Search - Georges Bizet, Anthony Bramall, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra :: Bizet: L'Arlésienne; Carmen Suites Nos. 1 & 2

Respectable Performance

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 09/03/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is music from the 1870's, so what is a Baroque and Early Music fan like me doing listening to it? The answer lies somewhere between my curiosity and Naxos's ideal combination of affordable price, interesting publications and a recorded sound that, although it is definitely not top-notch, is able to give me the feeling of really being able to hear the music as it was performed. In this instance, one of the first Naxos Cds recorded in June 1987, the recorded sound lacks presence, it is true, and the atmosphere is definitely one of an empty concert hall, but the overall picture is pretty realistic and allows me to pick up details of the score despite the balance problems with some of the solo passages (violin in the Nocturne, bassoon in the Prélude to L'Arlésienne, possibly the harp, too, at the end of the second Arlésienne suite) where I feel there could or should have been some way of bringing the instrument concerned more into the foreground. But taken as a whole, this is a respectable performance with some most enjoyable moments, and if you don't happen to be a Bizet afficionado but would just like to listen in to the best-known tunes from "Carmen" without listening to the whole opera, and if you think you could enjoy 35 minutes or so of "L'Arlésienne" in the form that Bizet and a friend brought it into after it failed on stage, then this could be a worthwhile investment. In my mind, there is no doubt that this Cd is good value for money."