Homoki’s Carmen from the Opéra Comique might change your mind
OperaThe first Parisian audiences at the Opéra Comique in 1875 were shocked to see Bizet’s incarnation of such an independent heroine. Today, Carmen is the French opera that is most performed around the globe. This a searing depiction of a woman who craves love but creates obsession and jealousy. After Bizet’s sudden death, Carmen won the hearts of audiences in Vienna, Brussels, Saint-Petersburg, New York… and only triumphed in Paris in 1883. Slippedisc brings live transmission, courtesy of OperaVision, from Zurich’s famous Opernhaus in a production by Andreas Homoki first staged at Opéra Comique earlier this season and here conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Marina Viotti sings the title role, Saimir Pirgu stars as Don José and Łukasz Goliński as Escamillo.
The Plot: among Seville’s cigar makers, Carmen is the most attractive woman around. Arrested for the assault of a friend, she enthrals the brigadier Don José who lets her escape. For her, José abandons his childhood sweetheart, he gives up his rank, deserts the army… and to what ends will passion drive him when he loses Carmen’s love to the glamorous bullfighter Escamillo?
Live on Saturday 15th June 2024 at 20.00 CET / 19.00 London / 14.00 New York
Subtitles in French, English and German.
A dull, mediocre performance, only Marina Viotti and, partly, Pirgu are acceptable. It sounds like Noseda has never heard of this opera, always rushing and pushing the singers. I remember how Maestro Santi did this – that was a real Maestro… I cannot understand how the orchestra, which used to play with excellent conductors (Welser Möst, Dohnany, Luisi, Gatti, etc.) can accept this always “Forte” and “Presto” conductor…. already the Ring was a (musical) disaster… Homoki is Homoki, never exciting but never wrong. A bit boring though – and those terrible lights…
I thought Noseda’s conducting in the Zurich Ring Cycle was better than the laughable staging.
Actually the people outside the opera house saw a better Ring (video light show) than the paying audience inside.
15-20 of excellent music , rest is wsste of time with silly dialogues . Only an idiot would wsste 5 hours of his time for 4-5 pieces of music that can be nicely heard on a hifi system
Not much of an opera fan, I suspect.
Bizet’s CARMEN is indestructible. Even the recent, ugly and confusing production at the Metropolitan Opera could not hide the great tunes.
A note about Don Jose’s rank: While he might be a soldier in a brigade, he’s not a “brigadier.” He is a corporal, obeying orders from Captain Zuniga until they fight over Carmen.
Does Carmen die in this production?
Noseda is one busy guy. Ring Cycle, Otello, Carmen….all in less than 2 months. Amazingly, there’s actually some depths in his interpretations, unlike them other jetsetting maestros.z
I never heard depths in Noseda’s conducting in Zurich, just some good moments in some of his Shostakovich in London. Rumors say he comes unprepared, doesn’t rehearse properly with the orchestra and doesn’t care at all about the opera house in general. Very disappointing, after good years with FWM, Gatti and Luisi.
Definitive synopsis and analysis at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOouga9gFDs
“Cigar makers”? Carmen works in a cigarette factory. However, having seen a production of Carmen in Havana, their version (of course) had Carmen working in a cigar factory…They also restored all the dialogue (which they did in Spanish). The Gran Teatro has been spectacularly renovated – no expense spared – but their Carmen production was bargain-basement, with cardboard cutouts for sets, improvised costumes from whatever they could find, mostly middle-aged singers, and a student orchestra. Most amusingly, they replayed the overture during the curtain-calls.
Could’nt resist more than 5 minutes here and there during the first hour of this dull, mediocre performance, as Observer puts it above.