DVD Review
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EDITOR’s RECOMMENDATION September
2000
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Berlin Philharmonic New Years Gala 1997:
A Tribute to Carmen
Claudio Abbado conducts the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orfeón Donostiarra de San Sebastian
and the Südtiroler Kinderchor
ARTHAUS DVD 100 026
[85
mins]
Amazon
UK
Georges BIZET: Selections from
Carmen
With Anne Sofie Von Otter; Bryn Terfel and Roberto
Alagna.
Pablo DE SARASATE: Carmen Fantasy with Gil
Shaham
Maurice RAVEL: Rhapsodie Espagnole
Manuel DE FALLA: El Amor Brujo - Ritual Fire
Dance
Sergei RACHMANINOV: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
with Mikhail Pletnev
Johannes BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G
minor
This is clearly a Pop Concert to celebrate New Year. It's theme is Carmen
and much of the music is Latin and Spanish and therefore highly colourful.
[The odd man out so to speak is the rather melancholic Rachmaninov piece.]
Bizet's Carmen music has, of course, been used as source music for countless
movies; while the opera, or excerpts from the opera, has been filmed many
times. The first time was back in 1915 - starring Geraldine Farrar, the opera
singer (in a silent movie by Cecil B. de Mille's whim). There was an
Italian/French co-production of the opera filmed in 1984 that starred Julia
Migenes-Johnson (who sings in the Barcelona Symphonic Tango disc reviewed
on this site this month), Placido Domingo and Ruggero Raimondi. A 1983 Spanish
production sets the story as a ballet with the dancers playing out in real
life the on-stage drama. And of course there was the up-dated version released
by 20th Century Fox in 1954 - Carmen Jones starring Dorothy Dandridge and
Harry Belafonte and Pearl Bailey.
The Carmen music is without doubt the best part of this concert. It opens
with selections from the opera. My audience at Earnley Concourse (Chichester,
England) were so taken with them that they demanded to see Anne Sofie Von
Otter singing her two arias again. What personality! What a voice! What acting!
Bryn Terfel is a fine Toréador even though he seems, in close-up,
to be chewing his words (yes, its in character at points but the grimacing
is rather OTT. Roberto Alagna cuts a fine dash with his Air de Fleur although
his delivery is a tad bland.
Gil Shaham displays breath-taking dazzling virtuosity in Sarasate's celebrated
pyrotechnical fiddle showcase, Carmen Fantasy.
Abbado leads The Berlin Philharmonic in an exhilarating and vivacious reading
of Ravel's Rhapsody Espagnole.
The famous Variation 18 from Sergei Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme of
Paganini was used in the 1953 M-G-M film The Story of Three Loves. Here Mikhail
Pletnev gives an articulate if not very profound performance.
The fill-up items: Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5 and Manuel de Falla's Ritual
Fire Dance from Love the Magician are delivered with dash and panache.
An above the average DVD concert but it is definitely Anne Sofie's night!
Ian Lace
