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My cat snuck downstairs and I was searching for him when I came across many recordings of Carmen I have collected over the years. The fact that my cat is named Escamillo might have had something to do with me stopping to go through the Carmen recordings. It's been a while since I have sat down and listen to some of these. I think I should do a comparison of the complete operas featuring the following Carmens I have on hand.Teresa Berganza http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen-Berganza-Domingo-Cotrubas/dp/B000001G89Tatiana Troyanos http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen-Georges/dp/B0000041QHGrace Bumbry http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen-Grace-Bumbry/dp/B0007P0LN4Marilyn Horne http://www.amazon.com/Carmen-Georges-Bizet/dp/B000001GAQMaria Callas http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-complete-Nicolai-Georges-Orchestra/dp/B000002RXS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1295370422&sr=8-3Victoria de Los Angeles http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen-Angeles-Micheau-Beecham/dp/B00004VVZCGiulietta Simonato http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001W3DSS0/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1295370628&sr=8-3-spellRise Stevens http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Bizet-Carmen-Complete-Recording/dp/B000003ESM Leontyne Price http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000009W7K/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0Agnes Baltsa http://www.amazon.com/Bizet-Carmen-Levine-Carreras-Metropolitan/dp/B000050X2Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1295406203&sr=1-1Anna Moffo http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000025ZYW/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A3DJR8M9Y3OUPGRosa Ponsell: 1936 Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts Recording.Stay tuned.
I tend to turn to the Bernstein/Horne performance. Lenny did so few operatic recordings but this is one that gets my attention. Relistening to war horses is a mixture of good and bad feelings but having played eight performances of this opera in the pit, this is one of my favorites.
Hmmmm, how a catch hunt came up with Carmen is beyond me . With opera, I usually start with the voice. If I like the voice, then I'll dig deeper. I always like Berganza, simply because of the voice. The agility of hers is amazing. But.... unfortunately, that particular Carmen recording of hers was not good in my book, IMHO.... I am not so nuts about opera, so I really am not familiar with "all" the voices here. But, I would love to hear a Carmen of the more current crop of singers, if someone would recommend one.....Don't mean to dis you here, Mr. Woodsyi. I already see you're an opera buff (vs. my being just an aria buff), so you have my utmost respect.
But, I would love to hear a Carmen of the more current crop of singers, if someone would recommend one.....
Price was a soprano as well but I know what you mean. Here is Leontyne Price singing Habanera. I like Teresa Berganza as seen here . Celine Dion is an example of a "soprano" who lacks the voice and temperament to sing Carmen. Compare Maria Callas, who never portrayed Carmen in a production (only recorded a studio version at the end of her career), Julia Migenes in a movie production whose voice I consider too light to do justice to Carmen and Denyce Graves whom I have seen as Carmen twice 10 years apart -- She does a good Carmen. I would like to see Anna Caterina Antonacci live in a production.
Price was a soprano. Somehow, methink because Carmen is so popular, even sopranos butt in to sing the role. Pitch- and range-wise, soprano voice would be adequate to sing a mezzo's role (if she has the bottoms), which is what Carmen calls for, simply because of the role I thought (the rougher characters, so to speak!). Sopranos would tend to thicken their voices to emulate the tessitura (use the chest more !). Callas's voice was rough to begin with. But, she was sooooo fearless that she'd do anything (in line with the personality perhaps). Whatever she lacked, she made it up with her dramaticity, if there's such a word. I somehow never saw her in performance live, so I mostly judged her from her recordings. And, her voice was not to draw me in, so I never was a Callas fan. I somehow based my liking or disliking a singer primarily on his/her singing technique (a curse because I took some voice lessons in my younger days, thus tend to be critical of how a singer is, vocally speaking!). Callas' was not the voice of my choice (sorry Maria, RIP!). Perhaps I should have been exposed to her when she was younger (and better vocally), but..... when I started to get serious about her, she was going over the hill already, vocally !
I never liked Callas' voice because it seemed to me she never enunciated her words clearly. She always seemed to sing with her mouth half closed. Very annoying.
