Bizet: Carmen

Verrett (Artist), Domingo (Artist), Dam (Artist), Allen (Artist), Solti (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Opera D'oro
• ASIN: B000AMWIT4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,411 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #45 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Operettas

Editorial Reviews

OPERA NEWS

"this sounds like a carefully prepared production...nothing is handled carelessly, everyone on his toes and in fine form"

Product Description

An all-star live production of this most popular of operas, complete with extensive notes, newly-translated libretto, remastered digital sound, and beautiful packaging, all at mid-price! One of the first recordings of Carmen made using the Oeser Edition, restoring the original spoken dialogue in the libretto. Shirley Verrett is one of the most sensual and intelligently dramatic Carmens ever recorded. Luciano Pavarotti has called her "one of the great artists of this century". Live performance, London, 1973.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Verrett Triumph, January 15, 2006

By 

R. W. Bannon (Kent, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Audio CD)

If you're lucky, an artist has two out of three attributes - talent, musicianship, and/or commitment. Shirley Verrett has all three. Some Carmens are sexy, some funny, some coy. Verrett's Carmen is streetwise - she's been playing the field for years and her seduction doesn't have time for games or cuteness. Aside from a few intonation problems in the beginning of the Habanera (I wonder if the orchestra was too soft), her singing is glorious, lean and impassioned. The rest of the cast is stunning, the young Domingo and Te Kanawa as Jose and Micaela (the Flower Song isn't just an aria here, it's a story, and Domingo delivers; Te Kanawa's third act aria is gorgeous and earns one of the biggest ovations from the audience), and the terrific Jose van Dam, whose French puts everyone else's to shame, as Escamillo, make this an all-star experience. The comprimarios, including Richard Van Allan, Francis Egerton, and (now)Sir Thomas Allen are splendid. Solti and the Covent Garden orchestra are wonderful. The stereo sound is excellent. The spoken dialogue, even when unintelligible, makes this Carmen a completely different piece from the traditional version with sung recitatives. I like it.

Too bad Amazon doesn't allow for 4.5 stars. The libretto doesn't include the spoken text, just synopses of it. If you don't speak French (or you do, but don't understand some of the singers' versions of it) then you miss a lot of the drama. The cover art is obscene. Nevertheless, this is a worthy entry into the Carmen sweepstakes. Highly recommended.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A riveting performance, but the sound is dodgy, February 21, 2007

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Audio CD)

The praise given by other reviewers is justified: everyone in this live Covent Garden 'Carmen' from 1973 is in great voice. They peprform with dramatic commitment under Solti's direciton, and he shows off how experienced a pit conductor he was, never driving the music as he does in the studio. In every musical respect this is a five-star performance, and as drama Verrett makes much of the title role, redolent of sexual experience and doom. Kiri Te Kanawa's voice is almost sinfully beautiful in Micaella's two big tunes. It's great to have a French-speaking singer as Escamillo; Van Dam compares with the best for swagger and vocal authroity. Domingo has made a specialty of Don Jose throughout his career, and although his portrayals gained in dramatic intensity, here he is very fresh-voiced.

But I have to give only four stars because the deficits are noticeable: audience applause, clumping stage noises, fairly murky FM stereo sound, distant and unintelligible dialogue, and sloppy chorus work. These demerits can't hide the quality of the performance on stage, but they detract enough to keep this from being an ideal recording.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ave Atque Vale: Shirley Verrett, November 8, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Audio CD)

Shirley Verrett is gone now, but her beauty of stature, voice, stage presence, acting, and long career on the opera stage will long be remembered. Shirley Verrett was elegant: even when she was the singing actress for roles that were less than dignified she brought a sense of grandeur that few other women on the opera stage have matched. She probably will be remembered best for her inimitable Dalila in 'Samson et Dalila' but always a close second will be her role as the seductress Carmen.

This recording, despite the ambient noise of the audience and the stage mechanics captured during the live performance at Covent Garden in 1973, in addition to Verrett's sensuous and lusty Carmen sports a dream cast that Georg Solti conducts to a fever pitch. Placido Domingo is in his prime as José, Kiri Te Kanawa makes her brief appearances as Micaela unbelievably beautiful, and José Van Dam fits into the toreador role of Escamillo like a perfect French glove. When a production can fill the conprimario roles with talent the likes of Anne Pashley, Richard Van Allen, Sir Thomas Allen, Francis Egerton, Teresa Cahill and John Dobson (some at early stages in their careers) then the audience knows the impact is built in to the overall performance. The singing is all radiantly alive and full of passion, and Solti in the pit makes this one of the more consistently well-paced productions on record.

But firmly in the spotlight is Shirley Verrett - completely in control, more sensuous than any Carmen in history and a singing actress who can deliver the Card Scene with such a powerful sense of Fate that she creates a shiver through the house. She was a mighty voice, a beautiful woman, and an inimitable human spirit. She is missed already. Grady Harp, November 10