Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Georges Pretre, Paris Opera...

Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Georges Pretre, Paris Opera Orchestra | Georges Bizet, Maria Callas, ... | Fiery...Hot Blooded...The Best Carmen ever

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Bizet: Carmen (com...

	Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Georges Pretre, Paris Opera Orchestra Georges Bizet, Maria Callas, ... EMI Classics, 1997 average customer review:based on 57 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The most fiery Carmen

This Carmen has become a classic, its only rival in that aspect being the supreme recording with Victoria de los Angeles and Nicolai Gedda. Now what is it about this Carmen? Callas was no longer the dramatic coloratura soprano she used to be from 1948 to 1959 at the time this was recorded (1964). Her voice rested in the middle now and what a middle this is! Dark, fiery, passionate and bursting with colours. She brings Carmen to life, not as a slu**y little twit (As some have portrayed Carmen) but as a fascinating human being. Listen to her seductive Habanera and Segeduilla! These are worth buying this by themselves! Nicolai Gedda is in top-form and sounds magnificent as Don José, though not as fresh as on the recording with de los Angeles. Pretre conducts vividly, the rest of the cast is magnificent, them being very underrated French performers. (Esp. Guiot) Two thumbs up!

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Fiery...Hot Blooded...The Best Carmen ever

Honestly, with the popularity of this opera, you would imagine the horrendously huge number of female singers tackling the role of Carmen. With that legion of capable artists, you would also assume that they would be able to do it properly. However, great Carmens are rare. There are only a few of those who can feel the passion of the role, and then again there are only a handful of those who are Carmen. Callas was such a Carmen, and nearing the end of her short but extremely illustrious career, you will find a Carmen shaded will colors of hate, of passion, of character, of pure defiance. You can listen to this recording, and you will also find a woman lost in her own romantic confusion, in her inability to find solace in the arms of a person whom she could truly love. That was Carmen the enchantress, and that also reflected Callas the woman very well. With her top slowly leaving her, this would have been the perfect time to record the role, especially with the perfection she achieved with her middle and lower voices. She may not be the natural mezzo, but she truly was a natural Carmen. And, with the combined efforts of the brilliant George Pretre, the amazing Nicolai Gedda (perfect Don Jose), and Jane Berbie, along with the skill of the French Orchestra and Chorus, this undoubtedly is THE Carmen of all Carmens. Her Habanera is unforgettable, the Le fleur que tu m'avais jetee is sung to perfection, and the Chanson Boheme could never be bettered by any other singer. If you don't like Callas, you still should put this in your collection or I would probably burn you a copy and give it to you anyways for the sake of you listening to a MUST in any collection.

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My favourite opera

This was the first opera-recording I ever listened to. Absolutely fantastic! I love Callas as Carmen, I wish there was a DVD with her playing this character. Gedda's a wonderful Don José. Brilliant! Two thumbs up!

Gedda and Callas great

I read Gedda's autobiography and in it, he DID say that during his recording sessions for this "Carmen", Callas sounded like she had hot potatoes in her mouth. So what Mr. Ireland wrote is true. It's YOU, Tita Ruffo wannabe, who should get your facts straight.

Since you're a "Big Baritone", let's see you get up on the stage and sing Escamillo!

I rest my case.

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SIlver does sing Escamillo very well in fact

In response to the ridiculous comments written by a child, Mr. Silver does sing Escamillo. I have seen him perform many times.
In addition, if Gedda did say that he had heard it before because it was said, in fact it was published, before he ever said it. So he was COPYING!!!!
All of this really has nothing to do with the recording anyway. The recording is great even though Gedda's voice is boring and nasal and constricted. The fact that Mr. Ireland said that her voice had a wobble in the bottom and beat in the top (whatever that means) should tell, even you, that he does not know what he is talking about. The wobble was in the top. Any idiot knows that. Even in her last concert tour when her voice ws horrible she did not have a wobble in the bottom. DUH!

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