Maria Callas never sang Carmen on-stage, but the role seems custom-made for her strengths -- Carmen is fiery, volatile, infuriating, seductive -- and Callas is such a superb singing actress that she conveys the character's complexity with rare effectiveness. The critical acclaim and public affection for Callas' Carmen put it very high on any list of preferred versions of the opera. She has a terrific supporting cast, including Nicolai Gedda who is in excellent voice and who makes a believable, tragic Don José, a performance that has been deemed among the finest of his career. Andréa Guiot is a sweet Micaëla, and the rest of the cast is strong. Georges Prêtre leads l'Orchestre du Théâtre Nationale de l'Opéra and the Choeurs René Duclos in an exciting, idiomatic reading of the opera. EMI's sound is clean and present.