Bizet - Carmen / Jordan, McVicar, von Otter, Haddock, Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2003)

EXTRA FEATURES: Costume design • How to fight on stage • Illustrated synopsis • The cast and their characters • Choreographing Carmen • The Gardens of Glyndebourne • Booklet with new short story by novelist Jeanette Winterson An exhilarating new Carmen from Glyndebourne. Director David McVicar describes Carmen as "the first ever musical", and in his new production, with Anne Sofie von Otter in the title role, Carmen is restored to the original Opera Comique as Bizet wrote it, stripping away subsequent re-workings which turned it into a grand opera. Philippe Jordan makes his Glyndebourne debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Glyndebourne Chorus and a cast that includes Marcus Haddock, Laurent Naouri and Lisa Milne.

Honors the Composer

The production with Placido Domingo and Ruggero Raimondi is a tough act to follow, with its sumptuous outdoor filming. However, this production is far more true to the original libretto. The story unfolds with a much more believeable and understandable story line. Our hapless Jose comes across much more clearly as to how he wound up a soldier - namely to escape a life of gambling, and even assault and battery, in addition to stealing his mother's money to support his habit. He intended to go into the ministry-but all the above blew that. So he is serving penitence, so to speak, and means to be more moral, and above all, repay his poor mother. Until the sexy, overtly flirtatious cigar factory girls make their daily showing by the guard house; where Carmen makes her sexual depravity so blatant, it even blows all the other smoking, drinking, gyrating lovelies off the stage.
Of course Jose will struggle with his infatuation, lust, love, and unrequited love as she gives her body first to this matador, and that officer of the guard- on top of her life of delivering contraband, and the sleazy, nomadic Gypsy life. Jose describes her as a demon upon his first encounter; and in this production, she comes across as one. In the Domingo version, Carmen is just a 'material girl, living her life in joyous freedom, and having "every right" to be a 'Ho; and Placido just comes across as a bumbling school boy, with no justification for supplying Carmen with her just and untimely demise. Oh she may well deserve it; yet at the same time, we all have this unbridled fascination by this type of woman - that Most men dream of having all to themselves. But this Carmen "saves herself" for any man she wants, and will never belong to any one man...her first aria makes that abundantly clear.
Speaking of which...my eyebrows went up, and my jaw went slack at the dynamite orchestration, led by the most exuberant conductor I have seen. The music is nothing less than stupendous. You too will agree with Tchaikovsky who after watching the opera, remarked that this would be the most favorite opera of all for generations to come. In this production, you will be a great deal more focused on the astounding, jaw dropping, heart pounding score. October 2, 2008

Please - this is NOT a review.

I can see that this Carmen is a terribly controversial production - the controversy is mainly visual.
So, can any one just tell me - is there any audio CD for this production?
I am a great fan of Ms. von Otter, and would not risk to watch this DVD, but am dying to hear her sing Carmen.
Also, no body ever bothered about the conductor Philippe Jordan. Judging from the reviews, he must have had a wonderful job done in this work. April 22, 2008

A raucous and fiery "Carmen" in which the leads shine

Anne Sofie von Otter's interpretation of Carmen drew "love it or hate it" reviews when it opened at Glyndebourne in 2002. Supporters called it passionate; detractors even called it lewd. Von Otter's performance is bawdy, sometimes even vulgar, but not lewd (which implies inappropriate). One thing's for sure: she's a force of nature onstage -- so much so, that I couldn't get her performance out of my mind for days after watching this DVD. Her quick-tempered Carmen is on a self-destruct course from the start. It's as if she and director David McVicar used Don Giovanni as a model. Like Mozart's Giovanni, von Otter's Carmen is threatening from the moment she steps on stage (literally kicking a co-worker out of the way). Quite a contrast to the warm and playful entry and "Habarena" we're used to seeing (e.g. Grace Bumbry in the 1967 movie of "Carmen").

The freshness of von Otter's portrayal may come partly from the role being such a departure for her. (The blonde, blue-eyed Swede admits in an interview that she's "not anyone's idea of the Carmen-type.") She may well have found an onstage sensuousness she didn't know she possessed! Her mezzo voice is big and expressive. She pays careful attention to phrasing, allowing her to make the most of Bizet's Spanish rhythms.

Marcus Haddock is excellent as Don Jose. Often when Don Jose first looks at Carmen, we see an innocent guy and want to cry out, "Don't go near her!" By contrast, we can read suppressed anger off Haddock's Don Jose from the start, and his violent tendencies show early. This makes von Otter's Carmen and Haddock's Don Jose utterly believable as the doomed couple; they are both desperate and volatile. Haddock's strong tenor voice keeps pace with von Otter, no easy feat.

I'd give this production five starts if it weren't for the disappointing performances of the two main supporting players: Lisa Milne as Micaela and Laurent Naouri as Escamillo. Milne has a lovely voice, but her stage presence is weak. As a result, she misses the opportunity to contrast her character with that of Carmen as an alternative love interest for Don Jose had his life only taken a different path. As for Naouri, it can't be easy to make the Toreador Song sound fresh and new, as if it has grown out of the action in the opera, instead of recalling for us one of the many times we've heard it out of context (perhaps as overhead music at the shopping mall!). Unfortunately, Naouri's rendition invokes all those clichés. His entire performance struck me as aloof and uninspired.

The conducting by Phillipe Jordan is spirited, the chorus (including some fine dancers) is excellent, the sets and costumes complement the dark undertone of the opera, but it's Anne Sofie von Otter who sets this production apart. February 23, 2007

Finally!!

"Carmen" is a great opera. Its characters are vividly drawn and the music is both dramatic and memorable. Yet, if you read, listen or watch it carefully, there is one character that seems rather weak. No, it is not Michaela, it is the character of Don Jose. He seems to change a little too quickly from the disinterested soldier to a love-struck man who is willing to go to jail [& be ridiculed] for a woman he has just met! Why does he behave this way! Well in the short story, which the opera is based on, we find Don Jose is a violent man,quick to anger and fight. He is in fact stationed in Seville because he was demoted for fighting and killing another man. I relate this because the only tenor who has conveyed this tension and violent streak in performance was Jon Vickers. That is until this present production. The violent nature of Jose is brought out vividly from the very beginning. Watch Jose's face when Zuniga mentions Michaela. This is only one of the many insights the director and the singers bring to the opera. It is a most refreshing, yet not outrageous, production of Carmen. There is however one sour note and that is the First Act "cage" for the soldiers. It makes nonsense of the opening chorus and the children's appearance. Ms. von Otter's characterization of Carmen seems to me to be exactly right and naturally she sings it marvelously. If you like this opera, I think you will like this DVD.
p.s. This DVD has great "extras". There is a excellent synopsis and discussion of the characters/ December 30, 2006

Ultimately a disappointment

I looked forward to this; any Glyndebourne production on DVD gets me excited, and in this case I was keen to see von Otter (though I didn't know Haddock, who plays Don Jose) in the role of Carmen. The production values are excellent. This is nicely shot, clear and crisp. The occasionally minimalist set works fairly well. The fights are well choreographed.

But still I found this version disappointing for several reasons. At times the stage induced claustrophobia -- though that might be inevitable in stage versions, so let's put that criticism aside. On a more serious note, I simply couldn't accept von Otter as Carmen, that is, as a reasonable representational facsimile of the elemental and passionate 'force' that is Bizet's (and Meilhac and Halevy's) character Carmen.

This might sound awfully shallow -- though I still think I'm right -- but von Otter's characteristic facial expression in moments of tumult (fear, defiance, anger) is bared teeth. I couldn't help thinking that any dentists viewing this would be even more distracted than I was by her ever-present curled lip. Her movements were not fluid or graceful; it is as though she was directed to express her inner states through quasi-stylized, jerking motions. Overall, her attempts to display feistiness simply fizzled, and she merely seemed enraged. Sneering and showing one's teeth is might be necessary for acting out a role, but it is not sufficient. Truth be told, I find her irredeemably unsexy here, in this particular role, even though she tries hard and is of course a talented mezzo.

Marcus Haddock hasn't got a tenth of Domingo's acting ability -- and so the pathos that should accompany Don Jose's degeneration from dutiful son and soldier to a controlling, intemperate killer goes missing -- although his voice is acceptable, I suppose. The rest are pretty much forgettable. As I say, this was a disappointment. There are a number of other versions out there that I prize much more highly than this, starting with Rosi's incomparable film version (with Domingo and Migenes), right down to Maria Ewing's and Agnes Baltsa's versions.

I'm pretty sure that after an initial viewing this version will sit on many shelves, collecting dust. Perhaps dental colleges could buy up a number of them? November 9, 2006

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