Bizet: Carmen

This album commemorates the 150th anniversary of Carmen’s premiere, while also celebrating the memory of Georges Bizet who passed away in 1875, a few weeks after the fiasco of his operatic masterpiece which deeply affected him. It took the audience and the musical milieu years to sense the genius of this revolutionary opera, now a standard of the repertoire, and the most often staged lyric work in the world. For the centenary of is premiere, Alain Lombard teamed up with an all French-speaking five-star cast, on top of which Régine Crespin shines brightly. A couple of years earlier, Lombard had persuaded her to try performing the main role, usually sung by a mezzo, which she never thought she was able to assume. It became one of her most-praised incarnations both on stage and on record.