GREAT RECORDINGS phase 12

POULENC: DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES
Denise Duval, Régine Crespin
Denise Scharley, Rita Gorr
Liliane Berton, Xavier Depraz
Paul Finel & Louis Rialland
Chœur et Orchestre du Théâtre
National de l'Opéra de Paris
Pierre Dervaux

5 62751 2 (2CDs)

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'A classic and irreplaceable recording. It is evident that the singers were inspired by the piece to give of their considerable best and Pierre Dervaux's conducting of the work is both inspired and inspiriting.' (Gramophone)

Award: Diapason d'Or, France

Poulenc's operatic masterpiece was premiered in Italy (in Italian!) in January 1957 and received its first French performance the following June with a superb cast (drawn from the leading French singers of the time), who, a year later, made this classic recording under the expert direction of Pierre Dervaux.

The story of the Carmelite nuns from Compiègne who defied the secularising decrees of the French Revolution and went to the guillotine in July 1794 is simple enough, but at a deeper level the opera explores how a closed community copes with questions of life and death when confronted by manifest evil.

The pivotal role of Blanche, the young novice who must overcome her 'fear of fear itself' to die a martyr at the opera's shattering end, was written for Denise Duval, a voice and personality dear to the composer.