Dialogues des Carmelites

Dialogues Des Carmelites is my favourite Poulenc work, it is one of the 20th century greatest operas with an interesting, if lengthy, story, based on the story of the Carmelite nuns in the French Revolution (their execution via guillotine and martyrdom contributing towards the end of the Revolution), and some of the most beautiful and dramatic music Poulenc ever wrote.

It is also notable for the truly moving final scene, no ending of any other operas moves me more than the ending of Dialogues Des Carmelites (when the Conservatoire did it a year ago, people were including me sobbing in the wings once we were killed off and in rehearsals) not even La Boheme.

Along with the 1999 Ann Sophie Schmidt-Patricia Petibon production, this Robert Carsen-directed performance is one of the best DVD performances available of a solid DVD competition (have yet to see a bad one). Any criticisms here are very minor, and are more minor nit-picks than objective criticisms, but anybody being really picky may pick up on Laura Aikin's Constance needing more of a chatty not-having-a-care-in-the-world-without-being-worried-or-guilty quality in the acting and Anja Silja being past prime vocally, but really for me the only criticism was the decision for the camera work to focus on conductor Riccardo Muti during scene changes, which was a choice that was both unnecessary and jarring (atmospherically and momentum-wise).

However, the performances from the entire cast are riveting throughout. Anja Silja as Madame De Croissy/Old Prioress in particular is a standout. The slightly frayed quality of her voice at this stage in her career didn't affect her performance at all and instead made the tragic fate of her character even more devastating than it already is to watch, but she sings with great command and artistry and dramatically she is just earth-shattering, her huge death scene is both terrifying and heart-wrenching. Dagmar Schellenberger sings absolutely beautifully as Blanche, her tone is gleaming, mature but colourful, and even throughout the range and she does connect to the text very well. It is easy to get frustrated with a character who changes her mind so many times like Blanche, but Schellenberger succeeds brilliantly in making Blanche easy to root for and gives her a growth that allows one to understand why she makes the decisions she does.

Gwynne Geyer's Madame Lidoine/New Prioress is sung with assured and appealing tone quality and doesn't seem taxed or worried at all by Poulenc's long lines and extensive range for the role (her 'aria' in the Prison scene is particularly difficult in these regards). In terms of acting, she brings a real poignant sincerity to the prison scene and in contrast times Madame Lidoine's earthy humour in her first scene in a way that's genuinely funny and heart-warming. Barbara Denver is a sincere, authoritative and dogmatic Mere Marie, and she sings very richly, and while Laura Aikin's Constance admittedly could have done with a touch more innocence and a not-a-care-in-the-world quality she misses none of the charm, fun and naivety of the role and remarkably does not sound shrill in Constance's treacherously high tessitura. In the few male roles, Gordon Gietz is excellent as Chevalier, and Christopher Robertson is a robust and appropriately anguished Marquis. The Priest and the two Comissioners are very well-played, and the jailer is suitably imposing too in his terrifyingly haunting music. The nuns are very cleverly choreographed, in a way that's never static 1940s schlock or over-busy, instead in a way that matches the austerity of the opera's mood and the sparsity of some of the drama, there is an attempt at individuality and a real urgency when needed. The crowd provide a fearsome effect, even when mostly off-stage.

Musically, the production is outstanding. The orchestra play with the right amount of rich oil-like colours for grander scenes like the final scene and the Commissioners scene and watercolour-like one for the chamber-music-esquire music used in the more intimate dialogue-like scenes, the prison scene and the Ave Maria and Vere Passum prayer sections. The chorus all sound fantastic and Riccardo Muti proves as ever what an authoritative, sympathetic and loyal conductor as well as superb musician he is. The visuals and staging also deserve much praise. The sets are spare and the props minimal but in both cases it's appropriate and visually striking and made more interesting by the performances, well-designed costumes and atmospheric lighting.

Robert Carsen gives some of the best directing he's ever done, he always makes the drama interesting and coherent even when the action is more in the dialogue than in the staging and there is plenty of emotional impact. This is not more apparent in the prison scene, where the nuns actually do look like broken but determined prisoners, and the final scene, which has some interesting choreography (an interesting solution to one of opera's most emotional but problematic to stage- mostly due to timing of the walking exits and the sound of the guillotine blades and whether they sync perfectly or not- scenes but handled in a wonderfully restrained way when it could easily have been strange and clumsy (was expecting the latter initially when hearing of it). Technically, the DVD's good, excellent sound, clear and never grainy picture quality and apart from the scene changes the camera work is accommodating and mood-enhancing, adding to the psychological and moral problems the opera addresses and the characters go through.

Overall, great production and one of the best available of Poulenc's masterpiece. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox