Bizet: Carmen

Bizet (Artist), Pretre (Artist), Callas (Artist), Gedda (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 17, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B002N4DZ08
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,398 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bewitching portrayal from Callas, January 28, 2012

By 

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

This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Audio CD)

Returning to this recording after a good few years has been an interesting experience. First of all, I find Prętre's conducting to be better than I had remembered. It is - surprise, surprise - very French, as is the whole performance: fleet, delicate and nuanced without quite the heft I'd like at key points - for example, the children's soldier chorus is far too polite for street urchins - but his approach is far preferable to turning the score into a verismo parody and the climax of the smuggler-gypsy quintet is thrilling - Prętre whips up a storm. Similarly, the Entr'acte before Act 4 is full of life and colour, making quite an impact. As the French tradition in singing and performance becomes more and more diluted, a recording which is wholly Gallic with the exception of the two principal singers is increasingly valuable - and both Callas and Gedda were very conscientious, adaptable artists able to immerse themselves successfully in different idioms, as here. Both were excellent linguists and it shows.

The sound was always good - typically EMI 60's, slightly peaky, eminently listenable; the acoustic of the Salle Wagram was rendered less reverberant with drapes to permit sufficient warmth.

My admiration for Callas' Carmen increases with time. She cleverly exploits a potential flaw - the pronounced break between her two registers - to bewitching effect. Previous commentators such as the reliably perverse and wrong-headed Rodney Milnes have accused her Carmen of being all tigress with no allure; you have only to listen how subtly she effects certain key phrases such as "Je suis amoureuse" to give that the lie. A couple of sour top notes apart she sings with a smoky voice recast especially for the role: hard, cupped, with a trenchant lower register. She sometimes moves between notes with an enchanting "yodelling" effect and often goes for a sardonic, disingenuous under-statement. It is almost de rigeur to criticise her French yet she spoke the language fluently and lived in Paris from 1962 until her death. I'm a French singer and I think she sounds pretty authentic when she delivers lines like , "l'on m'avait męme dit de craindre pour ma vie" with real attention to the correct pronunciation of tricky vowel sounds as in "loin" and to the two French "r" sounds in "craindre".

I have never been a big fan of Gedda - I find the voice fundamentally bleaty - but within that limitation he does a fine job, especially in the last act where he almost manages to transcend the lack of steel in his voice to convey José's manic passion - but he's no Jonas Kaufmann. Robert Massard is almost forgotten today but I always loved his neat, refined, expressive baritone - so very French and perhaps, like so many deceased French tenors, the last of a vocal genre. He is perhaps too refined for Escamillo but he sings so idiomatically and the voice itself is fundamentally so attractive. Andréa Guiot was, pace a previous reviewer, no comprimario but a star in her era; no milksop she, she gives Micaëla the gutsy profile she too often lacks, especially in her main aria which she delivers in a big, slightly edgy and very positive manner rather than the usual whine and I like it.

The tagline for the recording was "Callas is Carmen"; in fact, Carmen is Callas here but none the worse for it; no-one else has encompassed the role as completely as she does here - and the fact is that it doesn't date as her conception of the character was already very modern. "Jamais je n'ai menti" declares Carmen, and Callas brings just such a searing honesty to her portrayal.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comparison of Grace Bumbry and Maria Callas "Carmen" recordings, September 20, 2011

By 

jt52 "jt52" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Audio CD)

Georges Bizet's "Carmen" actually puts the heroine on stage much less than other operas with a strong lead female. In Verdi's "La Traviata" and, even more, Richard Strauss' "Salome", the heroines spend all or a majority of the opera on stage, dominating the action and the music. An opera like Bellini's "Norma" also puts the lead singer front and center for large spans of time. In contrast, Carmen is on stage sporadically, and has surprisingly few arias or duets in what is a fairly short opera.

This had an impact on how I reacted to the two very different Carmen interpretations by these two famed sopranos. The St. Louis-born Grace Bumbry is excellent technically, has a beautiful voice, but does not project much personality. Maria Callas of course concentrates on Carmen's dramatic potential, with a strong-as-metal personality and will. As someone with a natural taste for the pure singing Bumbry engages in, I will say that I liked Callas' interpretation on a musical level very much, which may be something of an out-of-consensus opinion. Callas pays a lot of mind to the vocal color she applies to certain notes and passages, producing some very musical effects and also colorful phrasing, and also is very rhythmically inventive. In short, I think her display of musicianship in this famed recording of Carmen is absolutely excellent. But to come back to my original point, I didn't find the interpretation of the central role a make-or-break deal. To me, it was important but not vital. "Carmen" is an ensemble opera and different members of the performance team can "take over" and dominate the interpretation.

The dominant performer to my ears in the Bumbry version was in fact the conductor, Rafael de Burgos, who leads a well-executed and -paced choral and orchestral performance. Bumbry's relative lack of characterization isn't such a problem in such a context. Her "non-dramatic" take on Carmen is complemented by a very good Jon Vickers, as Don Jose, who approaches the role as a musician more than as an actor. I found Mirella Freni, a singer I usually like very much, uninspired as Micaela and thought she had some problems with her big 3rd act aria "Je dis". One other negative is that the recording features the original spoken dialogue bizarelly not read by the opera singers performing the role, a money-saving idea that I think mars the dramatic continuity of the opera. The recording dates from 1970 and it is generally superb. Notwithstanding a bit of harshness in the treble, this is a beautiful sounding record.

The 1964 Callas "Carmen" may be the world's most famous opera recording. In a performance that has entered the realm of myth, Callas is well-paired with a very dramatic Nicolai Gedda, who offers an interpretation of Don Jose close artistically to Callas'. Additionally, I found the Micaela in this set, sung by the Parisian soprano Andrea Guiot, very good. The conducting of Georges Pretre is pretty good but I think the pacing in the best part of the opera, Act 1, bothers me - there's something sluggish about it. Sound is good for its time period and holds up well. One surprising thing about both sets being reviewed is that neither version of the opera's most famous single number, Act I's "Love is rebel bird", really hits it for me. Both are paced a little sluggishly and don't have the ideal rhythmic pizzazz.

These are two five-star interpretations of the great and very entertaining "Carmen" with greatness in them.

5.0 out of 5 stars Comparison of Grace Bumbry and Maria Callas "Carmen" recordings, September 20, 2011

By 

jt52 "jt52" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bizet: Carmen (Audio CD)

Georges Bizet's "Carmen" actually puts the heroine on stage much less than other operas with a strong lead female. In Verdi's "La Traviata" and, even more, Richard Strauss' "Salome", the heroines spend all or a majority of the opera on stage, dominating the action and the music. An opera like Bellini's "Norma" also puts the lead singer front and center for large spans of time. In contrast, Carmen is on stage sporadically, and has surprisingly few arias or duets in what is a fairly short opera.

This has an impact on how I reacted to the two very different Carmen interpretations by these two famed divas. The St. Louis-born Grace Bumbry is excellent technically, has a beautiful voice, but does not project much personality. Maria Callas of course concentrates on Carmen's dramatic potential, with a strong-as-metal personality and will. As someone with a natural taste for the pure singing Bumbry engages in, I will say that I liked Callas' interpretation on a musical level very much, which may be something of an out-of-consensus opinion. Callas pays a lot of mind to the vocal color she applies to certain notes and passages, producing some very musical effects and also colorful phrasing, and also is very rhythmically inventive. In short, I think her display of musicianship in this famed recording of Carmen is absolutely excellent. But to come back to my original point, I didn't find the interpretation of the central role a make-or-break deal. To me, it was important but not vital. "Carmen" is an ensemble opera and different members of the performance team can "take over" and dominate the interpretation.

The dominant performer to my ears in the Bumbry version was in fact the conductor, Rafael de Burgos, who leads a well-executed and -paced choral and orchestral performance. Bumbry's relative lack of characterization isn't such a problem in such a context. Her "non-dramatic" take on Carmen is complemented by a very good Jon Vickers, as Don Jose, who approaches the role as a musician more than as an actor. I found Mirella Freni, a singer I usually like very much, uninspired as Micaela and thought she had some problems with her big 3rd act aria "Je dis". One other negative is that the recording features the original spoken dialogue bizarelly not read by the opera singers performing the role, a money-saving idea that I think mars the dramatic continuity of the opera. The recording dates from 1970 and it is generally superb. Notwithstanding a bit of harshness in the treble, this is a beautiful sounding record.

The 1964 Callas "Carmen" may be the world's most famous opera recording. In a performance that has entered the realm of myth, Callas is well-paired with a very dramatic Nicolai Gedda, who offers an interpretation of Don Jose close artistically to Callas'. Additionally, I found the Micaela in this set, sung by the Parisian soprano Andrea Guiot, very good. The conducting of Georges Pretre is pretty good but I think the pacing in the best part of the opera, Act 1, bothers me - there's something sluggish about it. Sound is good for its time period and holds up well. One surprising thing about both sets being reviewed is that neither version of the opera's most famous single number, Act I's "Love is rebel bird", really hits it for me. Both are paced a little sluggishly and don't have the ideal rhythmic pizzazz.

These are two five-star interpretations of the great and very entertaining "Carmen" with greatness in them.