Bizet: Carmen

Holten says he’s keen to steer clear of the Spanish clichés on the one hand, and to examine Carmen as a real person on the other…It’s no earth-shattering insight but it does form the basis for... — Gramophone Magazine, February 2018 More…

Release Date: 1st Dec 2017
Catalogue No: 742304
Label: C Major

Presto Editor's Choice

December 2017

Bizet: Carmen

Bregenz Festival, 19. + 21. July, 2017
Gaëlle Arquez, Daniel Johansson, Scott Hendricks, Elena Tsallagova
Wiener Symphoniker, Bregenz Festival Choir, Prague Philharmonic Choir
Paolo Carignani (conductor), Kasper Holten (director)

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STAGED BY: Kasper Holten

STAGE DESIGN BY: Es Devlin

Georges Bizet‘s captivating music with its Spanish sounds took the world by storm: Carmen‘s Habanera and Seguidilla, like Escamillo‘s Toreador‘s Song, are known to one and all. The French composer‘s most successful opera is staged on the world’s largest, spectacular floating stage of Lake Constance in Bregenz, with a set designed by British artist Es Devlin. She has designed sets for pop stars like Adele, U2, Take That, the Pet Shop Boys and Kanye West. In collaboration with the stage director Kasper Holten, Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House in London, she has also worked at opera houses in Helsinki and Copenhagen, at the Theater an der Wien and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. For the Danish stage director, this ‘opera about destiny and obsession’ centres on ‘two people who are treated as outsiders, whose paths cross and who cling to each other in a passionate but unhealthy relationship’.

BONUS: Interviews with Kasper Holten and Es Devlin

Sound Format BD: PCM 2.0, DTS 5.1

Picture: 16:9, HD

Subtitles: French (original language), German, English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese

Bonus: English, German

Booklet: English, German, French

Running Time: 138 mins (Opera: 124’ + Bonus: 14’)

Reviews

February 2018

Holten says he’s keen to steer clear of the Spanish clichés on the one hand, and to examine Carmen as a real person on the other…It’s no earth-shattering insight but it does form the basis for a central performance from Gäelle Arquez that is unusually three-dimensional, occasionally communicating a touching remorse and reflection. It helps, too, that the French mezzo is a striking, captivating performer, wrapping all and sundry round her little finger.

Opera Now April 2018

Carmen from Bregenz (2017) is effective. It has three main advantages. Firstly, Es Devlin’s spectacular set – a pair of massive hands that rise from the lake to embrace the stage, throwing giant cards that tumble and spin over the action, and which double as screens to enlarge the stage action. Secondly, Paolo Carignani’s conducting, which combines pace with detail (plus the dialogue is largely shorn). Lastly, Gaëlle Arquez’s knockout Carmen: sexy, charismatic and beautifully sung.

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Bizet: Carmen

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