Georges BIZET

Carmen

 

Elena Obraztsova, Isobel Buchanan

Plácido Domingo, Yuri Mazurok

Choir and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera/ Carlos Kleiber

 

Directed by Franco Zeffirelli

 

Picture Format:              4:3

Sound Format:               LPCM stereo

Running Time:               154 mins

Region Code:                 PAL All

Booklet Languages:        GB, F, D

Recording Date:             9 December 1978

 

TDK present a sensational filmed document from the musical legacy of Carlos Kleiber, never before published on any medium: the wonderful staging of "Carmen" by director Franco Zeffirelli in a live recording from the Vienna State Opera in 1978. The meticulous conductor only ever conducted a highly selected repertoire and among his very few audio and video recordings are only seven complete operas. This Zeffirelli staging is additionally the only premiere that Kleiber ever conducted.

 

For a long time the prospect of issuing this live recording from Vienna had been very much in doubt, as Kleiber was generally not expected to agree to a public release. However, in a highly unexpected move, he gave his consent to publication in spring of 2004 shortly before his death, so that TDK can now present to the public one of the most awaited opera recordings.

 

Carlos Kleiber conducted an extraordinary cast. Placido Domingo, still the young lyrical tenor, starred as Don Jose and Elena Obraztsova gave a wonderful natural Carmen, a far cry from the usual she-devil erotic cliché. The cast was completed by the young Isobel Buchanan who stood in at this production at short notice and included Yuri Mazurok who was later to become a high ranking Verdi baritone.

 

Domingo and Kleiber had a great mutual affinity. It is said that the conductor spent weeks worrying before he met Domingo on account of the tenor’s fame, and Placido Domingo once declared that he wanted his own conducting to reflect the "liveliness of Levine, the gesture of Abbado, the capacity of Metha and ... everything of Kleiber!"

  

TDK  DVD PAL DV-CLOPCAR