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EMI Classics’ studio opera recording of Bizet’s Carmenmarks the 10th anniversary of the artistic ‘dreamteam’partnership of Sir Simon Rattle and the BerlinerPhilharmoniker. Sir Simon Rattle, who recently appearedat the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Londonconducting the London Symphony Orchestra, directs theBerliner Philharmoniker in this incredible interpretationof the Oeser edition, as used in Vienna in 1964, of thistimeless opera. This fascinating performance features astellar cast of soloists, including Magdalena Kozená inthe title role and Jonas Kaufmann as Don José.
Bizet’s Carmen tells the story of the mesmeric butultimately fatal attraction of the gypsy girl Carmen,and the tragedy of Don José, who falls in love, but isultimately rejected. Unable to live in a world withouther, Don José kills Carmen, to the accompaniment ofthe triumphs of her new lover, the bullfighter, Escamillo.Carmen is packed with some of the most familiar andstriking melodies ever written, including Carmen’sHabanera, Séguedille, ‘Chanson bohème’, Don José’spoignant ‘Flower Song’ and Escamillo’s swaggering‘Toreador Song.’
With more than 32 years – and 250 works – Sir SimonRattle is an exclusive EMI artist and many of hisrecordings, principally with the Berliner Philharmoniker,the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and theWiener Philharmoniker, have been ground-breakingand award-winning. Rattle has received three GrammyAwards in the United States, three Classical Brit andGramophone Awards in the UK and two Echo KlassikAwards in Germany to date.
