Well, I didn't much like it either, I'm afraid.
I don't find the staging too problematical, but it's all rather screechy and compressed - a very early stereo EMI, in fact, from a period when they were sonically batting far behind Mercury, Decca and RCA.
I found the performances a bit lackluster, moreover; they really don't catch fire at all in these extrovert pieces.
The Carmen exerpts are rather truncated in this not very well-filled disc.
All in all, a great pity - especially as the only other Arlesienne on SACD that I'm aware of is the Szell; and this is very far from being one of his top-rankers.
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