Product Details

• Actors: Maria Ewing, Luis Lima, Leontina Vaduva, Gino Quilico, Judith Howarth
• Directors: Barrie Gavin
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: French (PCM Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: October 12, 1999
• Run Time: 162 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305609306
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,559 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Georges Bizet - Carmen / Nuria Espert · Zubin Mehta - M. Ewing · L. Lima · L. Vaduva - ROH Covent Garden" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

Opera videos come essentially in two categories: movies, such as the 1984 Carmen, directed by Francesco Rosi and starring Julia Migenes and Placido Domingo, and opera house productions filmed for television, such as this 1991 Carmen from London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Carmen is the most popular opera of all, and these two videos are both bestsellers, embodying effectively the values that make Carmen unique. Choosing between them is not easy. Musically, both are excellent. Domingo has more name recognition than Luis Lima, and Rosi's film catches him in top form. But Lima is vocally and visually a precise embodiment of Don José, the soldier seduced and betrayed by Carmen and finally driven to murder her. Migenes (in Rosi's film) gives a superb portrayal of the capricious Gypsy woman, but for my taste Maria Ewing's Carmen is even more vivid, natural, and subtly nuanced. Leontina Vaduva is exactly right as the innocent country girl Micaela, and Gino Quilico swaggers convincingly through the role of the bullfighter Escamillo.

The advantage of the film is presence and realism, particularly outdoor landscapes with plenty of space for the soldiers and smugglers to move around. Escamillo faces a real bull in a three-dimensional Plaza de Toros, something necessarily kept offstage in the Covent Garden production. A danger not always avoided in the film production is overstatement. There is more subtlety in Covent Garden's staging--there has to be--as well as a higher overall level of musicianship. And expert camera work gives the Covent Garden scenery a striking air of three-dimensional realism. If I had to live with only one of these Carmens, I would choose Ewing and Covent Garden. But I would miss many striking moments in Rosi's film. --Joe McLellan

Product Description

Georges Bizet's Carmen, one of the world's favorite operas, celebrates at Covent Garden its first new staging in nearly 20 years, directed by the eminent Spanish actress and director Nuria Espert and conducted by the legendary Zubin Mehta. Blazing with passion, lust and jealousy, this production is Hispanic to the core with vibrant designs by Spain's most distinguished set designer, Gerardo Vera, and authentic flamenco choreography by Cristina Hoyos. Starring Maria Ewing, Luis Lima, Leonina Vadiva, Gino Quilico.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Great and the Good News, August 14, 2000

By 

"sfodxp" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Georges Bizet - Carmen / Nuria Espert · Zubin Mehta - M. Ewing · L. Lima · L. Vaduva - ROH Covent Garden (DVD)

I debated long and hard which Carmen to get: this live version from the Royal Opera House or or filmed version with Placido Domingo. Here is the Great news and the Good news. In short, this is a wonderful (hence great) production marred by a few technical flaws which limit it's brilliance (hence good).

The great is firstly Luis Lima's wonderful, charasmatic performance as Don Jose. Imminently believable, sad, boyish and gullible--his voice is stronger than I've seen him in comparable roles (e.g. La Boheme). Maria Ewing's performance is less credible, not passionate or seductive enough--seems somewhat more self-serving and machiavellian (which is the way the liner notes suggests--"Carmen thinks like a man.") Nonetheless, Ewings vocal performance is outstanding. Also great is the the lavish Royal Opera House production and Zubin Mehta's orchestral flair.

The limits of this video, is the technical editing and audio production. Some of the scene editing appears sloppy, with angle cuts too sophisticated to be effective (e.g. cutting faster during faster paced arias.) Or cutting to slightly blurred scenes. And the audio quality, while uncompressed and in stereo, is not dolby surround...hence slightly hollowed.

But, in it's whole, while not perfect (although Lima is close), this is a good, if not long (over 2.5 hrs) production that shows beautiful Carmen in all its glory. A nice addition to any library.

If Zefferelli had been involved with this produciton, this would have been an unbeatible staging.

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great DVD, January 8, 2000

By 

"gioacchino" (Farmington, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Georges Bizet - Carmen / Nuria Espert · Zubin Mehta - M. Ewing · L. Lima · L. Vaduva - ROH Covent Garden (DVD)

Whoever said no big stars, please take back your words! I am an opera fanatic, conductor, and composer and I have been studying the art seriously for years. If you haven't heard of Maria Ewing or Gino Quilico, please open your ears and your eyes! This is a star-studded cast with great truth to Bizet's critical score and also, to the gentlemen who reviewed this DVD above my review, Carmen is SUPPOSED to be in French. I hope you didn't think it was in Italian.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ewing is Carmen!, April 15, 2004

By 

Chaconnesque "chaconnesque" (Singapore, Singapore Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Georges Bizet - Carmen / Nuria Espert · Zubin Mehta - M. Ewing · L. Lima · L. Vaduva - ROH Covent Garden (DVD)

This is the Carmen which I have in my imagination. In spite of the great performance by Migenes and Domingo on the other DVD, I have some reservations about a movie-style Carmen with its lip-synching and the explicit 'realism'. I still prefer a 'live' stage performance where the excitement is all there in the singing.

Of the video recordings of stage performances I've seen, this is the most moving. Baltsa and Berganza might sing the role better, but Ewing's characterization is the best. Baltsa's Carmen (at the Met) sometimes seem to exhibit pre-adolescent playfulness and Berganza's is a sweetie-pie Carmen. None of them are dangerous, as Carmen should be.

I do not agree with a viewer that Ewing's Carmen is Machiavellian. If that's the case, so is Callas' Carmen on EMI. Carmen is a self-assured woman who follows her instinct, and fearlessly. She goes all out to get what she wants. The seguidilla scene is so convincing compared to the others. Ewing's Carmen's character does not change in the course of the opera. She remains steadfastly what she is, from the day she picked up Don Jose to the day she got stabbed by him.

We have here also a very convincing Don Jose in Luis Lima, even though Domingo is a better singer. Just watch the finale scene and compare him with Carerras opposite Baltsa. Neither of them can compare with Lima or Ewing. Just watch Lima's frustration and fury.

Another wonderful point about this production is its faithfulness to the score in putting back those traditional cuts, even in the dialogues. It makes so much more sense.

Vaduva is a pretty Michaela and well-liked by the audience. Quilico is rather cold and self-absorbed as Escamillo. He could have been more flirtatious at least if not passionate. In this respect Samuel Ramey is better, in the Baltsa Carmen.

Overall a wonder production, with beautiful costumes and settings. Mehta conducted wonderfully, better than Levine in the Met production.