卡拉絲 / 比才：歌劇「卡門」(3黑膠) Maria Callas / Bizet: Carmen (3LP Vinyl)

Limited Edition 180g Vinyl Triple LP Box Set
Remastered from Original Tapes at Abbey Road Studios

Maria Callas’ only complete recording of a French opera

One of the 20th century’s most legendary and enduring icons, Maria Callas was both a glamorous diva and a global superstar who captivated audiences worldwide with her vivid and passionate performances.

This special Limited Edition 180g vinyl album features Callas performing Bizet’s Carmen opera along with Nicolai Gedda, Andrea Guiot, Robert Massard & more.

Toward the end of Maria Callas’s career, there were many rumors that she was planning to perform Carmen on stage. This was never to be, but Carmen became her penultimate complete recording of an opera — and her only complete recording of a French opera. With Georges Prêtre, one of her favoured conductors, and the ever-stylish Nicolai Gedda as her Don José, she captured every facet of the role. As Gramophone said when the set was first released: “Hers is a Carmen to haunt you.”

Although Maria Callas died at age 53 in September 1977, she remains an icon: as a supreme singing-actress; as a celebrity, and as a woman of great style and elegance. The epitome of the operatic diva, the American-born Greek soprano is recognized as a singer who defined, and even redefined, opera in the 20th century and she has never lost her place among the world’s top-selling classical artists.

A dedicated producer, Grammy Award-winner Andrew Cornall, was assigned to the Callas Remastered project at London’s Abbey Road Studios. When Robert Gooch, a former sound engineer who worked with Callas on a number of her recordings, heard some of the remastered tracks, his response was: I’m amazed, I’m absolutely amazed… It’s a revelation. I was practically in tears listening to that Casta diva… That voice of Callas has such an effect on me.

“The singer best equipped to reveal and recommend the grand operatic mainstream as a refreshing and fertilizing part of modern musical life.. Certainly, it is difficult to think of a singer in our time who has inspired so many people – fellow singers, fellow musicians, her public – and who risked and achieved so much.” – Richard Osborne – Grammophone magazine, 1987

Maria Callas (Carmen), Nicolai Gedda (Don José), Andréa Guiot (Micaëla), Robert Massard (Escamillo), Nadine Sautereau (Frasquita), Jane Berbié (Mercédès), Jean-Paul Vauquelin (Le Dancaïre), Jacques Pruvost (Le Remendado), Claude Cales (Moralès), Jacques Mars (Zuniga)

卡拉絲 Maria Callas / 飾 卡門
蓋達 Nicolai Gedda / 飾 唐荷賽
馬沙德 Robert Massard / 飾 艾斯卡米羅
姬歐特 Andrea Guiot / 飾 蜜凱拉
普赫特 Georges Pretre / 指揮
巴黎國家歌劇院管弦樂團 Paris Opera Orchestra

1964年，此時才四十一歲的卡拉絲，卻因為私生活而面臨演藝事業的重大危機。她與希臘船王歐納西斯的熱戀，舉世聞名，然而美國總統甘迺迪遺孀賈桂琳在此時闖入他們兩人的愛情世界，導致卡拉絲的嗓子也隨著情緒起伏而時好時壞。她在巴黎歌劇院的《諾瑪》明顯聲音已經不堪負荷，引發支持與反對兩派的叫囂打罵，演出後卡拉絲與歐納西斯回到愛琴海渡假，7月初以容光煥發的心情回到巴黎錄製了《卡門》全曲，留下了這位絕世女高音的唯一一套次女高音劇目。

法國作曲家比才的最後傑作《卡門》，深刻地描繪吉普賽女郎卡門的愛情與命運，她先愛上士官唐荷賽，後愛上鬥牛士艾斯卡米羅，為了忠誠面對自己的抉擇，卡門寧可被唐荷賽殺死也不願捨棄自由。自1875年首演問世，由於擁有熱鬧通俗的劇情、膾炙人口的旋律，讓《卡門》成為最受歡迎的歌劇名作之一，更成為歷代次女高音崛起的試金石，甚至不少女高音也對於這個敢愛敢恨的歌劇女英雄躍躍欲試。

追求完美的卡拉絲，在她演藝事業後期，即使無法勝任女高音戲碼之際，有許多人建議她在舞台上演出卡門，但卻都被全盤拒絕，所幸卡拉絲留下了這套《卡門》全曲，讓我們得以幻想她如何在舞台上扮演風情萬種的卡門。這套1964年的錄音，邀請她晚期甚為喜愛的法國指揮名家普赫特指揮巴黎國家歌劇院管弦樂團與合唱團，而名列二十世紀最偉大的男高音蓋達，此時聲望正是如日中天，在此詮釋男主角唐荷賽也成為他畢生最精采的代表作。透過艾比路錄音室的母帶修復，卡拉絲的卡門，聲音更加鮮明性感，挑動聽者的所有神經。

（1964年7月6-20日錄音於巴黎沙利瓦格蘭劇院 Salle Wagram, Paris）

專輯曲目：
LP 1
1. Acte 1 Prélude
2. Sur La Place (Scène Et Choeur)
3. Choeur Des Gamins (Scène)
4. Choeur Des Cigarières
5. Habanera
6. Carmen Sur Tes Pas (Scène)
7. Parle Moi De Ma Mère (Duo Et Scène)
8. Choeur De La Dispute
9. Chanson Et Mélodrame
10. Séguedille Et Duo
11. Acte 1 Final

LP 2
1. Acte 2 Chanson Bohème (Scène)
2. Choeur Vivat
3. Chanson Bohème
4. Couplets D`Escamillo (Scène)
5. Quintette (Scène)
6. Halte-Là (Scène)
7. Duo Carmen-Don José (1re Partie)
8. La Fleur Que Tu M`Avais Jeté, Duo Carmen-Don José (Fin)
9. Acte 2 Final
10. Acte 3 Sextuor (Scène Et Choeur)

LP 3
1. Trio Des Cartes (Scène)
2. Ensemble, Quant Au Douanier
3. Air De Micaela (Scène)
4. Je Suis Escamillo
5. Final (1re Partie)
6. Final (2me Partie)
7. Acte 4 A Dos Cuartos
8. Voici Le Quadrille
9. Duo Et Choeur Final