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  3. Looking for a great "Carmen" recording

  • Looking for a great "Carmen" recording

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    Hey you all, I´m looking for a really good complete-recording of Bizet´s "Carmen" (can not hear the Callas version anymore and never liked the Norman/Ozawa-one). Any suggestions?? All the best, Stephan
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    Stephan, well, an obvious choice is the classical recording with Victoria de los Angeles as Carmen and Nicolai Gedda as Don José (I know, same tenor with Callas): http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen-Angeles-Micheau-Beecham/dp/B00004VVZC othewise, if you do not mind awful French prnounciation, you could try Berganza & Domingo with the superb conducting of Claudio Abbado: http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen/dp/B0006ZFQNA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227205479&sr=1-1 you may also try Francesco Rosi's film on DVD with great shots of Carmona, Sevilla and Ronda... (again with a fantastic though unidiomatic Domingo and a sexy Julia Migenes in the title role)

    @stephankanyar said:

    Hey you all, I´m looking for a really good complete-recording of Bizet´s "Carmen" (can not hear the Callas version anymore and never liked the Norman/Ozawa-one). Any suggestions?? All the best, Stephan
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    You won't find a better conducted Carmen than Kleiber's. As usual with him, the energy level is almost hard to wrap your head around:



    singing is great too, but that is such a matter of taste...especially in that particular role, where so much personality is demanded from the performer.

    any case:

    Elena Obraztsova,
    Plácido Domingo,
    Isobel Buchanan

    ...not bad!

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    well, Kleiber is indeed absolutely amazing in Carmen, here is a fair critic of that live performance here: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=93602 I must say that Obraztsova is not my favourite Carmen (you have the impression of hearing Dalila all the time...) and Mazurok isn't a great Escamillo, but Domingo and Buchanan are excellent. Zeffirelli's stage production is again a matter of taste...

    @ozoufonoun_29353 said:

    You won't find a better conducted Carmen than Kleiber's.  As usual with him, the energy level is almost hard to wrap your head around: 

     



     

    The singing is great too, but that is such a matter of taste...especially in that particular role, where so much personality is demanded from the performer.

     

    any case:

    Elena Obraztsova,
    Plácido Domingo,
    Isobel Buchanan

     

    ...not bad!

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    Thank you guys, I guess I will give the Abbado and the Kleiber recordings a try. Thanks, Stephan
  • Mark SchmiederM
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    Out of fifty years worth of records, I second the two recommendations of abendkomponist.

    I have also heard that Bernstein brought out some unique properties of the music, but haven't tracked down his recording yet,

    The Penguin Guide to Classical Music is usually a very reliable guide for judging both newer and older recordings. The opinions and writeups are stated in such a way that it is easy for you to draw your own conclusions based on your own interpretive preferences.