfect accents and generally more Parisian than Viennese, but this recording provides such a complete dramatic experience that for me, it leaves all the others - and there are an awful lot of them! - in the dust. The only other recording I enjoy as much is even more unauthentic: the beautifully sung, hugely dramatic Karajan reading with Corelli (French worse than Domingo's and without the excuse of at least sounding a bit Spanish), Price (smokey, alluring but very grand) and Merrill (vocalising marvellously without bothering much about characterisation details). You don't have to have seen the film to appreciate this Maazel account but it happens to be one of the very best visual realisations of any opera. Migenes Johnson re-trained her voice to acquire plenty of gutsy chest register without losing the delicacy of her top and she delivers that famous music with some lovely portamenti - not at all vulgar, in my opinion, just properly in character. When all is said and done, Carmen IS a bit of a slut - but a brave and likeable one! I get fed up with the already outdated interpretative wisdom that she is, underneath it all something of a lady and should be sung with Gallic understatement; for me, Berganza simply underplays the role while Migenes Johnson gets it right. Domingo sings his best Jose on record - powerful, with a rapid vibrato and some easy, plangent top notes. The surprise for me was Raimondi's Escamillo; I agree with another reviewer that it is the best on disc and the voice sounds truly baritonal - which perhaps explains why I have sometimes found his timbre too light for some of the true bass roles he has undertaken. Maazel's direction is masterly; all the tempi are beautifully judged and the authentic French orchestra, chorus and secondary roles are a delight to the ears. My only slight disappointment is encountered in Esham's Micaela; she sings neatly and expressively but the fundamental tone is thin; I miss the beauty of Te Kanawa's sound in this role. Still, that doesn't really spoil the set; you won't find a better.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect! Glorious!!!!!, March 16, 2002

By 

Emma de Soleil "I moved to the UK for another... (On a holiday In Ibiza, then back to the UK for studies) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bizet - Carmen / Migenes, Domingo, Raimondi, Esham, Lafont, Watson, Le Roux; Maazel (1984 film) (Audio CD)

This recording&the video turned me into an operanut.... I LOVE it and cannot stop to listen to it as often as possible. By now I own 35 recordings of Carmen with the likes of Ponselle, Simionato, Callas, Cossotto, de los Angeles, Callas, Crespin, Resnik, Moffo, Bumbry, Baltsa, Troyanos, Larmore, Verrett, Fassbänder.... Only Baltsa (whom I heard live as Carmen) came close to Migenes. I prefer Carreras' Don José because he is more passionate, more fatal, more self-destructive.....but Placido is amazing too. Raimondi is the ONLY Escamillo whom I really like in the role... All the others merely "act" Escamillo but he IS Escamillo. Esham is a pretty, fragile Micaela, very lovely.

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!