Bizet: Carmen

EMI: 4402852

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Label:

EMI

Catalogue No:

4402852

Discs:

Release date:

20th Aug 2012

Barcode:

5099944028527

Medium:

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Bizet: Carmen

Oeser edition as used in Vienna (1964) (Vienna timing is 149')

Magdalena Kožená (Carmen), Jonas Kaufmann (Don José), Genia Kühmeier (Micaëla), Kostas Smoriginas (Escamillo), Christian van Horn (Zuniga), Andrè Schuen (Moralès), Christina Landshammer (Frasquita), Rachel Frenkel (Mercédès), Jean-Paul Fouchécourt (Remendado) & Simone del Savio (Dancairo)

Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin & Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle

CD - 2 discs

$21.50

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

EMI Classics's studio opera recording of Bizet's Carmen marks the 10th anniversary of the artistic 'dream-team' partnership of Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. Carmen is by far the most popular French opera and this recording is boasting a stellar cast with Magdalena Kožená in the title role and Jonas Kaufmann as Don José.

Bizet: Carmen

play Prélude

play Act 1 - No. 1 Introduction "Sur la place, chacun passe, chacun vient, chacun va"

play Act 1 - "Regardez donc cette petite qui semble vouloir nous parler"

play Act 1 - No. 2 Marche et Chœur des gamins "Avec la garde montante, nous arrivons, nous voilà!"

play Act 1 - No. 3 Chœur et Scène "La cloche a sonné; nous, des ouvrières"

play Act 1 - "Mais nous ne voyons pas la Carmencita!" … "Quand je vous aimerai?"

play Act 1 - No. 4 Havanaise "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"

play Act 1 - No. 5 Scène "Carmen! sur tes pas nous nous pressons tous!"

play Act 1 - "Que est-ce-que ca veut dire, ces façons-là?

play Act 1 - No. 6 Duo "Parle-moi de ma mère"

play Act 1 - "Attends un peu"

play Act 1 - No. 7 Chœur "Au secours!"

play Act 1 - "Eh bien, José? Qu'est-ce qui c'est passé?"

play Act 1 - No. 8 Chanson et Mélodrame "Avez-vous quelque chose à répondre?"

play Act 1 - "Laissez-moi échapper"

play Act 1 - No. 9 Chanson et Duo "Près des remparts de Séville"

play Act 1 - No. 10 Final "Voice l'ordre, partez"

play Act 2 - ENTR'ACTE

play Act 2 - No. 11 Chanson "Les tringles des sistres tintaient avec un éclat métallique"

play Act 2 - No. 12 Chœur et Ensemble "Vivat! vivat le Torero!"

play Act 2 - No. 13 Couplets "Votre toast, je peux vouz le rendre" …"Toréador, en garde!"

play Act 2 - "Dis-moi ton nom"

play Act 2 - No. 13bis "Toréador, en garde"

play Act 2 - "Eh bien monsieur, quelles nouvelles"

play Act 2 - No. 14 Quintette "Nous avons en tête une affaire"

play Act 2 - "Partez sans moi, j'irai vous rejoindre demain."

play Act 2 - "Enfin, te voilà!"

play Act 2 - No. 16 Duo "Je vais danser en votre honneur"

play Act 2 - "La-la-la-la" /"Attends un peu, Carmen"

play Act 2 - "Au quartier! pour l'appel?"

play Act 2 - "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée"

play Act 2 - "Non! tu ne m'aimes pas!"

play Act 2 - "Non! Je ne veux plus t'écouter!"

play Act 2 - No. 17 Final "Holà! Carmen! holà! holà!"

play Act 2 - "Bel officier, l'amour vous joue en ce moment un assez vilain tour!"

play Act 2 - "Plus tard!" /"La guerre, c'est la guerre!"

play Act 3 - ENTR'ACTE

play Act 3 - No. 18 Introduction "Écoute, écoute, compagnon, écoute!"

play Act 3 - "Notre métier est bien"

play Act 3 - "À quoi tu penses?"

play Act 3 - No. 19 Trio "Mêlons! Coupons!"

play Act 3 - "Voyons que j'essaie à mon tour."

play Act 3 - "En vain pour éviter"

play Act 3 - "La mort" /"Parlez encor, parlez mes belles;"

play Act 3 - "Eh bien?" - "Eh bien, c'est plus compliqué que prévu!"

play Act 3 - No. 20 Morceau d'Ensemble "Quant au douanier"

play Act 3 - No. 21 Air "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante"

play Act 3 - "Qui êtes-vous, répondez!"

play Act 3 - No. 22 Duo "Je suis Escamillo, Torero de Grenade!"

play Act 3 - "Elle avait pour amant"

play Act 3 - "Mais pour nous enlever nos filles de Bohème"

play Act 3 - "Enfin ma colère" - "Quelle maladresse"

play Act 3 - Tout beau!"

play Act 3 - No. 23 Final "Holá! holá! José!"

play Act 3 - "Prends garde à toi Carmen"

play Act 3 - "Moi! Je viens te chercher!"

play Act 3 - "Va-t'en" - "Tu me dis de la suivre!"

play Act 3 - "Toréador, en garde!"

play Act 4 - ENTR'ACTE

play Act 4 - No. 24 Chœur "A deux cuartos!"

play Act 4 - No. 25 Chœur et Scène "Les voici! Voici la quadrille!"

play Act 4 - "Si tu m'aimes, Carmen"

play Act 4 - "Carmen, un bon conseil"

play Act 4 - No. 26 "C'est toi" - "C'est moi"

play Act 4 - "Tu m'aimes donc plus"

Short trailer

17 minute documentary

September 2012	“The Berlin Philharmonic bring an intensified drama to the score without becoming weighty...theatricality is everywhere here, in what is one of the best-played Carmen recordings on disc...I'm glad [Kozena's Carmen] is recorded if only because it shows how beautifully the role can be sung while remaining largely convincing...What life and imagination [Kaufmann] brings to every phrase.”
17th August 2012 ***	“There’s much to enjoy. Never an opera specialist, Rattle digs out details that other maestros let slumber. The high-speed energy is infectious; and the microphones keep the orchestral sound lovely...Rattle offers Carmen the gorgeous symphonic experience”
18th August 2012 ***	“this studio recording of Bizet’s opera compels attention for a variety of reasons...[Rattle and Kozena] stress their wish to return to the “chamber feeling” of the French tradition into which the work was born, rather than the “grand opera” tradition in which it is routinely draped.”
18th August 2012 *****	“Kozena and Jonas Kaufmann are perfectly matched in the lead roles, bringing a persuasive emotional chemistry to Carmen and Don Jose’s doomed affair...the support of minor roles and choir is exceptional, particularly the enchanting urchins’ chorus provided by the Kinderchor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin.”
24th August 2012 *****	“what is pleasantly surprising is the success of Magdalena Kozená in the title role, which she presents as a convincingly cool and intelligent Carmen of real dignity and complex feelings...the Berlin Philharmonic lets down its hair and plays for Rattle with magnificent abandon. If you are tired of Carmen or think you know the score backwards, here is a performance to make you fall in love with it all over again.”
26th August 2012	“Rattle’s Berliners offer a dynamic Vorsprung durch Technik Carmen...[Kozena] is a subtle, intelligent singer with not-bad French, but she never convincingly suggests she is inside the skin of the part, and sounds ill-matched to Jonas Kaufmann’s unhinged, fearsomely intense José in their final confrontation. The German tenor is the main reason for acquiring this set”
13th September 2012 ***	“[Kožená] is an intelligent Carmen, self-assured and self-determining, though you can't escape the facts that her voice sounds small and that the role, in places, is simply too low. The main reason to listen to the set is Jonas Kaufmann's beautifully sung, wonderfully perceptive José. The glamour in his tone is perfect, and so too are the hints early on of the nervous moodiness that will gradually become pathological”
August 2012	“[Kozena] brings something compelling and exciting to her portrayal of the amoral gypsy... In many ways [Kaufmann's] dark, sexy tenor evokes the Mediterranean colour that Kožená avoids...Be in no doubt, however, that if there is a star in this recording then it is the man on the podium. Rattle’s reading of the score bristles with vitality and his vision brings the Berlin Philharmonic to life in a way that few other orchestras could manage for this opera, especially on disc”