Customer Reviews

Bizet: Carmen

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

 

 

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.

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.

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

IF YOU WANT an INFORMATIVE and entertaining review of this superb recording then READ on!
Shirley Verrett as Carmen is
sexy,calculating,manipulative,sensuous,seductive, and deadly.
In other words, Ms. Verrett is totally expert vocally as well as dramatically in the role of Carmen.
Domingo is captured here in his early youthful vocal prime and the beauty of his tone is truly a joy to hear as he handles Bizet's vocal demands wonderfully meanwhile producing a deeply affecting and powerful portrayel of the passionate yet foolish Don Jose.
Kiri Te Kenawa will melt your heart dramatically in her sensitive and touching portrayel of Micaela which is produced by a youthful vocal instrument of rare and refined beauty.
Jose Van Dam is also captured here in vocal splendour and his portrayel of Escamillo is bold and tastefully bombastic.
This is truly an Escamillo to make the ladies swoon with lusty delight.
Finally we come to the conducting of Sir Georg Solti who gives us a thrilling and dedicated account of Bizet's score.
Solti paces sensitively as he provides ample room for his singers to express themselves and his sense of phrasing and dynamics make his contribution that of a crystal clear narrator to the vocal tales sung from the score.
To top this all off we have the most delicious and sensual album cover i have ever seen as it displays a painting of a scrumptious female in all her naked glory.
I'd love to eat her like an ice cream cone.
MMMMM... YUMMY!
Her body is truly a work of art just like the opera Carmen and if you disagree then this beautiful woman may not be to your taste or you may just have an issue accepting something as natural and normal as the miraculous creation of the naked female body.
It is the way we are born.....
Anyway, i hope this review was helpful to you and Happy Opera Hunting!

Bizet: Carmen Very good - all 4 principals are a delight to hear. Solti's conducting is more restrained than usual, and the better for that. Pity about the cover - no relevance whatsoever to the music.