Bizet - Carmen / Maazel, Migenes, Domingo | Julia Migenes, Plácido Domingo

Bizet - Carmen / Maazel, Migenes, Domingo | Julia Migenes, Plácido Domingo | Amazing, not to be missed

DVDs:

Bizet - Carmen / M...

	Bizet - Carmen / Maazel, Migenes, Domingo Julia Migenes, Plácido Domingo Sony Pictures, 1999 average customer review:based on 74 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

All the passion and spectacle of Bizet's Carmen comes to life in this dazzling screen opera starring Placido Domingo and Julia Migenes-Johnson. In 19th century Seville, the lusty, tempestuous Carmen (Migenes-Johnson) seduces a naive Army corporal, Don Jose (Domingo), newly assigned to the village fortress. Jose abandons his career, his fiancée and even his dying mother for the love of this sultry gypsy. But soon she spurns him in favor of a toreador, Escamillo (Ruggero Raimondi). Crazed with jealousy, Jose begs Carmen to return to him, but her taunting declaration of independence results in tragedy. Shot entirely on location in Andalusian Spain, Bizet's Carmen has been hailed as the definitive version of this classic opera. 155 minutes.

for more information click here

one of the most beautiful versions of Carmen I have seen......

This 1983 version of Bizet's Carmen, directed by the great Italian filmmaker, Franco Zeferelli, is wonderfully done. We really don't see enough of the great soprano, Julia Migenes, who is seen here as the title character, opposite the marvelous Placido Domingo, as Don Jose, her jealous lover. This film glows with exhuberance and fire and the cast does a fantastic job. I definitely reccomend this film to those who consider themselves opera fans, as well as those who have never seen an opera before. For starters, the cinematography is so earthy and beautiful to look at. Secondly, the acting is best-described as smouldering. Julia Migenes and Placido Domingo have great on-screen chemistry. Finally, this opera has some of the most well-loved and recognized operatic songs ever heard. Not to be missed.....

for more information click here

Amazing, not to be missed

An amazing visual feast - a palette of tawny burnt golds and sunsplashed white, relieved by the earth tones of the villagers' dresses and the grey-green of the uniforms...no pinks or purples here! Just a dash of red in the blooded bulls...and the only blue is the muted blue of Michaela's dress (the virginal one?) And those incredible towns and villages, and the vast striated rockfaces in the countryside. This is the land where the relentess sun beats into brains and perhaps turns everyone a little mad.

Wonderful little touches: dramatic duets sometimes sung by the couple in the distance while in the foreground the villagers work quietly at their tasks and the dogs wander about: the infants brought to the tobacco factory by their mothers, kept safe in cane walking frames or lying in cots...

But how can I write two paragraphs and not mention MUSIC??? Because I believe that this filmic rendering is actually truer to the heart of opera than many a stage production. Nowadays with our full-realism movie experiences we enjoy opera mainly for the music and silently forgive the limitations of stage sets and scenery. But opera is not only a series of arias. The wrenching emotional dramas were as important to those audiences as the musical medium. Surely if Bizet could have used movie cameras, he would have created something like this experience.

Anyway, musically, Domingo is splendid: Raimondi is excellent as Escamillo: on his first appearance you sense true musical authority. Carmen...she gives great hipswings, but the voice doesn't quite have the power this gypsy wildcat needs. Lorin Maazel's interpretation I like except for his too-fast tempo in the entrance of the toreadors: a scramble instead of a pageant.

Overall, not a Carmen to miss! I had no idea what to expect and was riveted from the introductory bullfight.

for more information click here

The finest production yet

This is an absolutely must have for any lovers of the opera Carmen. I originally purchased it as a VHS recording and have tried for years to locate it on DVD. The DVD version is rare indeed and the high cost (I paid $134.77) is worth every penny. The sound is highly superior to the VHS version though mine may have been played so long it sound has been affected. It was purchased from a video store. This presentation of the opera is shown as a movie. It contains close-ups not possible in a stage presentation and it shows villages, buildings, huge crowds, dust, actual bull fighting and many scenes totally impossible with a stage production. Also, the opera is intact. Nothing has been changed. Domingo and Migenes are excellent as are all the cast. A finer version of the opera is simply not possible.

for more information click here

Excellent !

Excellent performance by all the actors and opera singers. It was a very good idea to transport the classic opera into a movies version. This adaptation is not new, nevertheless, is a masterpiece for all times. Congratulations !

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

products you might be interested in