“Beecham’s work was a triumph of brilliant pacing, of delicate accompanying, of fine attention to detail and of general animation. He made the Bizet score sound like the superb score that it is, and he made the Metropolitan orchestra sound like a better orchestra than we have been used to thinking it is” - Virgil Thomson, 1943
This performance, which was broadcast from the Chicago Civic Opera House while the Metropolitan Opera was on tour, is the first surviving Met broadcast of Carmen to feature two native-French speakers as Carmen and Don José: Belgian-born Lily Djanel is joined by French-Canadian Raoul Jobin.
Together with Licia Albanese as Micaëla and Leonard Warren at the matador, these four outstanding soloists and an exceptional conductor in the pit make this newly restored and Ambient Stereo XR-remastered transfer a truly memorable Carmen.