[Met Performance] CID:330024



Carmen
Metropolitan Opera House, Tue, September 30, 1997




Carmen (866)
Georges Bizet | Henri Meilhac/Ludovic Hal?vy
Carmen
Denyce Graves

Don Jos?
Pl?cido Domingo

Micaela
Norah Amsellem

Escamillo
Gino Quilico

Frasquita
Emily Pulley

Merc?d?s
Kristine Jepson

Remendado
Tony Stevenson

Danca?re
Kim Josephson

Zuniga
James Courtney

Moral?s
Kamel Boutros

Dance
Maria Benitez


Conductor
Yves Abel







Review 1:

Review of Martin Mayer in Opera

Not so many nice things can be said, alas, for the "Carmen." Because it was the [first]-night opera, it had to be prepared for Levine, who would not conduct it again after [first] night. Yves Abel, long admired in this corner, was handed a performance prepared for someone else, and his first night, September 25, was reportedly pretty disorganized. By September 30, when I heard it, everybody was together, but at the expense of a certain metronomic feeling. Domingo was either ill-costumed or has gained weight, and he seemed to have his mind on other things. Graves has a big, handsome voice and she is a pretty girl who has learned to play the castanets just a little and dance just a little, but there is still work to be done on the fundamentals, and soon. Micaela was Norah Ansellem. a graduate of the Met's young artist programme who sang the Countess at Glyndebourne this summer; she was graceful and musical, and sang well but a little carefully. Gino Quilico's light baritone was badly miscast as Escamillo. The Zeffirelli production is busy and dull. The high point of the evening was the third-act prelude, when the flute solo showed astonishing breath control and was almost unbearably pretty.



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