'Carmen' de G. Bizet ★★★✩✩
Performers: Liceu Symphony Orchestra. Cor Infantil-VEUS (director Josep Vila) Cor del Liceu (dir.: Pablo Assante). Musical direction: Josep Pons. Stage direction: Calixto Bieito (Lucía Astigarraga, repository). Co-production of the Liceu, La Fenice, Teatro Massimo of Palermo and Teatro Regio of Turin. Place and date: Liceu (01/04/24)
Nostalgia for times past, an unappealable production and a solvent team of singers but with relative charisma for the Liceu's first opera of 2024.
The timeless strength of this production, the most international and significant of the Liceu of the 19th century. XXI, showed why it is a classic that has marked an era.
The use of symbols: telephone booth, Spanish flag, Osborne bull or Mercedes as border transport, as well as a circular setting like a large arena for a bullfight, make this Carmen an example of iconic power. The cinematographic references, from Berlanga, for the cynical costumbrismo, to Almodóvar (Carmen's first appearance), or Bigas Luna and that pure Osborne Jamón, Jamón, are captivating.
The acting work is very demanding (revival assumed by Lucía Astigarraga) and only the acting limitations of the singers marked an unnecessary emotional distance.
Clementine Margaine has the powerful instrument, the experience, the style and the tables, but she opted for a Carmen that rips and tears, without taking advantage of the weapons of a production that extracts oil from an artist who wants to expand records.
Michael Spyres's Don José, a chameleonic tenor who both sings Mozart and Norma or points to his upcoming debut this summer as Siegmund in Bayreuth, provided good diction and style. But its different colors depending on the position, a changing emission and an irregular vocal range, marred a performance by an artist that does not leave anyone indifferent.
Simón Orfila's Escamillo, a classic in his repertoire, provided sonorous emission with a vibrato adjusted to the limit.
Guatemalan Adriana González's Micaela triumphed due to the beauty of her pearly color, the creaminess of her register and the control of her phrasing and legato.
Among the secondary ones: sponsor debut of the young baritone from Barcelona Jan Antem as Dancaïre; impeccable Laura Vila (Mercédès) and Jasmine Habersham (Frasquita), two textbook Pili and Mili chonis; toxic virility of Toni Marsol (Moralès), plus the impeccable Felipe Bou (Zuniga) and Carles Cosías (Remendado).
Josep Pons opted for a reading that fled from folklorism, with changing tempi, in a search for lyrical preciousness that took away the strength of Bizet's score. The orchestra stood out with quality solos and the choir was correct.
An unmissable production that literally ate the singers
