Dialogues des Carmelites

Composer: Poulenc, Francis

Librettist/Text Author: Poulenc, Francis

Libretto Source: Bernanos, Georges

Conductor: Nagano, Kent

Orchestra: Bavarian State Orchestra

Chorus: Bavarian State Opera Chorus

Chorus Master: Maspero, Andres

Blanche de la Force: Gritton, Susan

Chevalier de la Force: Richter, Bernard

Madame de Croissy: Brunet, Sylvie

Madame Lidoine: Isokoski, Soile

Marquis de la Force: Vernhes, Alain

Mere Jeanne: Grotzinger, Heike

Mere Marie: Resmark, Susanne

Soeur Constance: Guilmette, Helene

Soeur Mathilde: Morel, Anaik

Set Designer: Tcherniakov, Dmitri

Costume Designer: Zaytseva, Elena

Lighting Designer: Filshtinsky, Gleb

Stage Director: Tcherniakov, Dmitri

Television Director: Sommer, Andy

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Date of Production: 03-2010

Venue: Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich

Playing Time: 02:32:34

Catalogue Number: BAC061

UPC: 3760115300613

Synopsis

Dialogues des Carmelites (NTSC)

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Rife with historical references, Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites is a 20th-century opera masterpiece and an insightful exploration of wide-reaching themes: life, death, honor, and religion. In 1789, at the beginning of French Revolution, Blanche de la Force-daughter of a nobleman-senses the rising wave of anti-aristocratic sentiment and decides to become a nun, hoping to find safety in the convent. After their prioress dies, the whole convent-including the new Sister Blanche of the Agony of Christ-take a vow of martyrdom and, when sentenced to death, resign themselves to their fate, singing the moving "Salve Regina" as they march to the guillotine.

Visionary Russian stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov, winner of four Golden Mask awards for Best Director, transposes Poulenc's opera into a Soviet context, with sparse and unadorned scenography and a stellar cast that includes Susan Gritton as Sister Blanche and Bernard Richter as her brother, the Chevalier de la Force. Under the baton of the great Kent Nagano, the Orchestra and Choir of the Bayerische Staatsoper bring out the poetry in Poulenc's opera, with its "subtle and intricate tonal language [that] is by turns hymnal and haunting" (Anthony Tommasini).