Rehearsal Cuts
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makes Bizet into a kind of Bruckner (perhaps it is signif- cluding the opera's very last chords, the result is vulgar icant that Oeser has also had a hand in the Bruckner and uncharacteristic of Bizet's style. And, finally, the controversy, as editor of the 1878 version of the Third dialogue is shaved down to almost nothing at all; there Symphony) who sacrificed his true dramatic and musical is even less here than in the Friihbeck recording. ideals for reasons of immediate practicality. The Alkor So finally we come around to the performance of what edition restores some thirty "rehearsal cuts" on this might sourly be described as "the Maazel edition of premise, although some of them, at least, were demon- Carmen, an opera by Fritz Oeser based on the epony- strably made by Bizet. Deducing force majeure on the mous work by Georges Bizet." It is not without virtues; evidence of handwriting is a very dubious business, but the secondary singers are mostly good, with idiomatic surely there is no other evidence to rely on here-except accents (at least some of the dialogue is handled by a the clearly opposite evidence of the 1875 vocal score! separate cast), and Maazel-his retouchings aside-has Some of the material Oeser restores is undeniably a good flair for timing and rhythmic clarity. He is very interesting, even first-rate Bizet: for example, the Chang- careful with the dotted figures. and his orchestra plays ing of the Guard episode in Act I originally incorporated well, most notably in the third act Intermezzo. On the a canonic central episode for strings to accompany debit side, he's sometimes very stiff, and the fourth -act spoken dialogue (as well as a longer coda), and there Aragonaise is too fussy. was a second part to the cigarette girls' chorus, with an But what really flaws this performance beyond repair intriguing modulatory pattern (this, too, was balanced is the work of the principals. I don't mean Helen Donath; by some additional material in the orchestral introduc- she is not one of nature's Micaelas, but her pretty voice tion). Rudel restored both of these in his production is only rarely overstrained. and she sings musically. But. (although without the dependent orchestral material, aside from her, one can't help feeling that something which I feel is desirable from the point of view of musical like the following took place: A producer at Eurodisc proportion).There is not space here to enumerate all of thought it would be an interesting idea to record this these instances, but at least one-the version of Carmen's Berlin production with its "new" material, but with an death that Oeser prints-is not even an earlier, rejected imported French cast; however, someone in the sales version. but rather a concoction by the editor out of department declared that it wouldn't sell without names, independent stages of Bizet's rewriting! As Dean sums so Moffo, Corelli, and Cappuccilli were brought in. None it up. this so-called "Urtext" is "an arbitrary selection of them sings French with any distinction-in fact, Corelli from almost every stage of Bizet's work. .. .If [a con- does not sing French at all, for his mispronunciations ductor] performed the score as printed here, he would make utter gibberish out of the text. I particularly treas- in hundreds of cases be resurrecting what Bizet specifi- ure his outcries in the duet with Micaela; instead of cally-and often for the clearest possible artistic reasons- "je la vois" (I see her), he sings "jai la voix" (I've the rejected out of hand." voice). He does indeed have the voice, but he does not Beyond this. Oeser has made numerous changes in useit well-his pervasive portamento prevents firm detail, especially in the stage directions, but also in dy- rhythmic shaping of the line, and his equally pervasive namics and tempo markings-all without any indication fortissimo obliterates any opportunity for proper blend in the body of his score to distinguish them from the with the others (as in the "Notre metier" ensemble in markings that, at the very least, Bizet agreed to (and Act Ill). which he probably originated, pace Oeser). Only by Miss Moffo, on the other hand, does not have a voice working very carefully through the "Critical Report" -or at best only shreds and tatters thereof. She can't sing can one distinguish the sources for all the new readings a melodic line with true legato, and the upper register Oeser gives, and as Dean makes amply clear, a good deal is precarious in the extreme. To anyone who remembers of important evidence is simply suppressed or over- her first recordings, more than fifteen years ago, this is looked. This score represents a Carmen that Bizet never a sad recording to hear, for she started with one of the wrote; although he may have considered nearly every- loveliest sounds in the business. Here and there, a line of thing in it at one time or another, he never put it all text is delivered with an appropriate inflection, but you together this way. can't portray Carmen if you can't sing her notes. If we accept Dean's authority and his well -argued Cappuccilli has plenty of voice, but his technique position, and I do, we may still want to hear some of the and manner are blustery and ponderous-more Ernest rejected music, and I do. This is where the Maazel re- Borgnine at the rodeo than Escamillo in the bull ring. cording comes in. but I must warn you that we are not To conclude, let me return briefly to the main point: out of the swamps yet, because this is not exactly a There is some music by Bizet here that is on no other straightforward recording of the Alkor edition. The recording, and it is certainly worth hearing. As a per- Morales episode is omitted, as it is from the body of formance of the opera, or even of the defective Oeser Oeser's score, and there are several other cuts, including edition, though, it is less than convincing. A trilingual (!) the entire duel duet, a portion of the quarrel chorus libretto is furnished, also some program notes by a con- (which, even so, is longer than the 1875 version we firmed Oeserite. know), and a portion of the second finale (this is a stand- ard performance cut anyway). And of course the singers, Bizrn Carmen. Anna Moffo (s), Carmen; Helen Donath (s), Micaela; Arleen Auger (s), Frasquita; Jane Berbie (ms), Mercedes; perhaps inadvertently. frequently retain the words or Franco Corelli (t), Don Jose; Karl -Ernst Mercker (t), Remendado; pitches with which they are familiar, thus negating some Piero Cappuccilli (b). Escamillo: Barry McDaniel (b), Morales: of Oeser's corruptions. More perplexingly, there is some Jean-Christophe Benoit (b), Dancaire; Jose van Dam (bs), Zuniga; significant rewriting of the brass parts. for which I can Chorus and Orchestra of the German Opera, Berlin, Lorin Maazel, find no prior source whatsoever; in every instance, in- cond. Eurodisc 80 489 XR, $17.94 (three discs). 80 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE.