Maria Callas
Salle Wagram, Paris 20 Jul 1964
Studio Remastered 2014
2 CD 0825646341108 - 3 LP VINYL 0825646242948 - DIGITAL

Bizet: Carmen

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Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris - Chœurs René Duclos - Chœurs d’enfants Jean Pesneaud

Georges Prêtre

Towards the end of Callas’s career, there were many rumours that she was planning to perform Carmen on stage. This was never to be, but Carmen became her penultimate complete recording of an opera – and her only complete recording of a French opera. With Georges Prêtre, one of her favoured conductors, and the ever-stylish Nicolai Gedda as her Don José, she captured every facet of the role. As Gramophone said when the set was first released: ‘Hers is a Carmen to haunt you.’

Bizet: Carmen

Carmen: Maria Callas
Don José: Nicolai Gedda
Micaëla: Andréa Guiot
Escamillo: Robert Massard
Frasquita: Nadine Sautereau
Mercédès: Jane Berbié
Le Dancaïre: Jean-Paul Vauquelin
Le Remendado: Jacques Pruvost
Le Remendado (CD2, tracks 5&7): Maurice Maievski
Moralès: Claude Cales
Zuniga: Jacques Mars