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Title: Old fashioned overblown Carmen
Review: I grew up in the 70's and got to know Carmen through Solti's recording, one of his better non-Wagner recordings. Since then, my prefered version is the matchless Berganza/Abbado recording in DG, certainly the most beautiful and stylish of all. A friend recommended the Reiner recording and I was curious enough to buy it. This is an old fashioned Carmen, that takes us back to the 50's when Carmen was thought "a Grand Opera" rather than an Opera Comique with dialogues. To me, this sounds too much like Cavalleria Rusticana, loud and a little vulgar. For a more stylish 1950's Carmen, I much prefer the Victoria de Los Angeles/ Beecham recording.
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