Harvey E. Phillips

Leonard Bernstein's recording of Bizet's Carmen, with James McCracken and Marilyn Horne, is justly famous - whether (like me) you love its grand, languorous, slightly oddball take or whether you're among the many who regard it as pompous, if not outright absurd. In this book, Harvey E. Phillips gives us a backstage pass into the six-week rehearsal process that led up to the opening of the performances at the Met, in 1973, which predated the recording.

The book is not without its frustrations. Phillips only joins on day one of rehearsal, and chooses to only give us a very brief background on the provenance of the production. There are no preliminary chapters interviewing the conductor, designer, etc, on their concepts and approaches. Fair enough perhaps; this would be well-described as a rehearsal diary, but still it would've been nice. Additionally - and understandably - Phillips is sometimes not permitted into the most tense moments of rehearsal, especially by Ms. Horne, and can only report what he hears second-hand.

Also, it should be mentioned, the reader is expected to have (also understandably) a good working knowledge of the opera; not just its plot and characters but also its musical language and individual moments. Whenever a line is reassigned or a particular vocal moment challenging, whenever a chorus has to be rehearsed multiple times or a stage direction of yore is challenged, he doesn't provide us with much insight into its place within the opera. This is for people with existing tickets only.

This having been said, I had great fun. One gets to live in the minutiae of a major opera house, from the challenges of the ballet dancers' union contracts to the small annoyances that can get under a star singer's skin, we get to bear witness to major names in a major production, and then listen to the subsequent recording to see how it was all carried out. Satisfying if not entirely nourishing.… (más)