Bizet: Carmen, WD 31 (Live) Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana & Carlo Montanaro

• Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875): Carmen, WD 31:
• 1 Carmen, WD 31: Prélude (Live) 03:08
• Act I:
• 2 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Sur la place (Live) 02:01
• 3 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Regardez donc cette petite (Live) 04:03
• 4 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Avec la garde montante (Live) 03:48
• 5 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: C'est bien là (Live) 01:17
• 6 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: La cloche a sonné (Live) 04:47
• 7 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: L'amour est un oiseau (Live) 05:42
• 8 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Quels regards! (Live) 00:56
• 9 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Parle-moi de ma mère! (Live) 09:08
• 10 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Reste-là maintenant (Live) 01:29
• 11 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Que se passe-t-il donc là-bas ? (Live) 03:07
• 12 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Mon officier (Live) 04:16
• 13 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Près des remparts de Séville (Live) 04:24
• 14 Carmen, WD 31, Act I: Voici l’ordre (Live) 02:16
• Act II:
• 15 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Entr'acte (Live) 01:46
• 16 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Les tringles des sistres (Live) 04:44
• 17 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Messieurs, pastia me dit (Live) 01:01
• 18 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Vivat! Vivat le torero! (Live) 01:10
• 19 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre (Live) 05:08
• 20 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: La belle, un mot (Live) 02:00
• 21 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Nous avons en tête une affaire (Live) 04:31
• 22 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Mais qui donc attends-tu? (Live) 01:58
• 23 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Je vais danser en votre honneur (Live) 05:14
• 24 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: La fleur que tu m'avais jetée (Live) 07:06
• 25 Carmen, WD 31, Act II: Holà! Carmen! (Live) 04:58
• Act III:
• 26 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Entr'acte (Live) 02:42
• 27 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Écoute, écoute, compagnon écoute (Live) 03:55
• 28 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Reposons-nous une heure ici (Live) 02:35
• 29 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Mêlons! (Live) 04:03
• 30 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Pour éviter les réponses amères (Live) 02:52
• 31 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Eh bien? (Live) 00:41
• 32 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Quant au douanier (Live) 02:19
• 33 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: C'est des contrebandiers (Live) 06:33
• 34 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Je ne me trompe pas (Live) 00:44
• 35 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Je suis Escamillo (Live) 03:20
• 36 Carmen, WD 31, Act III: Holà! Holà! José! (Live) 07:56
• Act IV:
• 37 Carmen, WD 31, Act IV: Entr'acte (Live) 02:19
• 38 Carmen, WD 31, Act IV: À deux cuartos (Live) 01:19
• 39 Carmen, WD 31, Act IV: Les voici! (Live) 03:41
• 40 Carmen, WD 31, Act IV: Si tu m'aimes, Carmen (Live) 03:13
• 41 Carmen, WD 31, Act IV: C'est toi? C'est moi (Live) 14:59
• Total Runtime 02:33:09

Info for Bizet: Carmen, WD 31 (Live)

This digital exclusive album was recorded at the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata in 2008 and its video version was released on DVD (33614) in the spring of 2009. The performance gained good reviews.

Some aspects of the genesis of Carmen are still unclear, though it does seem that it was Bizet himself who proposed Merimee’s novella of the same name to the librettists Meilhac and Halevy as a subject for his new opera. Merimee’s work had been written almost thirty years previously, and the two librettists made various adjustments to the plot of the story to make it more effective on stage.

The libretto largely achieves a dilution of the more crudely brutal, verismostyle characters in the novella, steering the story towards a fantastic exoticism to which the supreme clarte of Bizet’s music lends elegance.

Despite this, many countries (especially Italy) quickly established a tradition of interpreting the opera in a markedly realistic manner, making Carmen a sort of unwilling forerunner to verismo opera, and thus betraying its original musical character. The fact that the leading characters in the drama were not people of elevated status, as had previously been the case, but simple folk, obviously facilitated this approach. Carmen initially seemed to be an opera that was too innovative, which led to immediate accusations of immorality, subversive taste and a lack of melody. Though critics were initially cool and the public upset, and in spite of the initial uncertainty, Carmen soon began to be performed all over the world with growing success.

"…a highly musical and talented cast (Nino Surguladze, Irina Lungu, Philippe Do)." (La Repubblica)

"The singers fared well overall, with Irina Lungu a sexier and more assertive Micaëla than usually expected and Nino Surguladze vocally perfect … As a passionate and lightweight Don Jose, Philippe Do from Vietnam ventured a high D in his “La fleur”. If not perfect throughout, his unconventional performance was stimulating." (Opera Today)

Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana
Carlo Montanaro, conductor

Carlo Montanaro
Music Director at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw from 2011 to 2014, Italian conductor Carlo Montanaro was discovered by Zubin Mehta, who recommanded him to the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, where he improved his skills under Leopold Hager, Erwin Acél and Yugi Yuasa for three years.

Since 2001, Montanaro has conducted opera and concerts in major venues including Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Fondazione Arena in Verona, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Parma and Teatro Verdi in Trieste (a collaboration which led to a Japanese tour with the Orchestra). Titles included Lucia di Lammermoor, Nabucco, Aida, Tosca, La Sonnambula, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Madama Butterfly and La Bohème.

He conducted two works in the 2004-2005 season at Teatro Comunale in Florence, as well as various symphonic concerts with Fondazione Arena Verona, Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, Teatro Cilea in Reggio Calabria and Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He conducted Il Trovatore and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the State Opera of Stuttgart, as well as Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Fondazione Arturo Toscanini.

Highlights between 2006 and 2008 include a great public and critical success conducting Un Ballo in Maschera with the Israeli Opera of Tel Aviv (new production), his American debut in Colorado with Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, I Dialoghi delle Carmelitane in Bilbao to great critical acclaim, and Madama Butterfly at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

In 2008 he made his debut at La Scala with La Traviata, and he opened the Macerata Summer Festival with Carmen directed by Dante Ferretti. He conducted Il Corsaro at Festival Verdi in Parma and made his debut at Hercules Halle in Munich in a concert with the Weimar Staatskapelle and Erwin Schrott.

His 2009 opened with Madama Butterfly at the New National Theatre in Tokyo, followed by his return to Opera Colorado in Denver for Così fan tutte and a highly praised new production of Simone Boccanegra at Megaron in Athens, where he was then invited again to conduct Aida. He opened the 2009/10 Season at Canadian Opera conducting a new production of Madama Butterfly, and he conducted Mefistofele in Frankfurt, Verdi’s Requiem at Musikverein in Graz, Roméo et Juliette in Verona, La Traviata in Munich and Aida in Hamburg with great reviews from public and critics.

In 2011 he debuted with Carmen at Semperoper Dresden to great success, and he was reinvited to conduct Il Barbiere di Siviglia and a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera. Further highlights: Don Quichotte and Attila at Seattle Opera, a new production of Turandot in Warsaw, Lucia di Lammermoor in Bilbao, Aida, Manon Lescaut, Turandot and Macbeth in Hamburg, La Bohème at Teatro Comunale di Firenze, L’Amico Fritz and a new production of Adriana Lecouvreur in Frankfurt, La Traviata in Warsaw and in Cincinnati.

In September 2012 he returned to Musikverein in Graz to conduct a concert version of Verdi’s Giovanna D’Arco, and since then he conducted Falstaff in Hamburg, Tosca and L’Elisir d’Amore in Munich, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Tokyo, Don Carlo, Verdi’s Requiem and Turandot in Warsaw, La Bohème in Seattle, Don Carlo in Frankfurt, Il Corsaro in Budapest, Norma at the Festival in Peralada. In season 2013/14, Madama Butterfly in Nagoya and Hamburg, La Traviata in Oviedo, La Bohème in Budapest, The Consul in Seattle, a concert version of Attila in Warsaw, Carmen, L’Elisir d’Amore and Tosca in Munich, Tosca and Il Trovatore at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg, as well as concerts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra del Santa Cecilia in Rome.

In season 14/15 he successfully debuted at Opéra Bastille in Paris with Il Barbiere di Siviglia. After that, he was on the podiums of the Hungarian National Philharmonic (Verdi’s Requiem) and Seattle Symphony for a series of concerts. He then conducted a new production of La Fanciulla del West in Hamburg, Rigoletto and La Traviata in Warsaw, Mefistofele in Budapest, Simon Boccanegra in Frankfurt, Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Budapest and Pécs, Nabucco in Seattle.

Highlights in the recent seasons include the debut at Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Tosca), at Korean National Opera (Tosca and La Bohème), at Sydney Opera House (La Bohème and Lucia di Lammermoor) and at San Francisco Opera (Carmen and La Bohème), followed by Rigoletto at Warsaw Opera, Maria Stuarda and Madama Butterfly in Seattle, a new production of Rigoletto in Frankfurt, La Traviata at Dallas Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and in Melbourne. In concert, he appeared with Cincinnati Symphony, Vancouver Symphony and Hungarian National Philharmonic.

Most recently, he was on the podium of Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Opéra de Montréal (Rigoletto), and he made his return to Warsaw Opera (Madama Butterfly), Seattle Opera (Il Trovatore, Rigoletto), Sydney Opera House (Werther), Hungarian State Opera (Un Ballo in Maschera), Deutsche Oper (Nabucco), Opéra de Paris (La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Hamburgische Staatsoper (La Bohème). Moreover, he conducted a concert with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem at Teatro Regio di Parma and a Gala concert at Klangvokal Musik Festival in Dortmund.

Booklet for Bizet: Carmen, WD 31 (Live)