Search - Bizet, Juyol, Deluca :: Carmen

This is nice, but lacking something...

Impostazione | New York City Area | 02/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Technologically speaking, Preiser always does a good job. Their claim to fame is clarity for they are able to find the finest originals, which they master with a definite emphasis on the higher partials of the voice. They leave in enough bass to give an impression of depth. That said, Juyol falls loud --- a bit too loud IN the ear. The original reviews of this set pretty much was a bashing campaign against her, and she retired very shortly after this recording. My preference for the extremely large voices exists because they demand a certain technique which opens the sound and is extremely exciting. Juyol is not just loud, she has that authenic depth, space, and force of not just the dramatic but the exceptional. But on this set, she is just too loud and she distorts the microphones. Yet, I would not compare her to Ethel Merman like other critics did.



Juyol's Carmen is a playgirl, not emotional, not coquettish -- she is tough, aloof, she wants what she wants and does not waste too much time on courtship and wastes no time on nonsense. She singles in and often get exactly what she wants. She is not some sultry vamp playing games, or some puzzycat, dancing around in "who wants me now vanity" but a working girl, tough, knowing and exceptional in her take it or leave it honey, you're just another dude attitude. The type a hungry man can depend on if you know what I mean. Partly at least, she accomplishes this by her rock-solid, granite-diamond hard technique. This chick was a singing engine on batteries that kept goin' and goin' and goin ---- In short, I LOVE HER!!!!!!



The tenor has a round voice, lovely at times, but was he not a traditional French tenor. He lacks that famous voix-mixte (at least in Carmen, because in Manon, his voix mixte is staggeringly perfect) -- he does lack that sensuous nasality of the French tenors. When he lets out a big tone it becomes very round and only the slightest bit of thrust is lacking. Yet, I don't pick up a real character yet. I'll listen again soon. Micheau has some extremely lovely and tender moments in a lovely well placed voice. Her phrase endings need work, but she captures Micaelas dilemma. A good baritone rounds out the cast.



The sound again is very good, but the conductor is a bit generic and I can't explain why -- I suppose no accent, but then again French is not accented."