This performance is peculiar, even by conductor Herbert von Karajan’s standards. The good news is that it stars three singers who probably were the world’s leading portrayers of their roles at the time: the lusty, dusky-toned Grace Bumbry is Carmen, the manic-depressive interpreter Jon Vickers is the José, and lovely Mirella Freni sings Micaela, she probably being the only soprano in history to turn Micaela into a starring role. Justino Diaz, in perfectly terrible voice, is the Escamillo. The further bad news is that Bumbry’s top voice is hardly at its freshest, Vickers is so mannered that even when he’s thrilling he’s odd, and Karajan opts for tempos that are at best controversial and at worst bizarrely slow. Karajan also adds a dance number to the second act tavern scene that slows up the action, and he presides over an ensemble that’s often less-than-tidy. Add to this the fact that sometime during Act III the pitch slows down a half-tone (a defect in the master tape, I presume) and recovers only in the final act, and you have a show that’s less than needed. Stick with Callas or de los Angeles on EMI; here you’ll get very little satisfaction.
