BIZET Carmen
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Georges Bizet
Genre:
Opera
Label: Opus Arte
Magazine Review Date: 05/2016
Media Format: Blu-ray
Media Runtime: 155
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: OABD7188D
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Carmen |
Georges Bizet, Composer
Aris Argiris, Escamillo, Baritone Bryan Hymel, Don José, Tenor Christine Rice, Carmen, Mezzo soprano Constantinos Carydis, Conductor Dawid Kimberg, Morales, Baritone Elena Xanthoudakis, Frasquita, Soprano Georges Bizet, Composer Maija Kovalevska, Micaëla, Soprano Nicolas Courjal, Zuniga, Bass Paula Murrihy, Mercedes, Mezzo soprano Royal Opera House Chorus, Covent Garden Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden Tiffin Girl's Choir Trinity Boys' Choir |
Author: Mark Pullinger
Christine Rice takes the title-role. I doubt Dame Janet Baker ever sang Carmen, but this is what it might have sounded like – a studied Lieder-singer approach rather than a wild femme fatale. Carmen doesn’t have to be sung by mezzos with huge, voluptuous voices – Stéphanie d’Oustrac demonstrated Opéra Comique deftness and humour at Glyndebourne last summer – but it needs some sort of passion. Rice’s chemistry with Bryan Hymel’s Don José is pretty frosty. Their final encounter has Rice looking like an imperious Elizabeth I, bored with her latest suitor. He’d be better off sticking with Micaëla.
Hymel is on good form, despite a tremulous vibrato and slightly nasal tone at the top. He excels in French repertoire and his ‘La fleur que tu m’avais jetée’ is a highlight of the evening. Maija Kovalevska’s Micaëla is touching, with pleasing tone, affectingly acted. Aris Argiris lacks strong lower notes as Escamillo and the bullfighter’s natural swagger is absent. Among the supporting cast, Nicolas Courjal is a suave Zuniga. Arthur Pita’s choreography adds authentic flamenco flair (although it should be illegal for opera singers to be handed tambourines as props). Constantinos Carydis conducts sensitively, although occasionally lacking the ebullience Bizet’s score demands.
This DVD/Blu-ray was originally issued as a 3D Blu-ray in 2011. Thus, weird camera angles abound, as if the cameras were on stage, swirling around the protagonists in the final encounter, frantically trying to whip up excitement. If it’s 3D Carmen you want, get yourself to an opera house. If it’s Zambello’s Carmen you want, you’d be better served by Decca’s version of the production when new – Anna Caterina Antonacci and Jonas Kaufmann on scorching form.
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