Bizet: Carmen

Tatiana Troyanos was reportedly never comfortable on stage as Carmen, but she sings it ravishingly well in this recording, in good voice and at home with the character. Placido Domingo, seemingly the only Don Jos© of our era, gives one of his best accounts of the role; Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sings beautifully as Mica«la, and Jose van Dam's Escamillo offers just the right blend of macho swagger. The dialogue is unusually well done, and Georg Solti's conducting, though lacking some Gaelic wit, gets the serious parts spot-on. --Sarah Bryan Miller