Rattle’s Berliners offer a dynamic Vorsprung durch Technik
Carmen for the British conductor’s wife, Magdalena Kozena, who
sings Bizet’s sultry gypsy in a restrained, quasi-Mozartian
style. The Czech mezzo is a subtle, intelligent singer with
not-bad French, but she never convincingly suggests she is
inside the skin of the part, and sounds ill-matched to
Jonas Kaufmann’s unhinged, fearsomely intense José in their
final confrontation. The German tenor is the main reason for
acquiring this set, but Genia Kühmeier’s pure-toned,
if Germanic, Micaëla is easy on the ear.
