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Bizet: Carmen

Christa Ludwig (Carmen), James King (Don José), Eberhard Waechter (Escamillo), Jeanette Pilou (Macaëla), Lucia Popp (Frasquita), Margarita Lilova (Mercédès), Oskar Czerwenka (Zuniga), Reid Bunger (Moralès), Murray Dickie (Remendado) & Erich Kunz (Dancaïre)

Lorin Maazel

In this 1966 live recording conductor Lorin Maazel adopts some rather extreme tempi, for instance rather stately in the introduction to the Toreador's song, but elsewhere seeming a bit rushed.... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 28th Apr 2008
Catalogue No: C733082
Label: Orfeo
Series: Orfeo d'Or, Wiener Staatsoper Live
Length: 2 hours 24 minutes

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

Bizet: Carmen

Work length2:24:37

$48.00

$62.40

Eberhard Wächter, James King, Christa Ludwig, Reid Bunger, Lucia Popp, Oscar Czerwenka, Margarita Lilowa, Jeannette Pilou, Murray Dickie, Erich Kunz
Wiener Staatsoper, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Lorin Maazel

Act I: Prelude

Track length3:17

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Act I: Sur la place, Chacun passe (Morales, Chorus)

Track length2:00

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Act I: Regardez donc cette petite (Morales, Micaela, Chorus)

Track length3:45

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Act I: Avec la garde montante (Morales, Jose, Chorus)

Track length4:19

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Act I: C'est bien la n'est-ce pas? (Zuniga, Jose)

Track length1:16

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Act I: La clochea sonne (Chorus)

Track length3:20

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Act I: Mais nous ne voyons pas la Carmencita! (Carmen, Chorus)

Track length1:07

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Act I: Habanera: L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Carmen, Chorus)

Track length3:49

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Act I: Carmen! sur tes pas nous nous pressons tous! (Carmen, Jose, Chorus)

Track length1:49

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Act I: Quels regards! quelle effronterie! (Jose, Micaela)

Track length0:55

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Act I: Parle-moi de ma mere! (Jose, Micaela)

Track length8:57

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Act I: Reste-la maintenant, pendant que je lirai (Jose, Micaela)

Track length1:28

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Act I: Au secours, C'est la Carmencita (Chorus)

Track length1:41

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Act I: Mon officer, c'etait une querelle (Jose, Zuniga, Carmen, Chorus)

Track length2:23

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Act I: Ou me conduirez-vous? (Carmen, Jose)

Track length1:10

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Act I: Seguidilla: Pres des reparts de Seville (Carmen, Jose)

Track length4:07

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Act I: Voici l'ordre; partez. Et faites bonne garde (Zuniga, Carmen)

Track length2:40

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Act II: Entr'acte

Track length1:54

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Act II: Les tringles des sistres tintaient (Carmen, Frasquita, Mercedes)

Track length5:24

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Act II: Messieurs, Pastia me dit (Frasquita, Zuniga, Carmen, Mercedes, Chorus)

Track length2:01

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Act II: Toreador Song: Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre (Escamillo, Chorus)

Track length5:09

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Act II: La belle, un mot (Escamillo, Carmen, Zuniga)

Track length1:32

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Act II: En bien! Vite, quelles nouvelles? - Nous avons en tete une affaire (Frasquita, Dancairo, Carmen, Mercedes, Remendado)

Track length4:55

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Act II: Mais qui donc attends-tu? (Dancaire, Carmen, Remendado, Jose)

Track length1:01

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Act II: Enfin, cest toi! (Carmen, Jose)

Track length0:42

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Act II: Duet: Tout doux, Monsieur, tout doux (Carmen, Jose)

Track length4:44

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Act II: Flower Song: La fleur que tu m'avais jetee (Jose)

Track length4:19

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Act II: Non tu ne maimes pas (Carmen, Jose)

Track length3:56

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Act II: Hola, Carmen, Hola (Zuniga, Jose, Carmen)

Track length1:29

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Act II: Bel officier (Carmen, Remendado, Dancaire, Zuniga, Frasquita, Jose, Mercedes, Chorus)

Track length3:31

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Act III: Entr'acte

Track length2:39

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Act III: Ecoute, compagnon (Chorus)

Track length4:02

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Act III: Reposons-nous une heure ici (Dancaire, Carmen, Jose)

Track length1:42

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Act III: Card Trio: Melons, coupons … (Mercedes, Frasquita, Carmen)

Track length3:38

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Act III: En vain pour eviter (Carmen, Frasquita, Mercedes)

Track length2:50

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Act III: Eh bien? Eh bien (Carmen, Dancaire, Frasquita)

Track length0:38

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Act III: Quant au douanier, cest notre affaire (Chorus)

Track length2:37

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Act III: C'est des contrebandiers le refuge ordinaire … Je dis que rien ne mepouvante (Micaela)

Track length6:32

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Act III: Je ne trompe pas … (Micaela, Escamillo, Jose)

Track length3:12

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Act III: Hola, Hola Jose … (Carmen, Escamillo, Dancaire, Jose, Chorus)

Track length2:36

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Act III: Halte! quelqu'un est la (Remendado, Carmen, Dancaire, Jose, Micaela, Escamillo, Chorus)

Track length5:31

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Act IV: Entr'acte

Track length2:18

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Act IV: Adieux cuartos (Zuniga, Chorus)

Track length1:44

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Act IV: Les voici! Voici la quadrille des Toreros (Chorus)

Track length3:43

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Act IV: Si tu m'aimes, Carmen (Escamillo, Carmen, Frasquita, Mercedes)

Track length2:59

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Act IV: C'est toi? C'est moi! (Carmen, Jose, Chorus)

Track length9:16

$2.00

$2.60

About
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About

Christa Ludwig as Carmen was neither man-eating monster nor demonic femme fatale but a self-assured woman whose erotic charm stemmed from her lack of scruples and refusal to compromise. From her very first entry to the tension-laden final scene, Christa Ludwig pulled out all the stops, turning in a performance that still radiates an undiminished power, helping her to chalk up an enormous personal success with Viennese audiences.The conductor was the young Lorin Maazel, who in turn gave Christa Ludwig the part of Fidelio at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin only a few months later and thence to a musical partnership that lasted several decades. James King, a convincing, impassioned Don José diverges from the Heldentenor roles with which he was normally associated.The Italian soprano Jeanette Pilou sang the part of Micaëla, demonstrating that it was not just her name that made her so suited to the French repertory. It is fascinating to note the young Lucia Popp in the small role of Frasquita, and who better to sing the part of the predatory, Escamillo than Eberhard Waechter at the very peak of his powers…

Reviews

2010

In this 1966 live recording conductor Lorin Maazel adopts some rather extreme tempi, for instance rather stately in the introduction to the Toreador's song, but elsewhere seeming a bit rushed. As the evening progresses, however, the performance gains considerably in dramatic fervour.
Christa Ludwig was fond of the title-role; she made a complete recording of it in German for EMI, conducted by Horst Stein, but as she explained in her autobiography: 'I'm personally the exact opposite of Carmen…I made her shameless, fearless, amoral and high-spirited.' Hers is a gypsy in the Viennese tradition of Maria Jeritza; in Acts 1 and 2 it's very much a star turn, but once things turn nasty in Act 3, Ludwig rises to the challenge and makes a tragic, proud figure.
Her French is pretty good, although she has a bit of trouble with 'tu' and 'tout'.
James King recorded very little outside the German repertory for which he was best known.
He overdoes the emotion a bit at the end of Act 1, but this is a valuable souvenir of this great trouper in one of his favourite parts. Jeanette Pilou was a lovely soprano, not well enough represented on disc, although she also made a studio recording as Micaëla under Jean Martinon.
Lucia Popp is luxury casting as Frasquita, her unmistakable voice riding over the quintet, with Erich Kunz, no less, as Le Dancaïre. Eberhard Waechter must have cut a glamorous figure as Escamillo, and he too is impressive in his command of the original language. As Gottfried Kraus explains in the booklet, until this production by Otto Schenk the opera had often been given in polyglot performances, principals singing in French or Italian, chorus and comprimarios in German! The mono sound is adequate, the stage noises atmospheric rather than distracting, and at the centre a pair of great singers, Ludwig and King, inhabiting their roles, aided by the dynamic leadership provided by Maazel: a heady dose of nostalgia.

July 2008

The mono sound is adequate… at the centre a pair of great singers, Ludwig and King, inhabiting their roles, aided by the dynamic leadership provided by Maazel: a heady dose of nostalgia.

9th May 2008

There are too many peripheral drawbacks to make [this recording] a first-choice recommendation for the work itself: grand-manner conducting from Lorin Maazel; an irritatingly girlie Micaela from Jeanette Pilou; and an Escamillo (Eberhard Waechter) who is both past his best and hopelessly miscast. Ludwig, however, is mesmerising as Carmen, and years ahead of her time in presenting Bizet's heroine as a self-assured, assertive woman, determined to maintain her sexual integrity in a predatory male world. Her Don José is James King. His singing is big, beefy and sometimes raw - but the man's allure is there in spades. Flawed, yet absolutely unforgettable.

Bizet: Carmen

2 CDs

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