This performance was given a week after the Cossotto/Domingo performance with the exact cast also available from Opera Depot (#10869). Many details remain the same. Pretre conducts the complete Choudens edition of the score with the recitatives. His tempi are swift and to the point. Maliponte and Van Dam are very fine in their roles and the supporting cast is a strong one. The first tenors in the chorus help themselves to the top C at the end of the Toreador Song.The big difference, of course, is Gedda, a very different singer from Domingo. Gedda brings a more lyric side to the character, not softer, but more introspective. His Flower aria is sung with a far greater use of dynamics (his quiet B-flat at the end is stunning). He controls himself a little more in the final scene and Cossotto responds to the difference. She growls "Ou laisse-moi passé" in her best chest voice, rather than shouting it as so many Carmens do. Overall, her performance is more playful here than in the earlier one: both interpretations are valid.This was probably taken from an in-house tape. The voices are present and audible though it varies depending on where the singers are standing on the stage. It's not really an issue though; live opera collectors have all heard and endured worse.Not a first Carmen maybe, but fascinating to compare two performances and how the switching out of even one singer can make a difference.