Dinorah, ou le pardon de ploermel

While Meyerbeer is not one of my favourites overall, being a case of highly appreciating him than loving him, his operas are still quite interesting and his music is well worth listening to.

It is odd that Meyerbeer was for a composer very rich and his operas quite popular with audiences, if controversial critically (if remembered correct), also that he was one of the nineteenth century's most important composers. Yet his operas are very seldom performed today and the DVD competition (not just for one work, being only about seven productions available on DVD for just five of his operas) this is overall) is incredibly scant, full CD recordings also not much better (most of his music can be found mostly on operatic highlights records).

There are quite a few reasons as to why Meyerbeer is not performed often today. His operas are grand, long in length, can be big in spectacle depending on the production, with large casts with big demands on the lead singers (Raoul from 'Les Huguenots' being especially difficult). Consequently they are very costly to put on, musically they are taxing and some might say that the stories/librettos for his operas are reasonably old fashioned- 'L'Africaine' being a prime example- with not enough to sustain the long lengths. That he was controversial critically (Schumann and Wagner were particularly critical of him, while the likes of Berlioz and even Tchaikovsky were more complimentary) and also as a critic was a further reason, and in the twentieth century his work fell out of favour for all these reasons, and that he was Jewish may have been another factor.

Such a shame really, because there is some interesting characterisation and drama in his operas (one of the reasons why 'Les Huguenots', often considered his masterpiece and this reviewer agrees, works so well). And his music is really quite beautiful, the most justifiably famous parts being "O Paradiso" ('L'Africaine'), "Coronation March" (Le Prophete'), "Ombre légère" ('Dinorah') and "O Beau Pays" ('Les Huguenots'), though they are not the only parts worth listening to. 'Dinorah' is, because it's one of his least grand and narratively simpler (though the music is still demanding), perhaps one of his accessible. As said already, it's most famous for "Ombre légère", nicknamed Dinorah's Shadow Aria, but the music is all round lovely and it's hardly a dull opera.

This production, performed as part of Théâtre Impérial De Compiegne's purpose of reviving obscure French opera, is the only production of 'Dinorah' available on DVD, but that shouldn't be the only distinction it should have. It is a great production of Dinorah, of Meyerbeer in general and as a production of any opera in its own right. The painterly pastoral settings and décor and rustic costumes are very easy on the eye. Opera traditionalists who dislike concept or modern productions will be delighted to know that this is a traditional production, not surprising seeing as pretty much all of the DVDs available of Théâtre Impérial De Compiegne's obscure French productions are traditional. Pierre Jourdan's stage direction is charming and always involving, never once falling into static movements or gestures, gratuitous distaste and irrelevance. Loved that adorable ballet.

On DVD, it looks impressive (especially for Kultur, whose video and DVD releases often to me have disappointed), with dynamic and unobtrusive video directing, clear and not blurry picture quality and crystalline and surprisingly resonant sound that doesn't undermine Meyerbeer's music at all.

Musically, the performance is really wonderful. Throughout the orchestral playing is first class, with beautiful tone, tight ensemble, fluid nuanced phrasing and wide dynamic and emotional range. Ensembles on stage are well-rehearsed and match the orchestra in quality of sound. The conducting accommodates the performers and drama but never lets the pulse drag, so that the story continually has pulse.

Performances are similarly without complaint. Isabelle Phillippe sings splendidly in the showstopper "Ombre légère" (in its extended, complete form, hooray!), and elsewhere displays a warm sound, never-sloppy colouratura technique, a wide range of tone colour and dynamics, smooth phrasing and a stage presence that charms, moves and glues one to the ends of their seats until the production is over. The most dramatic music from 'Dinorah' comes from Hoël, and Armand Arapian is dignified in acting and powerful in voice, though his make-up does age him a touch too much for my tastes that one might be forgiven if they thought he looked too old for Dinorah. Frédéric Mazzotta's music as Corentin is not memorable or his role not as interesting as Dinorah and Hoël, but he is very strong vocally and dramatically (some of the best acting came from him actually, a refreshing change from seeing one too many tenors with decent to great voices but non-demonstrative acting skills). The rest of the cast support them more than solidly with some enviously darkly rich mezzo soprano singing from one of the Shepherds.

Overall, a great production and demonstrates why Meyerbeer deserves to be performed more frequently if possible and his music more well known beyond a handful of operatic highlights. 9/10 Bethany Cox