Customer Reviews

Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

David Patrick Stearns's comment that this recording has a more 'international' flavour than the original one is rather odd, considering that the three performers he singles out - Dubosc, Yakar, and van Dam, are all Francophone singers.

This is a fine performance, well-paced and in excellent sound (with the exception of the Old Prioress's death scene, where there are traces of artificial reverberation around Gorr's voice from time to time). The cast all offer committed performances, headed by Dubosc's complex, fragile Blanche, not afraid to be harsh in her first scene with Soeur Constance, and good at conveying the intensity of her fear during her final, desperate scene with Mère Marie. Some of the voices are in something less than perfect shape - Rita Gorr has a few squawky moments, but this is quite in keeping with the character of a dying old woman, and she remains authoritative. Rachel Yakar's Mme. Lidoine is less successful - the voice could do with a bit more weight, and the surprise high notes with which Poulenc tends to break up the vocal line from time to time emerge as yelps. Martine Dupuy successfully brings out Marie's fanaticism.

This is a fine recording which cannot fail to move.

Honestly, the recording merits somewhere between a 3+ and a four (with no few moments of five-like qualities) in my estimation. The singing on the whole is delightful, with some exceptions (most notably the strained top of both mezzos and Mme Lidoine--which could work in the case of the first prioress, but is for both women at times just unforgivably painful in otherwise beautiful moments of the work. Lidoine does, in the words of another viewer, "yelp" at times. Hence, the three-rating.). That said, much of the singing is beautiful, and
Nagano's conducting is intelligent and well balanced (with one notable exception--more forthcoming). Like other reviewers, I, too, performed in this opera and found the recording an accessible one, one that transported me with little difficulty to the heart of the drama. (Albeit, likely aided by my memories of performing.)

My major gripe with this recording--and it is major for me, though it may not be for others--is the ending Prelude and Salve Regina. The bass ostinato is just altogether too light--it's easily buried by the other orchestration and by the singers. Consequently, both pieces simply lacked the gritty drive that they require. There's such a tension in the final pieces between the ethereal, angelic quality of the Salve Regina text sung by the nuns and the driving, harsh, almost fatalistic push of the bass line. It just simply isn't in this recording. For me, a strong bass there is essential. The mere sound of an e-g-e bass ostinato is generally enough to make my hair stand on end with all the sound engenders from this opera; on this recording, when the ostinato is in the proper and (for me) original context, the sound is altogether too delicate. Nagano carries me easily to the climax of the opera--and then disappoints.

While others may consider the point trivial, I just cannot give the otherwise fine recording five stars. The opera drives so conclusively to that ultimate scene...and then paints only one side of the drama. (Yes, the singing is beautiful. Yes, the nuns do sound like angels. I don't think, however, that angelic beauty is the only thing Poulenc was going for in the scene, however, and this recording doesn't catch the full picture.)

I first heard DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES on a Metropolitan Opera broadcast. Having already been a Poulenc fan, I naturally fell in love with the opera's lovely musical idiom - French DOUCEUR blended with Stravinskian bite and religious or ecclesiastical elements - before I knew the characters or the details of the plot. While the opera does drag in spots, the electrifying and stoic final scene - in which the laicized nuns are led to the guillotine - more than compensates. DIALOGUES is a refreshing opera, partly because of its story. We can see the "religious intolerance" theme play itself out countless times in plays, movies, etc. It is interesting once in a while to find a story about the opposite evil - secular intolerance towards religion. The DIALOGUES libretto, adapted from a play by French Catholic author Georges Bernanos, imbues a true historical event with contemporary resonance (think of such 20th-century atheistic regimes as Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia) in a way that reminds me of Miller's THE CRUCIBLE.

There are only two major recordings of this opera: the 1957 version with the original Paris cast, (led by Denise Duval and Regine Crespin), and the present one. I haven't heard the earlier recording, but after hearing the more recent one I would say that we will not be in need of a new version for some time. Kent Nagano makes this music sound positively luminous. Every orchestral color in Poulenc's delicate palette, every note in his harmonically rich, organ-like textures can be clearly heard. (The misty, magical orchestral interludes are truly things to savor in this performance.) Each member of the all-Francophone cast is excellent, right down to the singer portraying the jailer. As the heroine, Blanche, Catherine Dubosc displays a consistently attractive, innocent tone, with a pallor that is appropriate for this character. Rachel Yakar as Madame Lidoine and Martine Dupuy as Mere Marie give strong, declamatory performances - though both singers' high notes sound forced or strained. Michel Senechal has a lovely, nasal tenor voice for the role of the chaplain. One complaint regarding the acoustic: occasionally, voices sound pushed behind the orchestra, rendering them hardly audible.

If you would like to experience an accessible, approachable 20th-century opera, look no further than Poulenc's DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES.

I have owned this recording for 3 years and bought it while I was performing the opera itself. This recording has so many redeeming features not least because of the divine singing of Blanche' and Constance...van Dam as the father is great in the opening scene too.
This disk has inspired me so much and it is always a treat for me when I have gone without listening to it for a while to pop it on and be swooned away by Poulenc in top form, performed by such great singers and orchestra. A real treat for me! 5 STARS

'dialogues des carmelites' by near contemporary French composer, Francis Poulenc is a great relief to the ear after listening to a long series of Handel operas and Oratorios. I am not a great opera fan, but I am a great fan of lieder and chansoms, and one can easily listen to this as another source of great Poulenc chansoms, at which he rivals Shubert's best.

Looking at the simplest metrics, you get close to three hours of music on these two CDs which would be a wonderful aural backdrop to a seriously romantic evening with a musically inclined partner.

To the amateur listener with omniverous tastes, this one is a keeper.

One of the most recent operas to have established itself in the standard repertoire, Poulenc's Les Dialogues Des Carmelites is a genuine masterpiece. It is a work of heart-rendering beauty and dramatic intensity, and while much of the work is written in a "lightish" manner typical of the composer, i.e. one that seems to sustain shorter arguments and lines of development within exquisitely detailed scenes, the opera, which lasts for a good two and a half hours, achieves almost stupendous dramatic unity, all the way up to the heart-stopping final Salve Regina - the latter being the kind of scene that, with its quite literal depiction of the guillotine, could easily have come over as trite or banal but in Poulenc's hands ends up being incomparably powerful.

The opera concerns the tribulations, determination and fates of a group of what really amounts to fairly ordinary women who get caught up in the extraordinary circumstances of the French revolution, and Poulenc marvelously captures the feeling of ordinary life being caught up in grander events grinding their way toward impending doom. The resulting soundworld is captivating and not really reminiscent of anything else in its combination of solemnity, bleakness, glowing serenity and beauty. In many ways the idiom used is reminiscent of Poulenc the songwriter (many of the arias are chansons more than what one often thinks an aria should sound like), but the composer applies his expert and ingenious use of recurring motifs and gestures to create the overall sustained dramatic impact.

I am not really familiar with the famous Dervaux set but the one at hand, with the Lyon Opera Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano, is thoroughly captivating. The orchestral playing is rapturous in its beauty, and Nagano ensures that momentum is sustained throughout. I have to admit that I was relatively unfamiliar with many of the singers, but they are overall magnificent. Catherine Dubose is captivating as Sister Blanche, with a gorgeous tone and a truly moving characterization. Brigitte Fournier is equally impressive as Sister Constance; light and sympathetic, and Rita Gorr is an intensely moving Madame de Croissy. Martine Dupuy is firm-toned and convincing, while Rachel Yakar is a refined Madame Lidoine.

As for the male characters, José van Dam can always be trusted for a strong characterization and excellent singing, and does not disappoint. Jean-Luc Viala, Michel Sénéchal and Francois Le Roux are all convincing as well (Sénéchal's sympathetic Chaplain deserves particular praise). Overall, this is a magnificent release, and though I cannot compare the performances directly to the Dervaux set, at least it can be mentioned that Nagano performs the work absolutely complete whereas Dervaux's version contains some cuts. The sound is spacious but warm, and overall this set is a winner on all scores.