It may take a while for the listener to get acclimated to Carmen sung in Italian. This version of a live performance made in Palermo in 1959 is led by quintessentially French conductor Pierre Dervaux. His is an exceptionally expeditious reading, one of the fastest on disc. This, too, requires some adjustment, getting used to many of the numbers taken at a speedier tempo than is usual, but it's an approach that works; the opera hurtles forward with a breathless inexorability that makes complete sense. Giulietta Simionato ...
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It may take a while for the listener to get acclimated to Carmen sung in Italian. This version of a live performance made in Palermo in 1959 is led by quintessentially French conductor Pierre Dervaux. His is an exceptionally expeditious reading, one of the fastest on disc. This, too, requires some adjustment, getting used to many of the numbers taken at a speedier tempo than is usual, but it's an approach that works; the opera hurtles forward with a breathless inexorability that makes complete sense. Giulietta Simionato makes a beguiling Carmen, and she is in exceptionally fine voice, but she doesn't bring a particularly distinctive dramatic perspective to the role. The same could be said of the other principals, Franco Corelli as Don José, Mirella Freni as Micaela, and Giangiacomo Guelfi as Escamillo; vocally they're top-notch, but their characterizations are nothing out of the ordinary, and not especially vivid. The singers in the smaller roles, on the other hand, Renato Ercolani and Guido Malfatti...
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