Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Carmen
Carmen: Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano)
Don José: Julien Behr (tenor)
Micaëla: Florie Valiquette (soprano)
Escamillo: Alexandre Duhamel (baritone)
Orchestre et Chœur de l’Opéra Royal/Hervé Niquet
rec. live composite, 14-22 January 2025, L’Opéra Royale du Château de Versailles, France
No libretto
Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS165 [3 CDs: 179 + DVD: 159]
This Carmen was both recorded for CD/download and filmed for DVD, hence the box contains both – but not, unfortunately, a libretto.
This is the Choudens edition as edited and revised by Bru Zane, designed to support the reconstruction of the opera’s original 1875 form and opéra-comique performance practice, so there are no cuts and of course the dialogue is spoken rather than couched in Guiraud’s sung recitative. My survey of major recordings of the opera tends to recommend older, “traditional-international” versions with the sung recitatives but I can well understand that the time has come for a return to a more authentic presentation – as long as the French singers are on hand to do it justice.
The opening is brisk and propulsive, devoid of the heavy portentousness that has accrued in performances over the years, but then – oh woe – we hear the first soloist in the Moralès, who is simply appalling; he cannot hold a steady line or sing in tune and bleats; I immediately think of the suave, young Thomas Allen in that role in the Solti studio recording I recommend – and weep. I have never heard worse; it is truly embarrassing. Then we hear a twittery, bird-like Micaëla pecking at her music and I remember that in the same recording we heard Kiri Te Kanawa. Frankly I was already ready to stop listening at this point, without having heard any of the principals. However, duty called…
The urchins’ chorus is suitably rambunctious – not the English choir school we sometimes get – and the next exchange between a somewhat gruff and woolly Zuniga and the hard-voiced Don José, Julien Behr is at least unobjectionable. The chorus sounds quite small to the extent that individual voices are apparent but it is animated enough and the arrival of Carmen brings something of the vocal distinction we have so far been missing. I was complimentary about Adèle Charvet’s recital album Belle époque! and indeed considered designating it as one of my Records of the Year – but successfully singing an anthology of mélodies is not perhaps quite the same as taking on the ultimate femme fatale of French opera. Charvet is undoubtedly very good but hardly distinctive when compared with such distinguished predecessors as Solange Michel, Suzanne Juyol, Victoria de los Ángeles, Leontyne Price, Shirley Verrett and Tatiana Troyanos. She is pretty, competent and convincing but her assumption of the role is rather small-scale. Similarly, rising French tenor Julien Behr is intermittently pleasing but needs to be careful that his vibrato does not get any further away from him as he pushes his voice – and does he challenge the likes of Raoul Jobin, Libero De Luca, Franco Corelli, Mario Del Monaco, Jon Vickers, Albert Vance and Plácido Domingo? Certainly not. His big aria is taken fast and the tempo seems to accentuate the rather pinched, plaintive timbre of his tenor as he hasn’t time to caress its long lines and the vibrato becomes noticeably obtrusive. I know, I know: are modern singers just supposed to shut up shop and cease even trying to challenge their famous antecedents? However, in the end a critic’s or reviewer’s job is to try to recommend the best listening experience to potential punters and I can think of no reason to endorse this latest recording over a dozen others.
You will notice that I have not even got to the Escamillo here. Once again, think of who has undertaken this role for the major labels: Robert Merrill, Ernest Blanc, Robert Massard, Sherrill Milnes and José van Dam. Can Alexandre Duhamel fill those shoes? Absolutely not; his windy, throaty tone lacks all allure and virility. He bellows his way through the part competently enough but I cannot in all conscience claim that he does justice to one of opera’s great macho-men.
You may also watch the DVD which boasts of its characters wearing authentic recreations of the costumes designed for the premiere. I haven’t the heart.
Ralph Moore
Other cast
Frasquita: Gwendoline Blondeel (soprano), Mercédès: Ambroisine Bré (mezzo-soprano), Le Dancaïre: Matthieu Walendzik (baritone), Le Remendado: Attila Varga-Toth (tenor), Zuniga: Nicolas Certenais (bass), Moralès: Halidou Nombre (baritone)
Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
