Dialogues des Carmelites is a one-of-a-kind work. Taking place during the French Revolution, it concerns a group of nuns who are guillotined. Our special interest concerns the fate of young Sister Blanche, from an aristocratic family, whose faith wavers but who eventually goes bravely to martyrdom. Poulenc’s score builds through a series of, well, dialogues, to a climactic, hair-raising execution scene. The 1957 Pierre Dervaux-led EMI performance was the mainstay for a long while, but Kent Nagano’s recent reading on Virgin, in excellent sound and with a superb cast, has replaced it. Now this set, from a live 1980 Radio France concert comes along and it’s in an almost dead heat with the Nagano. Jean-Pierre Marty leads a taut performance with a cast that occasionally outshines Nagano’s. Most important is the Blanche of Felicity Lott, who sounds both well-bred and in dire need of help and guidance. It’s a remarkable performance. No less super is the great Regine Crespin’s Old Prioress, who dies painfully and in doubt, her desperation palpable. Mother Marie is handsomely sung by Genevieve Barrial and the remainder of the cast is equally good, although Nagano’s men are somewhat better. This set also boasts an all-French cast whose inflection and enunciation of the text is exemplary. The sound is very good. So it’s either this one or the Nagano, and for Lott’s Blanche, it sways just a bit in this direction.
