Georges Bizet - Carmen / Nuria Espert · Zubin Mehta - M. Ewing · L. Lima · L. Vaduva - ROH Covent Garden [DVD]

This is a wonderful production, one of at least three great Carmen's on DVD (this, Von Otter, and Bumbry). All of the leads except Gino Quilco are excellent; he lacks rhythmic precision (compare, for example, Naurent on the Von Otter) and charm. Lima as Jose beats on anyone on DVD except Vickers who just sings it better. Lima merely sings it very well, looks Spanish, and his face and body are always responsive to the text - watching him you see Jose, not just a tenor or even not just a tenor singing very well. Vaduva's Micaela is one of the two best on DVD (Freni the other) and is probably the best given her combination of lovely intelligent singing,beauty, and smart acting. She is charming and powerful enough that one could see Jose loving her without wondering what is wrong with him. Mehta conducts very well, lacking only the extremes of charm and precision shown by Jordan (Von Otter) or the sheer beauty of Von Karajan.Leaving the best for last, leaves us with Maria Ewing's Carmen and the direction of Nuria Espert. Ewing's is the most complex and complete Carmen I have seen. Her interpretation encompasses charisma, grace, sensuality, charm, sadness and despair. Her interpretation is more complex than Von Otter's - she not only destroys men and herself; she is sometimes attracted to them, sometimes charmed by them, sometimes moved by them. She rises both to the great purely musical moments of the score and to the great musical/dramatic moments (the Act III card scene, the Act IV finale). Her fatalistic despair in the card scene is most moving,as is her grace and courage in the face of death in the finale. She knows she is likely to die, but she will go out with dignity and courage. She will die but not bow or beg. I also find Ewing astonishing in her ability to be charismatic and powerful like some force of nature. In Ewing's presence, it is easy to understand how Jose could be hit by this "thunderbolt".I greatly admire Espert's direction. She is smart on the interaction between people, moves the action, sharply shows context, and does a sensational job of showing how passionate people can be even while striving to CONTAIN their passion. Under her direction, Carmen, unlike Von Otter, can be sensual and sexual without having to be directly directly and somewhat crudely physical. Under her direction, Jose can love his mother and her world, be drawn to Carmen to the point of doom and despair, AND attempt to contain his passion.He is more than a mere crazed brute or a boy who is too close to his mother. The complexity of the characterizations of Jose and Carmen and of the relational dance between Jose and Carmen is a tribute both to the leads and to Espert's direction.The Von Karajan production is at least the equal of this musically (and Vickers is the best Jose) and is well directed. Von Otter's Carmen is fascinating and sensational within the limits of Von Otter's voice that is slightly small for the part. Ewing is overwhelming. All in all, I think this and the Von Karajan the top two choices and they are good enough that if one likes the opera and can afford it, buy both. The Von Otter/McVicar production is also on this level but a bit more limited dramatically; itis a darker production and its darkness is beautifully done but it misses some other aspects of the character and the opera. But fascinating.As other reviewers have noted, the one technical difficulty is the sparseness of the subtitles.

This to me is Carmen as Bizet envisioned. Ewing is and will always be the one true Carmen. I own them all but this is the only one that transports me everytime.

Lima's performance is VERY satisfying, but I treasure this production for the art of Vaduva, who inhabits the role of Micaela. It isn't difficult to get a good singer who will look like the sweet village girl and sing the notes prettily. Vaduva, however, makes Micaela a real person, one with whom we can actually identify; her interpretation adds great depth to the logic of the story. All that, plus her exquisite phrasing. As this is an excellent production, there is no reason at all NOT to buy this version of Carmen -- providing you also get a CD with one of opera history's great (singing) Don Joses combined with a great Carmen interpreter.Why have I not mentioned Ewing? My opinion: I find her Carmen sulky, unpleasant, shallow and totally unattractive. Don't let that stop you from buying this otherwise exceptional production.

'Carmen' is a favourite, but this version lives up to its promise. It also demonstrates the problems with the 'star' system, but there are no 'big names' on the stage (just one in the orchestra pit). But what there is on the stage are some of the finest performers and grand voices you may ever hear. Don Hose and Carmencita are stunning, and the delicate delivery in French is correct ! The flamenco sequence in the tavern is another delicate embellishment, and just perfectly understated. Not a demonstration of violent stage strutting, but the kind of 'play' typical of taverners. Five stars easy !

This DVD is über-stirring! I attended a "full-blown" production of "Carmen" at the Pittsburgh Opera. The Pittsburgh iteration was indeed outstanding and would have surpassed anyone's expectations. This performance at hand should be the "performance-of-record" as the Pittsburgh Opera is not available on DVD. Buy this one.

Excellent old version of Carmen. Very good dvd delivered very promptly

This wouldn't be my first choice for a Carmen DVD. The disc itself is pretty no-frills, with no menu options except to turn the (English-only) subtitles on or off. That's it (aside from chapter choices). And the subtitles are poor, in that there frequently aren't any for several sentences. Visually, the Met production (with Baltsa and Carreras) has it all over this one in terms of sets and costumes. The Escamillo here I thought was very weak, especially in his big number, which failed to excite. Also, I can't get used to the British custom of not applauding after major arias - it was like watching a dress rehearsal (with no audience). The orchestra under Zubin Mehta was good, but here again I prefer the Levine-led Met production. I did like that both Carmen and Don Jose very much look their parts, and their acting and singing is good. I particularly liked Don Jose's flower aria, perhaps better than that of Carreras. Lima made an excellent Jose and I prefer him to Carreras, who failed to connect with me. I feel just the opposite about Carmen; the one here (Ewing) is too sulky for me and she lacks energy, while Baltsa (on the Met DVD) has more energy and charisma. Micaela was wonderful, the best one I've seen as this role usually bores me. Not so here. So, the pluses here are Lima as Jose and Vaduva as Micaela. The minuses are an overly sullen Carmen, a weak Escamillo, and spotty subtitles. Overall it's OK and worth adding to a collection, but if I had to buy only one, I'd choose the Met production with Baltsa, Carreras and Samuel Ramey as a fantastic Escamillo. His Toreador Song is the best I've seen, full of energy and bravado, as it should be. He gets a thunderous ovation - American style - that was well-deserved.

this is a great piece of opera the stars are at the height of their powers brilliant

Maria Ewing is fantastic as Carmen. Even though it’s on stage it looks so well done like a movie

Super opéra à recommander à tous

Möglicherweise hat die Maria Ewing nicht die stimmlichen Möglichkeiten anderer Interpretinnen, möglicherweise sieht sie nicht so sexy aus (die aufgespritzten Lippen helfen da auch nicht wirklich weiter), aber die Art wie sie die Töne ansingt, vom Singen zum Sprechen wechselt, das hört sich so vulgär- lasziv an wie eben die Carmen interpretiert werden muss.

Ich fasse mich hier nur ganz kurz, aber damit sage ich alles, was ich sagen kann: Schnell, gut, zuverlässig.,gern wieder!