Greatest Carmen ever

[mrogi]

Julia Migenes is the definitive Carmen. Nobody has ever portrayed Carmen with the raw sex appeal and hypnotic magic of Migenes. Her captivation of Placido Domingo was spellbinding.

YouTube - Opera - Carmen

[reith]

Yes, she is quite good as seen from this clip - I don't know what the rest of the film is like. This isn't an opera I'd normally sit through (I'm usually too Bizet to see an opera in one sitting).

It seems a good idea to carry opera forward on film provided it's well done. Those not living close to a large town will have scant opportunity to see opera live, so...good for film.

The freedom offered by a camera allows a wider expression of the story which may attract a wider audience anyway. Countless people I know prefer the filmed "West Side Story" and "Porgy and Bess" to the staged shows/films. Unfortunately film usually means the singers have to act a little more than otherwise except that the tricks of video/film can be brought to bear to get things right. I'm happy about this when it works.

Anyway, here we are in an age when opera can be bought on DVD which does bring it to a far wider audience though it tends to remain filmed stage versions (with usually (to my considerable vexation) making too much out of the orchestra/conductor who (in the opera house) would barely be seen or noticed). I do not expect to see the conductor's face until the very end when he takes his obligatory bow, so seeing him front-on, conducting is a bit too much license-taking IMO.

So, yes, not bad.

reith

ps - I think this should be in the 19th century forum but "film" allows it to remain here I reckon