Bizet: Carmen (Remastered) Sir Thomas Beecham

• Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875): Carmen, WD 31:
• 1Overture03:37
• Act 1:
• 2Sur la place chacun passe (Moralès, Micaëla, Chorus)05:52
• 3Avec la garde montante (Chorus, Moralès, José)04:08
• 4C'est bien là, n'est-ce pas? (Zuniga, José)01:36
• 5La cloche a sonné... Dans l'air, nous suivons des yeux la fumée (Chorus)04:20
• 6Quand je vous aimerai?... L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Carmen, Chorus)05:03
• 7Carmen! sur tes pas, nous nous pressons tous! (Chorus, Carmen, José)01:25
• 8Bizet: Carmen, WD 31, Act 1 : Quels regards! Quelle effronterie! (José, Micaëla)01:00
• 9Parle-moi de ma mère! (José, Micaëla)04:47
• 10Reste là, maintenant, pendant que je lirai (José, Micaëla)02:00
• 11Au secours! Au secours! (Chorus)03:10
• 12Mon officier, c'était une querelle (José, Zurniga, Carmen)04:47
• 13Près des ramparts de Séville (Carmen, José)05:00
• 14Voici l'ordre; partez (Zuniga, Carmen)02:23
• Act 2:
• 15Entr'acte 101:59
• 16Les tringles des sistres tintaient (Carmen)04:47
• 17Messieurs, Pastia me dit... (Frasquita, Zuniga, Carmen, Mercédès)00:59
• 18Vivat! vivat le Toréro! (Chorus, Zuniga)01:09
• 19Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre (Escamillo, Chorus)04:54
• 20La belle, un mot (Escamillo, Carmen, Zuniga)01:47
• 21Eh bien! vite, quelles nouvelles?... Nous avons en tête une affaire (Frasquita, Le Dancaïre, Mercédès, Le Remendado, Carmen)05:21
• 22Mais qui donc attends-tu? (Le Dancaïre, Carmen, Le Remendado)00:33
• 23Halte là! (José, Carmen, Frasquita, Mercédès, Le Dancaïre, Le Remendado)01:37
• 24Enfin c'est toi! (Carmen, José)00:53
• 25Tout doux, Monsieur, tout doux (Carmen, José)05:41
• 26La fleur que tu m'avais jetée (José)04:45
• 27Non, tu ne m'aimes pas!... Là-bas, là-bas, dans la montagne (Carmen, José)05:05
• 28Holà Carmen! Holà! Holà! (Zuniga, José, Carmen, Le Dancaïre, Le Remendado)04:55
• Act 3:
• 29Entr'acte 202:34
• 30Écoute, écoute, compagnon, écoute (Chorus, Le Dancaïre, Le Remendado, José, Carmen, Mercédès, Frasquita)04:27
• 31Reposons-nous une heure ici, mes camarades (Le Dancaïre, Carmen, José)02:23
• 32Mêlons! Coupons! (Frasquita, Mercédès, Carmen)07:38
• 33Eh bien? (Carmen, Le Dancaïre, Frasquita)00:43
• 34Quant au douanier, c'est notre affaire (Carmen, Mercédès, Frasquita)03:15
• 35C'est des contrebandiers le refuge ordinaire... Je dis, que rien ne m'épouvante (Micaëla)06:21
• 36Je ne me trompe pas... C'est lui sur ce rocher (Micaëla)00:29
• 37Quelques lignes plus bas (Escamillo, José)03:24
• 38Holà, Holà! José (Carmen, Escamillo, Le Dancaïre, José, Micaëla, Frasquita, Mercédès, Le Remendado, Chorus)08:40
• 39Entr'acte 302:29
• Act 4:
• 40A deux cuartos! A deux cuartos! (Chorus, Zuniga)02:13
• 41Les voici! voici la quadrille (Chorus, Escamillo, Carmen, Frasquita)07:31
• 42C'est toi!... Carmen, il est temps encore (Carmen, José)05:34
• 43Viva viva! la course est belle! (Chorus, Carmen, José)03:51
• Total Runtime02:35:05

Info for Bizet: Carmen (Remastered)

The British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was renowned for his interpretations of French repertoire. This Carmen was recorded in France with a Spanish singer – Victoria de los Angeles – as Bizet’s gypsy; she exudes both charm and seduction.

These are the first five releases in a new line of premium releases of classic operatic recordings.

Each of these releases offers optimum sound quality. The four releases originally recorded using analogue techniques (Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Tosca) have all been newly remastered in 24-bit/96kHz at Abbey Road Studios using the latest technology, while La traviata benefits from its stunning original digital recording.

As George Hall writes of the series: “Although many other recordings of the same works exist, in each instance special factors are generally agreed to have given every one of these sets particular qualities that have continued to attract the highest critical praise, as well as the ongoing affection of generations of opera lovers. Having stood the test of time, the results can now be enjoyed by today’s listeners in their optimum sonic manifestations.”

Victoria de los Angeles, soprano (Carmen)
Denise Monteil, soprano (Frasquita)
Janine Micheau, soprano (Micaëla)
Monique Linval, soprano (Mercédès)
Nicolai Gedda, tenor (Don José)
Michael Hamel, tenor (Remendado)
Ernest Blanc, baritone (Escamillo)
Jean-Christophe Benoit, baritone (Dancaïre)
Bernard Plantey, baritone (Moralès)
Xavier Depraz, bass (Zuniga)
Orchestre de la Radiodiffusion Franciase
Sir Thomas Beecham, conductor

Digitally remastered

Sir Thomas Beecham
Destined to become one of the most colourful and controversial of all 20th-century British conductors, Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) was born in the north-west of England, the son of a successful manufacturing chemist. After a spell at Wadham College, Oxford, he studied privately with Charles Wood in London and Moritz Moszkowski in Paris with the express intention of becoming a composer.

However, his comfortable background had enabled him to experience concerts and opera performances from a young age and also to dabble in conducting, a discipline in which he was self-taught. By his early twenties he was conducting professionally and in 1906 was appointed conductor of the New Symphony Orchestra. Three years later, backed by his father, he founded the first of several orchestras, the Beecham Symphony. From 1910 to 1915 the family’s money also enabled him to mount impressive seasons of opera and ballet, including the British premieres of Russian operas and many by Richard Strauss, and the first visits to London by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. In 1915 he created the Beecham Opera Company, which performed in London and around the country.

After the Great War Beecham suffered financial setbacks, which curtailed his own ability to back artistic ventures, but his drive and vision were unaffected. He was quite capable of persuading others to support his schemes and on his own he was able, in just a few years, to consolidate his international reputation as a conductor by visiting the major orchestras in North America, Paris, Vienna and Berlin. Back in London he achieved further success by founding another first-class orchestra, the London Philharmonic (in 1932), and becoming artistic director of Covent Garden (1932-39).

After the Second World War (which he spent mostly in America, conducting the Seattle Symphony [1941-43] and the New York Metropolitan Opera [1942-44]), he returned to London to find that the LPO had become a self-governing organisation, so he founded another superb orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic (in 1946), over which he could exercise full control. Visits to foreign orchestras (particularly in America), a profuse recording schedule and regular appearances in the opera house, kept Beecham active to the end of his long life.

His repertory was wide and varied, but he is remembered particularly for his championship of the music of his friend Frederick Delius, for his loving interpretations of 19th-century French music (particularly Berlioz and Bizet), and for his devotion to the music of Mozart, Haydn, Puccini, Sibelius and Richard Strauss. Many of his most famous recordings are reissued in the EMI Classics series Great Recordings of the Century.

Booklet for Bizet: Carmen (Remastered)