Léo DELIBES
Lakmé:
Highlights
Joan Sutherland (Lakmé),
Gabriel Bacquier (Nilakantha), Jane Berbié (Mallika), Emile Belcourt
(Hadji), Alain Vanzo (Gérald), Gwenyth Annear (Ellen), Claude Calés
(Frédéric), Josephte Clément (Rose), Monica Sinclair
(Miss Bentzon), Monte Carlo Opera Chorus, Orchestre National de l'Opéra
de Monte-Carlo/Richard
Bonynge
Decca 458 220-2 [68'
06"]
Mid-price
Crotchet
Act 1: Viens Mallika … Dôme épais le jasmin (Flower
Duet); Quand une femme est si jolie …; Prendre le dessin d'un bijou
…Fantaisie aux divins mensonges; Les fleurs me paraissent plus belles
… Pourquoi dans les grands bois; D'où viens-tu? Que veux-tu?
…C'est le dieu de la jeunesse.
Act 2: Allons, avant que midi sonne; Lakmé, ton doux regard
se voile; Ah! …Où va la jeune indoue (Bell Song); Lakmé!
Lakmé! C'est toi! … Dans la forêt près de nous.
Act 3: "Sous le ciel tout étoilé …"; Lakmé!
Lakmé! Qu'as-tu? - Tu m'as donné le plus beau rêve.
Not so long ago I was enthusing about a Joan Sutherland collection from 1960,
her absolute prime. Here in 1967 certain aspects of her art which were widely
criticised had become just that little bit more noticeable, namely her swooning
and her lack of consonants. If you listen to the exchange between Lakmé
and Mallika which opens this disc you might well think Jane Berbié
the more secure singer, though not an especially memorable one. But go to
the Act 3 aria "Sous le ciel tout étoilé", with its melody
based around three repeated notes at the beginning of each line, and you
will have to admit that the means adopted, every repeated note slid into
from below and then the following lines caressed with scarcely a consonant
to break the flow of sound, add up to create an atmosphere of evanescent
softness which could have been obtained in no other way. Her "Bell Song"
is as treasurable as before, with an ease of execution which is almost
frightening and a sinuousness which reeks of oriental mystery. All in all
this was an assumption which we are fortunate to have preserved. Vanzo is
a rather effortful Gérald at times but Bacquier's Nilakantha is
magnificent and the smaller parts range from good to adequate. Bonynge is
sticky in the "Flower Duet" but thereafter conducts with vigour and warmth
as required and pays due attention to the extremely colourful scoring.
What of the music? The exotic libretto and Delibes's warmly romantic idiom
make a heady brew. It is an immensely skilful score even though in the end
it is only the "Flower Duet" and the "Bell Song" which stick in the mind.
The rest is all beautifully melodious without quite evolving into a melody.
Still, there will always be a place for it when someone like Sutherland is
there to sing it. The real opera enthusiast will want it complete (on 2 CDs,
Decca 425 485-2). If you don't wish to stretch to that then this still
fine-sounding recording is well worth having. There is a full synopsis in
English, French and German, and texts in French and English.
Christopher Howell
