Bold, beautiful and free, amoral and unyielding, sensual, impetuous and dangerous - Carmen stands alone among operatic heroines.
One is hard-pressed to think of another quite like her, and she has challenged the great dramatic mezzos of the world since the famed Galli-Marie first sang her in 1875. Among other legendary singers (some of them sopranos) who have made her their own are Emma Calve, Conchita Supervia, Geraldine Farrar, Mary Garden, Maria Jeritza and Rosa Ponselle. Coming closer to our own time, one recalls Gladys Swarthout, Rise Stevens and Marilyn Horne.Yet there is an elusive, large-than-life quality to the woman embedded in this role that makes one turn away from each interpretation with a certain vague discontent. I have never yet seen the performance that satisfied me completely, though Julia Migenes-Johnson in the Rosi film came close.
It is easy to stress Carmen's excesses to the point of caricature; or in reaction to that temptation, to underplay her. I recall one placid mezzo of the Metropolitan Opera who mastered the most amazing gratuitous rope tricks for the Lillas Pastia scene, and another so covered by ruffles and bows that she couldn't get down to the bottom layer in time for the seduction scene. Singers have lost weight to play this enchantress, and promptly gained it back after their performances. Others like Minnie Hauck or Bruna Castagna just went ahead and sang a plump Carmen.
Though one may safely predict that for reasons of avoirdupois, Jessye Norman's Carmen will never be seen on any stage, one must thank Philips for recording her fine aural interpretation of the role. Norman shows herself a Carmen of the first order, singing with Gallic clarity, definition and tonal perfection beyond what one remembers from recent television or recorded performances, where she has often gilded the lily with an overly rich and heavy tone.
Part of the reason for this may be conductor Seiji Ozawa. Early in her career, Norman frequently collaborated with Ozawa and the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood where her voice was a model of taste and balance, especially youthful and delightful in the French repertoire. Much of this same lightness is apparent in her Carmen, coupled with dramatic comprehension and her inimitable power to thrill and chill. Her Habanera is rich and vibrant, her Seguidilla playful and poised, her card scene and final duet compelling.
Neil Shicoff is a Don Jose of great presence, whose tonal beauty, weight and quality are ideal for this lyric dramatic role. Mirella Freni is ever the artistic mistress of whatever she essays, but there is a certain over-ripeness in the voice that suggests she might well avoid sweet young things on record from now on. Simon Estes sounds fine as Escamillo, and a cast of young French singers fill out the cast with robust artistry.
Ozawa is never guilty of over-lingering, though he is often a little precipitous in the big marches and some interludes, where he seems bent on gaining a little running time. But he's generally sensitive and dramatically effective, endowing the whole with a fine French flair.
The Callas legend will never die and, thanks to recordings, new generations will probably continue to discover her for many years. And this transfer of her Carmen to compact disc has been accomplished with no loss in sheen or presence.
Carmen was of course a role that she took up when her upper voice failed, and the drama of this exciting operatic personality comes across, making one wish to have seen her in person, where it is easier to overlook certain little vagaries of tone; for Callas too sometimes distorted her sound beyond what was effective. (This recording is also available in a complete issue.)
As Don Jose, a younger and more powerful Gedda went beyond niceties of taste to raw power, and the pure and beautiful Michaela of Andrea Guiot makes one wonder what happened to this singer. Robert Massard is the fine Escamillo, other French singers fill out the cast, and Pretre is superb, interpreting a score that is temperamentally ideal for him.