Les Dialogues des Carmelites (ROH)

[gurnemanz]

We were there last night and I am glad we went. It is probably not an opera I would return to frequently but I have recorded it and will listen to that. I did find myself listening to the lovely orchestral playing a lot of the time rather than concentrating on the "action". (An anonymous woman next to me felt the urge to communicate to me quite vehemently after Act 1 that it was definitely not her kind of thing.) It was a simple staging but with some striking effects and scene changes, where actors sometimes formed part of the scenery. I've never seen anything quite like the final scene.

A good day out in the metropolis (albeit somewhat disrupted by traffic chaos due to Hammersmith flyover closure) but lovely weather and we included the unmissable Nat Gallery Veronese show in the afternnoon.

[Nick Armstrong]

I did find myself listening to the lovely orchestral playing a lot of the time

[Dave2002]

my memory is of the earlier production tho I had thought it might be earlier - I had stopped going to ENO after a run of IMO very poor productions around 2000

Poor productions. .... I remember some decades earlier. The funniest one was in Janáček's House of the Dead. At the end, when the prisoners take their eagle up to the top of the wall and let it fly away we saw the singer with the bird try to fasten it to a wire which had "unobtrusively" dropped down. There was a bit of fumbling about. Then it was hurled skywards, but actually dive bombed down behind the wall and perhaps hit the floor, with a bit of a clunk. There may have been an audible expletive at that point, after which frantic pulling on wires had it shoot up again at high speed, and then bob up and down and then wobble around a bit before finally giving an impression of flight which had presumably been the original intention!

There may have been other not so good productions, but I did have the feeling that things improved quite a lot during the 1980s and 1990s. I really liked the earlier Magic Flute at ENO, and at some periods some productions were more enjoyable than equivalent, but more prestigious ones at the ROH.

[underthecountertenor]

much better in hall than on the radio (unless you were able to really up the volume) - much of the first half is somewhat slow and on stage appears somewhat wooden - things improve considerably in second half - however my memory of the ENO production (many years ago) was that the final scene was even more harrowing than the current (tho somewhat dated) production.
Much of the action is taking place on the far left of the stage as viewed from hall - thus if in upper slips AA-BB then you miss a fair bit

Not slow enough for some, apparently. I am told by a member of the chorus that, on the night I went (last Monday), an audience member in the stalls audibly exclaimed 'slow down, Rattle!' in Act 1. Absurd posturing.

[LHC]

Poor productions. .... I remember some decades earlier. The funniest one was in Janáček's House of the Dead. At the end, when the prisoners take their eagle up to the top of the wall and let it fly away we saw the singer with the bird try to fasten it to a wire which had "unobtrusively" dropped down. There was a bit of fumbling about. Then it was hurled skywards, but actually dive bombed down behind the wall and perhaps hit the floor, with a bit of a clunk. There may have been an audible expletive at that point, after which frantic pulling on wires had it shoot up again at high speed, and then bob up and down and then wobble around a bit before finally giving an impression of flight which had presumably been the original intention!

There may have been other not so good productions, but I did have the feeling that things improved quite a lot during the 1980s and 1990s. I really liked the earlier Magic Flute at ENO, and at some periods some productions were more enjoyable than equivalent, but more prestigious ones at the ROH.

In the current Covent Garden Ring production, Brunnhilde's first entrance requires her to descend a ladder from the flies onto the stage. Health and safety being what it is, she is clipped to a rope to stop her falling. When she reaches terra firma, she just has to release the clip and then she is free to wander about the stage. On the night I went last season, the clip refused to budge, which left poor Susan Bullock fumbling with the clip with increasing desperation while also trying to sing her 'hojotohos'. Eventually a stage manager came on from the wings and unclipped her.

It wasn't the most auspicious start to her performance.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

- I know some people who would have looked knowingly at each other and muttered "symbolism"!

[Belgrove]

This work should be anathema to one of atheistic sensibility, it is music that reeks of the censer. And yet, for all that piety and dogma, it is extremely moving.

The production is minimalist, no sets, few props, just lighting and movement. The costumes are predominantly the black and white of holy orders, but these have the nuance and richness of tone created by the lighting that is captured in the ecstatic chiaroscuro paintings of Zurbaran. Prior to their execution, the members of the order are confined in a pathetic huddle by a lozenge of light alone; they need not be nuns, they could be inmates at Auschwitz, the Gulag, Toul Sleng ... . They go to their deaths because of what they are and believe in, and that is why Poulenc's work has a universality that transcends its Revolutionary and ecclesiastical setting. But Madame de Croissy also goes to her death, but she believes in nothing and is terrified by it. This work presents us with both the agony and the ecstasy.

Last night the singing was not of the highest order in truth, poor diction being the principal gripe, in what is a text heavy work. An honourable exception was Yann Beuron as Blanche's brother, who projected with clarity. Poulenc sanctioned this being performed in the vernacular, which ought to be seriously considered if the principals are not natural French speakers. But strangely this did not matter because of the power of the production and of Simon Rattle's glorious conducting of the score. Such a strange score, with melody rarely established only during the ecclesiastical scenes, but what harmonies, sometimes Stravinsky, sometimes Debussy, aways Poulenc; this is music that swoons and intoxicates. The orchestra played with a burnished sonority that seemed to fill all the available space in the theatre with saturated sound. The last scene is pure cinema, set to music that puts to shame most of the stuff peddled by R3 on a Saturday afternoon. It was staged with great simplicity, sensitivity and, yes, beauty. The audience were stunned into silence at the blackout. There is nothing more to say.

[Simon Biazeck]

This work should be anathema to one of atheistic sensibility, it is music that reeks of the censer. And yet, for all that piety and dogma, it is extremely moving.

The production is minimalist, no sets, few props, just lighting and movement. The costumes are predominantly the black and white of holy orders, but these have the nuance and richness of tone created by the lighting that is captured in the ecstatic chiaroscuro paintings of Zurbaran. Prior to their execution, the members of the order are confined in a pathetic huddle by a lozenge of light alone; they need not be nuns, they could be inmates at Auschwitz, the Gulag, Toul Sleng ... . They go to their deaths because of what they are and believe in, and that is why Poulenc's work has a universality that transcends its Revolutionary and ecclesiastical setting. But Madame de Croissy also goes to her death, but she believes in nothing and is terrified by it. This work presents us with both the agony and the ecstasy.

Last night the singing was not of the highest order in truth, poor diction being the principal gripe, in what is a text heavy work. An honourable exception was Yann Beuron as Blanche's brother, who projected with clarity. Poulenc sanctioned this being performed in the vernacular, which ought to be seriously considered if the principals are not natural French speakers. But strangely this did not matter because of the power of the production and of Simon Rattle's glorious conducting of the score. Such a strange score, with melody rarely established only during the ecclesiastical scenes, but what harmonies, sometimes Stravinsky, sometimes Debussy, aways Poulenc; this is music that swoons and intoxicates. The orchestra played with a burnished sonority that seemed to fill all the available space in the theatre with saturated sound. The last scene is pure cinema, set to music that puts to shame most of the stuff peddled by R3 on a Saturday afternoon. It was staged with great simplicity, sensitivity and, yes, beauty. The audience were stunned into silence at the blackout. There is nothing more to say.

Nice post - very thoughtful. Thank you. I struggled with Carsen's staging of the final scene, however beautifully executed (sorry!) it was. I wished the sisters had been swallowed up by that ever-present crowd; perhaps retreating whilst facing forward and then out of sight for the chop. We've been through the opera with them in the space on stage, and to see them go away is vital, in my view, but what do I know? Carsen's the great director. Having said that, I found all of the previous scenes' mise en scène very moving and often unexpectedly so. I built up my expectations and hoped to be completely devastated at the end - alas, no. Perhaps I'm just an emotional husk, but I think not!

Everything you've said about the opera is spot on, but I would like to add that Poulenc's writing for the different voice types (fach, pl. fächer) is so good that in an opera without a single aria one gets brilliant characterisation and psychology through the text. Better diction would, of course, aid this, but the writing still comes up trumps. It is indeed a great opera!

[Belgrove]

Simon. I agree entirely with what you said about Poulenc's distinctive writing for the different voice types. So important when one cannot easily distinguish characters by sight because of the similarity of their costumes.

It is a remarkable and singular work and the overall quality of the performance confirms that the ROH is in the top rank internationally. The performance I saw will live long in the memory.

[David-G]

Belgrove and Simon, thanks for your excellent and thoughtful contributions. I too was puzzled by the way the ending was staged. The execution scene was very stylised, whereas hitherto everything had been very straightforward. The guillotine strokes are precisely delineated in the music, but the nuns crumpled so slowly that I lost sight of each stroke being the death of a specific person. This aspect of the staging seemed to lack the precise focus that had been so evident hitherto.

[Simon Biazeck]

Belgrove and Simon, thanks for your excellent and thoughtful contributions. I too was puzzled by the way the ending was staged. The execution scene was very stylised, whereas hitherto everything had been very straightforward. The guillotine strokes are precisely delineated in the music, but the nuns crumpled so slowly that I lost sight of each stroke being the death of a specific person. This aspect of the staging seemed to lack the precise focus that had been so evident hitherto.

Exactement! Merci bien!

[Simon Biazeck]

Simon. I agree entirely with what you said about Poulenc's distinctive writing for the different voice types. So important when one cannot easily distinguish characters by sight because of the similarity of their costumes.

It is a remarkable and singular work and the overall quality of the performance confirms that the ROH is in the top rank internationally. The performance I saw will live long in the memory.

[underthecountertenor]

Nice post - very thoughtful. Thank you. I struggled with Carsen's staging of the final scene, however beautifully executed (sorry!) it was. I wished the sisters had been swallowed up by that ever-present crowd; perhaps retreating whilst facing forward and then out of sight for the chop. We've been through the opera with them in the space on stage, and to see them go away is vital, in my view, but what do I know? Carsen's the great director. Having said that, I found all of the previous scenes' mise en scène very moving and often unexpectedly so. I built up my expectations and hoped to be completely devastated at the end - alas, no. Perhaps I'm just an emotional husk, but I think not!

Emotional husk: now, WHERE have I heard that phrase before, Simon?

[Simon Biazeck]

Emotional husk: now, WHERE have I heard that phrase before, Simon?

I couldn't possibly say, without naming the individual. My chocolates and wine at the Manon Lescaut of your choice, please. I'm waiting!

[underthecountertenor]

I couldn't possibly say, without naming the individual. My chocolates and wine at the Manon Lescaut of your choice, please. I'm waiting!

The chocs are past their sell-by date now, so I'm going to have to get some more. I've not eaten them: they're sitting in my room quietly melting and rotting!