Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites (Sydney, 1984)

Cast; Isobel Buchan (Blanche), Joan Sutherland (New Prioress), Heather Begg (Mother Marie), Lone Koppel (Old Prioress), Anne-Marie McDonald (Constance); Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Richard Bonynge (conductor), Elijah Moshinsky (director), John Bury (designer), Henry Prokop (video director)

Recorded at Sydney Opera House, 15 September 1984

Issued on DVD by Kultur in 2002 [D2088, NTSC/Region 1, menus in English, no subtitles]

Technical details
Aspect ratio 4:3
PCM stereo

Running Time 159 minutes

Sung in English
 A correct but dispassionate reading does not do justice to the work. The production is conventional throughout: sets, costumes and staging. There are moments when one can recognize the English, particularly from Blanche's father, but on the whole the text is lost in a generic tonality. Bonynge's lack of inflection connives with the unintelligible text to make this performance hard going for the viewer.

Buchan sings well, but walks through the role both vocally and dramatically. Dame Joan is surely the justification for this release and lacks only conviction in bringing it off. Koppel disapoints, shrilling the role instead of singing it. Begg is the one reminder of what effective portrayal can be. The picture is slightly soft; audio is fine, though it might favor the singers a bit more. Perhaps then the text would be more nearly undersandable. Note, too, that Kultur's documentation is even more limited than usual; not even the singers' roles are called out.

Two effective performances have been telecast, but neither is available commercially at this writing. If either should be distributed, note that the Met (Ewing, Norman in English) is on a grand scale with semi-abstract staging; the Canadian (Welhasch, Vaness in French) is more immediate.
 
Related website:
Kultur www.kultur.com
 
Michael Richter, 28 December 2003
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.