Andrea Bocelli - Carmen: Duets & Arias - Music & Performance - CD

The 2005 studio recording of Bizet's Carmen, performed by the Radio France Orchestre Philharmonique with soloists Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Marina Domashenko, and Myung-Whun Chung is here abridged from its original two-CD set into a single-disc set of highlights, the duets and arias most often recalled from the work. Domashenko is powerful in the title role, and Terfel's "Toreador's Song" as Escamillo is triumphant, but Bocelli earns his top billing as Don Jose. The recording is worth hearing in its entirety, though this disc compresses it into the "hit" numbers that are well-known. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi