Bizet: Carmen [Blu-ray] [2011]

Carmen is Carmen, as far as I'm concerned, and personally, it's not an opera I would go out of my way to see again. Fantastic opera, brilliantly scored in a way that is full of life and passion, consummately operatic, but done to death, to the extent that it's almost become a cliché, removed and detached from whatever real human emotions used to underlie it. Consequently, until the recent Bizet: Carmen in 3D production from the Royal Opera House, I hadn't seen or really listened to the opera in about ten years, and Francesca Zambello's conventional and unimaginative staging for that production reminded me why. The production itself wasn't bad, but there was just nothing new in it.

From the standpoint of the casting alone however, there's plenty of good reasons to like this production, which has the right kind of blend that is needed in terms of experience for the two principal roles and up-and-coming young singers for the supporting roles. With Roberto Alagna and mezzo-soprano Beatrice Uria-Monzon, both native French, the roles of Don José and Carmen are not just in reliable hands, but both invest a great deal into the interpretation, singing wonderfully and maintaining a strong presence on the stage. Erwin Schrott is a good Escamillo, again another fine actor willing to push interpretation as well as possessing a fine baritone voice - but this is a minor role for his talent. Marina Poplovskaya finds the right blend of freshness, innocence and purity that the opera needs as Michaëla.

As good as each of the cast are in their own right, the famous arias as good here as any interpretations I've heard - Alagna's 'La fleur que tu m'avais jetée' is terrific - they work wonderfully together and it's the duets and ensembles that make the biggest impression, presenting a refreshing new perspective on the opera. The orchestra and the performance are also superb. It's everything you expect Carmen to be, but with enough character, verve and energy of its own, and a willingness to explore the dynamic that make this something more vibrant and alive, (the HD sound reproduction on the Blu-ray is also outstanding), the music seeming once again to be organically part of the drama rather than illustrating a bunch of clichéd routines. It's a long time since I've heard this particular opera sounding so fresh.

How much of this is down to the stage production is debatable. Other than modernising the period setting however, the essence of the drama isn't touched or played around with, the emphasis shifted slightly perhaps to emphasise the masculine aspect of the opera and the culture of machismo (although a full-frontal naked bullfighter might be too much for the more sensitive traditionalist). Even if it were just for the fact of stripping away all those old routines and hackneyed gypsy imagery, Calixto Bieto's production, often minimal, the stage permanently giving the impression of a bullring, at least forces the viewer to focus once again on the characters and how they express themselves through Bizet's score and the libretto, and that alone is a bit of a revelation. Yes, everyone knows that Carmen is all about jealousy, lust and Latin passions, but removing the set-pieces goes some way towards restoring the balance of the other more noble aspects the theme of love beyond all reason ("Love is a gypsy child who knows nothing of the law") in the unconditional familial love on the part of Don José's mother and also in the purity of Michaëla's love for him. Whether it's obvious or not (and all the better if it's not), I'd say that the production and direction is certainly instrumental in achieving this. This is a great Carmen.

This is an excellent recording of Bieito's Carmen (Barcelona 2010, live). I am no regie fan, but I appreciate good theatre and this staging is tremendously effective. True, this production is unusually violent and sexually explicit; but the singing- actors inhabit their parts, the music and chorus are an integral part of the action, the conducting first class. There are exciting performances by all principals - particularly Alagna as Don José is superb - and the minimalistic sets and lighting are effective . Most of the spoken recitatives are cut from this production adding in dramatic intensity.
The story is unconventionally set around nineteen-seventy , in poverty-stricken Southern Spain; all Carmen's associates are frankly criminal smuggling cars, electronics, and hard drink/ drugs ; It's a violent world, where Don José's colleagues are no national army upright soldiers, but mercenaries, under harsh discipline in their camp and behaving outrageously off duty. Our very first image of Don José is when he and Carmen catch each other's eye for the first time: both seem transfixed. In his first scene with Micaella, while singing of his mother and home (and singing perfectly ) Alagna seems already aware that all that belongs to the past . His lack of response to Micaelas's kiss looks like honest lack of attraction, not repression: this Don José is reserved rather than sexually repressed: he's also single-minded and absolute in his passions, fatally combining this with the potential for violence in his character (it's past homicide, after all, that brought him to the army). Poplaskaya's Micaella is not the traditional innocent girl, but a woman set on winning her man and - despite her uneven singing -her interpretation is convincing. While Beatrice's Uria-Monzon acting is wonderful, her singing is less than ideal for Carmen - but seems appropriate for this older and rough-living woman . Her passion for Don José seems genuine (while it lasts) making his obsession with her all the more convincing . Finally, Erwin Schrott's Escamillo is well sung in a clever parody of this macho character: he is a beautiful virile animal likely to attract Carmen, escaping from José's possessive passion. Alagna's duet and fight with Schrott and his final confrontation with Monzon's Carmen are particularly memorable in itensity .
Although the newcomer to Bizet's opera might enjoy more a traditional production (eg the MET Garanca-Alagna DVD ), this Carmen is a rare treat for those who love opera as lyrical drama.

Do we really need another Carmen video on the market? A quick search on Amazon shows dozens of choices, in blu-ray and on regular DVD. Live performances, filmed performances, old videos, new videos. Carmen is also one of those operas where the video library is unusually complete -- renowned performers of the opera, from Franco Corelli's Don Jose to Grace Bumbry's Carmen, have all been caught on film. The main reason one would be interested in this particular Carmen (filmed in 2010 at the Barcelona Liceu) is that the director is the Calixto Bieito, who has became famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) for his controversial productions. Un Ballo et Maschera had a set where men were sitting on a toilet. Bieito productions are supposed to be edgy, controversial, full of violence, the very definition of "Regie-theatre."

When I actually viewed this Carmen though, I didn't find much that was outrageous, shocking, or controversial. It is an "updated" production, set in the late-1950's, and Carmen and her gang run a car smuggling business. The gypsies and factory girls are a little tarted up. At the beginning of Act Four, there's a lone toreador standing buck naked on the stage. But the basics of the storyline are unchanged. Don Jose is still a soldier, Carmen a free-spirited gypsy, Micaela is the girl from home, Escamillo a swaggering stud. The stage directions do tend to emphasize the violent side of the opera, but the opera is pretty violent, and there's nothing that directly contradicts anything in the libretto. At the same time I'd be hard-pressed to admit any new insights I gained into the opera. At times, I think some of the Bieito favorites (cars onstage, some full-frontal nudity) are as predictable as the Zeffirelli menagerie.

The unit set is a giant bull-ring. In Act 1, the bull-ring set approximates an army barracks, and there's a telephone booth from which Carmen first emerges. In Act 2, the scene isn't in a tavern, but in an abandoned locale where Carmen, Escamillo, and other smugglers meet. There's a beat-up car center stage. In Act 3, the set is filled with smuggled cars, and in Act 4, Carmen and Don Jose have their heated confrontation within a circle of chalk in the bull-ring.

The video is anchored by some strong, compelling performances. The blu-ray format is in some ways the opera singer's worst enemy -- with the high definition, and a director's fondness of close-up, you can see the sweating, straining, the wrinkles, the makeup, the wig lines. The leads of the opera, Beatrice Uria-Monzon (Carmen) and Roberto Alagna (Don Jose) have been singing these roles for many years, and the camera doesn't really flatter them in closeups. A particularly unfortunate moment is when Carmen unbuttons Don Jose's shirt, and you can see, in high definition, all of Roberto Alagna's chest hairs. The key to any great performance though is not to exactly look the part, but to create an illusion and make the audience believe. Uria-Monzon's Carmen is lusty, free-spirited, hyper-sexual, and even her middle-aged appearance is a benefit, as it gives Carmen a careworn look that I see in many "women of a certain profession." Alagna's Don Jose makes a clear transition from uniformed, upstanding soldier to a desperate, murderous vagabond. The Carmen/Jose relationship is portrayed as highly sexual and passionate, even in the later acts when Carmen has tired of Jose.

Vocally, Uria-Monzon's mezzo sounds somewhat over-the-hill. She has the notes, but a certain plumy richness that audiences have come to expect from the role is definitely not there. Alagna on the other hand is going through an Indian summer of sorts with his voice. In the past he's had troubles controlling his pitch, but these problems are not so evident here. As always, his Don Jose is sung with a passion that's hard to beat. It brings sympathy to an otherwise rather creepy character. Even in the opera's violent climax (here, staged with Don Jose slitting Carmen's throat), Alagna can make us feel his pain. "Le fleur que tu m'avais jetee" was sung with feeling, style, and a secure top (something Alagna also doesn't always have).

Erwin Schrott as Escamillo was okay, but I might be the only person who finds the role one of the most tedious in opera, and no amount of pimp-daddy swagger can change that opinion. Schrott has a fine, firm baritone, but my reaction to Escamillo is always the same -- "okay you sang, please go away now." More interesting is Marina Poplavskaya's Micaela. Micaela in this production is presented as someone slightly more worldly than the mousey character she usually is -- she wears rather hip, fashionable clothes and takes picture of the army barracks like a tourist. Poplavskaya has a very beautiful timbre. I don't know much about actual singing technique, but even I can tell that her vocal emission is problematic -- there's no consistency of tone. She can sound ravishingly beautiful one minute, and thin and screechy the next.

Marc Piollet leads a spirited, vigorous reading of the score. The chorus sounds great. Picture quality is excellent. The version used is the standard Guiraud recitatives, even though both Uria-Monzon and Alagna are native French speakers.