CARMEN

Let the debate be renewed! This Leonard Bernstein 1972 Deutsche Grammophon recording of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and starring the great Marilyn Horne and James McCracken fairly strongly divided critics then and afterwards with its daringly slow tempi (which others considered revelatory), a Bernstein trait that mushroomed, for better or worse, over the next two decades. Not up for debate, however, are the spectacular sonics, revealed anew thanks to advances in audio playback technology, which can now be enjoyed via this Pentatone re-release.