Bizet - Carmen

I bought a used DVD, but the quality of the disc is good. Like new. I am very pleased. To say nothing about the opera itself - Karajan conducting and Grace Bumbry - exquisite Carmen.

The 1967 film of Karajan's Salzburg production of Carmen is finally on DVD. This marked the first time Bizet's opera was recorded on film. For those who may be unfamiliar with it, this is not recorded at the Salzburg Festival, nor is it even a live recording. It is a filmed memento of the production which first premiered at the 1966 Salzburg Festival and was restaged for the 1967 festival with a slight change of cast. Karajan was notorious for avoiding live recordings. He wanted the kind of perfection in his recordings which could only be achieved in the studio. The music was recorded at the Sofiensaal in Vienna and the filming itself took place in Munich, Germany. It is a lip-synched performance but very well done. Production values are very high. The staging is superb, from the sumptuous sets, to the gorgeous costumes, to the huge supporting cast which even included riders on horseback.There are several differences between the original festival production and the film version. Karajan managed to assemble some of the finest forces available for the festival. For the film itself he went even further, bringing in the venerable Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus and Children's Chorus to replace the original Salzburg Festival Orchestra and Chorus. He changed the line-up of singers several times until he was satisfied he had the right mix. He even imported the Ballet de España, preferring them for authenticity over the traditional Staatsoper ballet.A still young Grace Bumbry is in full bloom here as the sultry, fiery Carmen. Jon Vickers does an excellent job spanning the emotional spectrum from shy young soldier to jealous lover to enraged murderer. Mirella Freni with her wonderfully expressive voice is simply enchanting as the kind, noble-hearted Micaëla. She outshines everyone else here and tends to steal every scene she is in. And of course you get to see long stretches of Karajan himself, in the Prelude and the three Entr'actes, eyes perpetually closed, seemingly in bliss as he conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in the darkened orchestra pit. The effect is to give the impression that we are watching a live performance. And that performance is without question a glorious triumph.As a note of interest, Karajan performs the older version of Carmen using the sung recitatives written by Ernest Guiraud. He would later re-record Carmen for Deutsche Grammophon (with Baltsa, Carreras, Van Dam, Ricciarelli & the BPO) using the longer 1964 Oeser Critical Edition with its expanded music and Bizet's original spoken dialogue. Bumbry, Vickers and Freni would also go on to record the newer version with spoken dialogue under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. But this is the only occasion when the principal participants would come together and as an historical document, old or new, it is to be treasured. Another peculiarity of this production is Karajan's inclusion of music from Bizet's "L'Arlésienne", including the famous showstopping Farandole for the extended Spanish Dance sequence at Lillas Pastia's tavern. This was obviously meant as a showcase for the Ballet de España and they acquit themselves admirably.This film was shot in 1.37:1 aspect ratio (fullscreen). The brilliant colors of the costumes and sets are caught in full technicolor splendor. Deutsche Grammophon has either gotten hold of a pristine print or has taken the trouble of restoring it for DVD. It looks superb. There is almost no dirt or nicks to speak of. The picture is crystal clear and sharp. The colors really leap out. A lovely transfer overall. Sound is in the original uncompressed PCM stereo along with a new DTS 5.1 remix. The sound is good, although a mite aggressive. I personally prefer the plain old stereo. There are 53 cuing tracks but unfortunately no direct access via the menu - you need to read the track contents from the booklet. The original French libretto, along with English and Spanish translations are available as optional subtitles. This is an altogether outstanding production of Carmen which more than holds its own against later cinematic versions.

This is one of the three Great Carmens on DVD, this, Ewing with Mehta, and Von Otter. It has the best conductor, Von Karajan, and the best Jose, Jon Vickers, and a Michaela, Freni, as good as any.Central to Carmen is how the main character and Jose are depicted. They must be vivid, especially Carmen, complex and powerful. Overall Vickers is the best Don Jose on DVD or CD. He is slightly outacted by Louis Lima on the Ewing/Mehta set -Lima has the advantage of looking Spanish; Lima's face is more mobile and his reactions more varied; Vickers every once a while looks and acts sort of blank. Vickers does have the advantage of his magnificant, burly body: he is a visible force. And he deserves credit for this, for he is continually a force while Marcus Haddock, in the Von Otter, with a similar build is not. Vickers outsings everyone in this part: he pays more attention to dynamics (ending the Flower Song, for example, with its written pianissmo conclusion); has the grace to sing softly often, has the skill to sing softly but with great intensity, and has more power than anyone else in the role. Against him, Domingo seems a good voiced kid, a novice, who doesnt get much of the part.It is a compliment to Grace Bumbry's Carmen that Vickers, in all his variety and power, does not blow her off the screen. She sings very well, phrasing subtly but having the power needed at climaxes. She is not as absolutely fascinating and charismatic to watch as either Ewing or Von Otter, but her characterization is lovely in its variety.She is the most charming of the three Carmens. She just isn't quite the force of nature that the other two women are. You can wish you never had met Von Otter, but you wouldn't forget it; you would have to be dead to forget Ewing...it is possible you could forget Bumbry.Freni is wonderful; all you can fault her for is her attractiveness which makes her Micaela too obviously attractive to Jose; the sisterly/good person part of the character is overshadowed by her attractiveness. She sings exquisitely and with the help of Karajan's conducting, does a splendid job with her aria.Diaz, as Escamillo, is fine; he isnt as quite as delicate with the music as Nauori (in the Von Otter) but has a more powerful voice. He sings and acts well.It is a cliche, though a relevant one here, to praise Von Karajan's conducting, the best on DVD. He gets the combination of delicacy, beauty, power, and force that is in the music more totally than anyone else. (Yes, Kleiber's conducting is fascinating in its clarity and intensity but it lacks variety, delicacy and often beauty.) I wish also to praise his stage direction for which he was often criticized. Here, he tells the essentials of the story clearly, depicts the central relationships well and movingly, and never gets in the music's way.All told, a wonderful production. The sound is somewhat thin and I have nostalgia for the great what might have been of a production conducted by Von Karajan with Vickers and Ewing. But this is a lovely job that does justice to the work.

what I expected

A great performance even though the set was flimsyDelivered on time

Lacklustre performance, very unSpanish

This is a 1967 film of Karajan's Salzburg Festival production of Carmen. The picture and sound quality are truly excellent for a film of this age. The colours are vibrant and the sound is wonderful. Orchestra and voices are both recorded very well. There are two soundtracks, LPCM stereo or DTS 5.1 surround sound.This is an absolutely classic performance of the traditional score using the sung recitatives added by Ernest Guiraud rather than the original spoken French dialogue which is generally preferred nowadays. Whilst the musicality of the recitatives is not as inspired as Bizet's own score, in the hands of such great exponents as Karajan and his assembled cast, they work well and it is interesting to hear a performance uninterrupted by spoken dialogue. The playing of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan is just outstanding. The sheer beauty of their playing is an absolute joy and Karajan directs a great performance of the score which really enhances the drama and the singing and brings out the power and quality of Bizet's great score. He inserts some extra orchestral items by Bizet, largely from L'Arlesienne, at the start of Act 2 to permit an extra sequence of Spanish dances.As for the cast, it could hardly be bettered, and such a uniformly strong quartet of principals is not equalled on most of the modern DVDs. Grace Bumbry is stupendous as Carmen. She looks absolutely stunning and her pure vocal line and power are just marvellous. She is partnered by Jon Vickers as Don Jose. He may look too old for the part and his French pronunciation is not great, but vocally and dramatically he is again superb, not quite the equal of Jose Carreras in the DVD from the Metropolitan Opera, but almost as good.Alongside the two main principals the subsidiary characters are played by absolutely outstanding singers who look great and are also excellent actors. This is the only DVD recording of Mirella Freni playing Micaela, a role which she made her own. This DVD would be immemsely desirable for this reason alone because it has caught Freni at the height of her vocal powers and looking beautiful too. This role has rarely, if ever, been sung and portrayed as well on DVD. The outstanding quartet is completed by an Escamillo who has never looked better and is sung with all the quality and richness of Justino Diaz' fantastic bass-baritone voice.I do not know what the previous reviewer expects in terms of acting in opera, but this is dramatically one of the best acted stage productions I have ever seen. The principals are all excellent actors, but the depth of believable character portrayal runs throught the entire cast right down to the youngest of the children. There is real involvement and credibility here in the events and the action. The filming combined with the acting of the chorus and extras makes for really thrilling and involving crowd scenes.The film gives the appearance of being a stage production and the performance and scenery are all essentially of the type one would expect on stage and are based on the Salzburg Festival production. However, as one watches the action unfold the sets are clearly so large and detailed and the scene changes so extensive that it appears that this must have been filmed on a specially constructed series of sets. One great advantage of this is that there is no audience and absolutely no intrusive audience noise. We do, however, get to see Herbert von Karajan and the orchestra during the overture and orchestral interludes, which is nice.The costumes are lavish and appropriate and altogether this is a visual delight in a truly traditional production.

E' una Carmen tradizionale, con artisti ottimi. Una Carmen che farà ridere i numerosi patiti delle trasposizioni registiche. Si rifà alle citazioni del libretto originale e traspone il quarto atto su una spiaggia invece che in montagna (...i contrabbandieri vicino Gibilterra...come accenna la novella di Mérimée, possono anche starci. Fantastica la vocalità di Grace Bumbry, bravissima la Freni. Vickers potrà avere una voce non bellissima; la sua interpretazione è però notevole: fraseggio accurato, autentico innamorato al secondo atto, raggiunge la disperazione alla fine del terzo atto pian piano senza abbandonarsi ad effetti plateali di cattivo gusto. Ottimi tutti i comprimari. Chi non è in regola è Diaz, canto troppo aperto e di dubbio gusto. Rende però bene la sua figura. Nient'altro.