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Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmelites on Blu Ray - excellent




We were not expecting a laugh a minute with this grim story but what we did get was superb singing, staging, lighting and photography.

Act One was a warm up to get attuned to the style of the music, something quite different to classic Italian opera, but not way out and discordant as some modern works are. As the opera progressed we settled in to appreciate the beauty of the music amid the appropriately stark stage with its clever lighting.

I was not as moved in the final scenes as is reported in the following reviews and possibly they inspired unreal expectations but that is not to say those scenes were unappreciated.

Recommended.

Here are some notes I'd prepared for the evening which you might find interesting.

Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites Live at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, 2013
CAST:

Sophie Koch (Mère Marie de l'Incarnation)

Patricia Petibon (Blanche de La Force)

Véronique Gens(Madame Lidoine)

Sandrine Piau (Soeur Constance de Saint Denis)

Rosalind Plowright (Madame de Croissy)

Topi Lehtipuu (Le Chevalier de La Force)

Philippe Rouillon (Le Marquis de La Force)

Annie Vavrille (Mère Jeanne de l'Enfant Jésus)

Sophie Pondjiclis (Soeur Mathilde)

François Piolino (Le Père confesseur du couvent)

Jérémy Duffau (Le premier commissaire)

Yuri Kissin (Le second commissaire, un officier)

Matthieu Lécroart (Le geôlier)

Philharmonia Orchestra & Chœur du Théâtre des Champs-Elysées,
Jérémie Rhorer (conductor) & Olivier Py (director)

DESCRIPTION OF THE OPERA:
Dialogues des carmélites (Dialogues of the Carmelites) is a 1956 French-language opera in twelve scenes and several orchestral interludes, grouped into three acts, by Francis Poulenc. It is the composer's second opera; he wrote the libretto after a scheme by novelist Georges Bernanos. Its première took place (in an Italian translation) in January 1957 at La Scala in Milan; premières in Paris, France in French and in the United States (in English translation) in San Francisco followed the same year.
It tells a somewhat fictionalised version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, in 1794 during the closing days of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation.

THE PRODUCTION
At the end of 2013, the year that marked the 50th anniversary of Francis Poulenc's death, his gripping and moving operatic masterpiece, Dialogues des Carmélites was staged in Paris by director Olivier Py with a cast featuring some of France's finest female singers - Patricia Petitbon, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau and Sophie Koch - under the baton of Jérémie Rohrer. Le Figaro described the production as "a thing of wonder," while Le Monde called it: "A masterpiece ... the most exciting and consummately achieved show to have been seen on a Parisian stage in a long time … This was great work, magisterial and unforgettable."
"The memorable Dialogues des Carmélites at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées marked the climax of commemorative activities for the 50th anniversary of Poulenc's death," wrote Opera magazine of the production of Poulenc's gripping and moving opera that was staged by the French director Olivier Py in Paris in December 2013.
Among operas composed in the post-War era, Dialogues des Carmélites, first seen in 1957 at La Scala, is one of the most frequently performed and best loved. Set during the French Revolution, it tells the story of a highly-strung young aristocrat, Blanche de la Force, who seeks peace by joining a convent and finally goes to the guillotine with her fellow nuns. Faith, fear, and sacrifice are among the issues it addresses with music - sometimes austere, sometimes sensuous, sometimes both at once - that exemplifies Poulenc's characteristic amalgam of simplicity and sophistication. Its final scene, as the nuns go one by one to their execution while singing a soaring 'Salve regina', is of spine-tingling pathos and power.
The stark, monochrome decor for Py's production, designed by André Weitz, makes use of sliding panels that open and close to create the acting space or reveal expressionist vistas, while the costumes evoke the first half of the 20th century rather than the era of the Revolution itself. Especially striking is the death scene of Madame de Croissy, the old Prioress, searingly sung and acted by the British mezzo-soprano Rosalind Plowright: the audience views her agonies as if from above, since her bed is mounted vertically on the rear panel of the stage. Later in the opera, when it comes to the final night in their convent, before their expulsion by the revolutionaries, the nuns are assembled as if for the Last Supper, while the stunning, transcendent final scene is set against a starry sky.
Duration: 169 minutes

Synopsis
Place: Paris and Compiègne, 1789-94
Time: during the French Revolution
Act 1
Against the setting of the French Revolution, when crowds stop carriages in the street and aristocrats are attacked, the pathologically timid Blanche de la Force decides to retreat from the world and enter a Carmelite monastery. The Mother Superior informs her that the Carmelite Order is not a refuge; it is the duty of the nuns to guard the Order, not the other way around. In the convent, the jolly Sister Constance tells Blanche (to her consternation) that she has had a dream that the two of them will die young together. The prioress, who is dying, commits Blanche to the care of Mother Marie. The Mother Superior passes away in great agony, shouting in her delirium that despite her long years of service to God, He has abandoned her. Blanche and Mother Marie, who witness her death, are shaken.
Act 2
Sister Constance remarks to Blanche that the prioress' death seemed unworthy of her, and speculates that she had been given the wrong death, as one might be given the wrong coat in a cloakroom. She said that perhaps someone else will find death surprisingly easy. Perhaps we die not for ourselves alone, but for each other.
Blanche's brother, the Chevalier de la Force, arrives to announce that their father thinks Blanche should withdraw from the monastery, since she is not safe there (being both an aristocrat and the member of a religious community, at a time of anti-aristocrat and anti-clericalism in the rising revolutionary tides). Blanche refuses, saying that she has found happiness in the Carmelite Order. Later she admits to Mother Marie that it is fear (or the fear of fear itself, as the Chevalier expresses it) that keeps her from leaving.
The chaplain announces that he has been forbidden to preach (presumably for being a non-juror under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy). The nuns remark on how fear rules the country, and no one has the courage to stand up for the priests. Sister Constance asks, "Are there no men left to come to the aid of the country?" "When priests are lacking, martyrs are superabundant," replies the new Mother Superior. Mother Marie says that the Carmelites can save France by giving their lives, but the Mother Superior corrects her: it is not permitted to choose to become a martyr; God decides who will be martyred.
A police officer arrives and announces to the community that the Legislative Assembly has nationalized the monastery and its property, and the nuns must give up their religious habits. When Mother Marie acquiesces, the officer taunts her for being eager to dress like everyone else. She replies that the nuns will continue to serve, no matter how they are dressed. "The people have no need of servants," proclaims the officer haughtily. "No, but they have a great need for martyrs," responds Mother Marie. "In times like these, death is nothing," he says. "Life is nothing," she answers, "when it is so debased."
Act 3
In the absence of a new prioress, Mother Marie proposes that the nuns take a vow of martyrdom. However, all must agree, or Mother Marie will not insist. A secret vote is held; there is one dissenting voice. Sister Constance declares that she was the dissenter, and that she has changed her mind, so the vow can proceed. Blanche runs away from the monastery, and Mother Marie goes to look for her, finding her in her father's library. Her father has been guillotined, and Blanche has been forced to serve her former servants.
The nuns are all arrested and condemned to death, but Mother Marie is away (with Blanche, presumably) at the time. The chaplain tells Mother Marie when they meet again that since God has chosen to spare her, she cannot voluntarily become a martyr by joining the others in prison. The nuns (one by one) slowly mount the scaffold, singing the "Salve Regina" ("Hail, Holy Queen"). At the last minute, Blanche appears, to Constance's joy, and joins the condemned community. Having seen all the other nuns executed, as she mounts the scaffold, Blanche sings the final stanza of the "Veni Creator Spiritus," "Deo Patri sit gloria...", the Catholic hymn traditionally used when taking vows in a religious community and offering one's life to God.

GRAMOPHONE REVIEW
Though hardly a star vehicle, this Dialogues of the Carmelitesfeatures four celebrated Gallic sopranos, any one of whom would be a significant attraction, directed by distinguished, individualistic artists both from the pit (Jérémie Rhorer) and on the stage (Olivier Py). The outcome in this convergence of talent isn't exactly revisionist but puts the opera's characters and narrative into a sharper focus and at a higher than usual emotional pitch.
In the ascetic spirit of the Carmelite order, the orchestra is stripped bare of any orchestral frosting in a sound palette that's more like Britten's than Poulenc's sacred works that were obviously a point of reference for this story of a religious order killed in the French Revolution. Visually, the production's never-dreary study in greys is interrupted mostly by the red hair shared by Patricia Petibon (Blanche) and Topi Lehtipuu (as Blanche's brother) - as well as a backdrop that perhaps represents the Great Beyond, with white and sky-blue abstract shapes suggesting late-period Matisse. By the time the Carmelites are imprisoned in Act 3, designer Pierre-André Weitz has only an endless field of bars, telegraphing the hopelessness of the Carmelites. The death scene is so simple that describing it doesn't spoil the surprise: the nuns are simply lined up onstage and leave one by one with each chop of the guillotine. It's here that one must give cast-wide praise for the profoundly eloquent singing heard in these final moments.
Petibon's high-strung Blanche looks a bit old beyond her years; heightened perception of the world's ills has worn heavily upon her. Even in the convent, her more serene lower-vibrato white tone feels more imposed from without than coming up from within. Elsewhere, the bleakness can be relentless. Véronique Gens is a lean, nervous (rather than benevolent) Madame Lidoine. Sandrine Piau makes the usually more playful Sister Constance a more intense philosophical sparring partner with Blanche in the convent's ongoing psychological self-flagellation. As Mother Marie, Sophie Koch's strong presence puts a particularly sharp point on the severity of Carmelite life, the members of which are constantly positioning themselves on the highest possible moral ground.
Rosalind Plowright maintains great vocal and dramatic tension in the Mother Superior's overly long death scene. Ultimately, the production and performances take the opera beyond the nuns' story but question the moral responsibility of martyrdom. Do they die in vain? Or does their fatal commitment to their beliefs somehow elevate society's zeitgeist?

ANOTHER REVIEW
Champs Elysees in Paris was firmly focussed on the nuns themselves. Quite rightly so, given that the cast included some of the strongest female Franco-phone singers around today. We caught the third performance, on Sunday 15 December 2014, with a cast including Patricia Petibon as Blanche, Sabine Devieilhe as Soeur Constance (replacing Sandrine Piau who was ill), Veronique Gens as Madame Lidoine (the Young Prioress), Sophie Koch as Mere Marie, Rosalind Plowright as Madame de Croissy (the Old Prioress) with Topi Lehtipuu as the Chevalier de la Force and Philippe Rouillon as the Marquis de la Force. Jeremie Rhorer conducted, with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the pit. Pierre-Andrew Weitz designed the sets and costumes.
The set consisted of a dark wooden box with a false perspective. Screens could cut off the box at various points and the rear opened to reveal a landscape of bare trees. Trees, huge bare and black, formed the centrepiece of one of the screens which could slide into place. The production never passed out of the convent or the prison. The chorus (la foule) were always off-stage and the functionaries of the revolution (Jeremy Duffau, Yuri Kissin and Mathieu Lecroart) did many of their scenes from the auditorium. The scene between Mere Marie (Sophie Koch) and the Father Confessor (Francois Piolino) took place in the auditorium and Koch's Mere Marie watched the final action from there, unable to participate.
The setting was roughly 1930, costumes had a timeless elegance but with enough hints of period (for example the shortness of Blanche's skirt, the style of Mere Marie's hat in the final scenes and the military cut of the revolutionaries' greatcoats). The nuns habits were simple, but very elegantly cut.
Whereas many productions in the UK choose to emphasise the French revolutionary period, Py and Weitz preferred to bring out the universality of the story.
The nuns' life was clearly austere, but intensely felt. Py used Poulenc's orchestral interludes to have the nuns re-enacting religious tableaux, including most importantly the last supper and the crucifixion. Unlike some productions, we saw no specifically religious ritual. Instead Py and Weitz concentrated on the nuns' interior life; the sense of an austerely inward spirituality and the rather awkward notion of the transference of grace which is central to the opera.

FURTHER COMMENT
Dialogues des carmélites (Dialogues of the Carmelites) is a 1956 French-language opera in twelve scenes and several orchestral interludes, grouped into three acts, by Francis Poulenc. It is the composer's second opera; he wrote the libretto himself after a scheme by Georges Bernanos. Its première took place (in an Italian translation) in January 1957 at Teatro alle Scala in Milano; French and American premières followed the same year.
The stylish and deliciouse scenography and how it was lightened up was giving wonderful perspective to the staging, very well made.
The music was in the best hands , conducted by Jérémie Rhorer and with Philharmoni Orchestra. I liked the regi by Olivier Py.
The opera has been widely praised, and opera historian Charles Osborne reflected on it saying "The inexorable dramatic movement of the work is impressive and, in the final scene in which the nuns walk in procession to the guillotine chanting the Salve regina, extremely moving. Poulenc also found an easy and effective style to which to carry forward without monotony the scenes of convent life."
Poulenc acknowledged his debt to Mussorgsky, Monteverdi, Verdi, and Debussy in the dedication of this opera but still felt apologetic about the opera's conservative harmonic language saying "You must forgive my Carmelites. It seems they can only sing tonal music."
Opera historians, such as Anthony Tommasini,(chief music critic for The New York Times) feel there is nothing to be ashamed of, saying the "subtle and intricate tonal language is by turns hymnal and haunting. Though scored for a large orchestra, the instruments are often used in smaller groups selected for particular effects and colorings.
The most distinctive element of the score, though, is its wonderfuly natural vocal writing, which capture the rhythms and lyrical flow of the libertto in eloquent music that hardly calls attention to itself yet lingers with you."

THE CONDUCTOR:
Jérémie Rhorer is an artist who combines intellectual rigour and absolute clarity of musical vision to produce thrilling performances of both operatic and symphonic repertoire.
Rhorer made his Wiener Staatsoper debut in 2011 and his Glyndebourne debut in 2013 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted Poulenc's Dialogue des Carmelites with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in December 2013, winning the Syndicat des Critiques Francaises award for Best Opera Production. Recent operatic highlights also include Gluck's Orfeo at the Wiener Festwochen, the world premiere of Thierry Escaich's Claude in Lyon, Spontini's La Vestale at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, and Le nozze di Figaro at the Wiener Staatsoper. Rhorer is an annual visitor to La Monnaie where he conducted the complete Egmont in concert last season. Operatic highlights this season include Die Entführung aus dem Serail for his debut for Frankfurt Opera, La Clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Cosi fan Tutte with the Bavarian State Opera and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Festival International d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.
In 2010, Rhorer made his Salzburg Festival debut conducting the Mozarteum Orchestra, and in 2011 his North American debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, where he returned last season. He has also made returns to the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic orchestras. Rhorer has also recently conducted the National Arts Centre Ottawa orchestra in Vaughan Williams, and the Scottish Chamber in Beethoven. He has regular relationships with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Basler Kammerorchester and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. He has also conducted the Ensemble Modern (Weill Seven Deadly Sins with Angelika Kirschlager). Future symphonic debuts include Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Atlanta Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Residentie orchestras and, in 2015, he makes his debut with the Swedish Chamber and conducts in Japan for the first time, with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.
Rhorer studied the harpsichord, theory and composition at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris, assisting Marc Minkowski and William Christie at a young age, and forming a contemporary music ensemble. He then shot to prominence conducting Mozart operas at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Aix and Beaune Festivals and Opera Comique with his period orchestra Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, founded in 2005 together with violinist Julien Chauvin. They made their London debut at the Barbican in 2011, appear every year at the Musikfest Bremen and Bozar in Brussels, and have a residency in Deauville, alongside Rhorer's Artistic Directorship of the Mozart Festival at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees 2011-13 (conducting staged productions of Idomeneo, Cosi and Don Giovanni). They have made several discs for Virgin Classics/EMI and are now bringing their fresh approach to Liszt and the Beethoven symphonies on Naïve.
Jérémie Rhorer is also a notable composer. He is a winner of the 'Pierre Cardin Composition Prize' of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and he has several commissioned works by the French Radio. His complete chamber music compositions were performed at the festival in La Roche-Posay in 2006, and the orchestral version of his piano work Le cimetière des enfantswas premiered by the Orchestre National de Paris in 2008. 2014 sees the world premiere of his new cello concerto in Pau.

What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.


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Topic - Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmelites on Blu Ray - excellent - John C. - Aussie 15:14:36 04/20/15 (3)

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