Prom 31: Glyndebourne Opera's production of Poulenc's Carmelites, a gripping performance triumphs over unfair acoustic and theatrical compromises

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites - final scene - Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Sisi Burn)

Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmelites; Sally Matthews, Katarina Dalayman, Golda Schultz, Karen Cargill, Florie Valiquette, Paul Gay, Valentin Thill, Vincent Ordonneau, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Robin Ticciati; Glyndebourne Festival at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall

Barrie Kosky's new production becomes a gripping exploration of character and emotion in this powerful semi-staged performance of Poulenc's mesmerising opera

Bringing a Glyndebourne Festival Opera production to the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms has become an annual ritual, and a welcome one. It provides a wider and more varied audience for the company's brand of thoughtful and musical opera production. Last year it was Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers, giving her unjustly ignored opera a far wider currency. This year it was the turn of another rarity, Poulenc's Carmelites. 

This is not an unknown opera, of course, but performances are still rare and it generates a fascinating traction, most stagings of the work that I have seen have been, in some way, a bit special. But there are compromises to be made, only the briefest semi-staging is possible given the space available at the Royal Albert Hall; after Poulenc's large orchestra is placed on stage there is room for little else. And the hall's acoustics are not exactly opera friendly, certainly they are a world away from the fine sound of Glyndebourne's current auditorium.

Last night, 7 August 2023, at the Royal Albert Hall, the BBC Proms performance of Glyndebourne Festival Opera's production of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites featured Robin Ticciati conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with Sally Matthews as Blanche, Katarina Dalayman as Madame de Croissy (Old Prioress), Golda Schultz as Madame Lidoine (New Prioress), Karen Cargill as Mother Marie of the Incarnation, Florie Valiquette as Sister Constance of St Denis, Paul Gay as Marquis de la Force, Valentin Thill as Chevalier de la Force, and Vincent Ordonneau as Father Confessor. The production was directed by Donna Stirrup based on Barrie Kosky's production for Glyndebourne.

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites - Karen Cargill, Sally Matthews, Robin Ticciati, London Philharmonic Orchestra - Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Sisi Burn)

I have not seen Kosky's original production but reading reviews and seeing photographs, it was clear that what we had was a stripped down version of a production that was quite stripped down anyway. Gone were the large-scale physical gestures of lighting and set, and instead we concentrated simply on the characters and the musical performances. This was more than enough, and despite the unfair acoustic and obvious theatrical compromises, the performance was gripping.

Balance was not ideal and took a while to settle. Concert performances of Poulenc's opera are tricky because having the huge orchestra behind the singers often means that, as here, there is a danger of the orchestra dominating, and not every singer had the knack of making their voices travel the hall's spaces without compromise. But the performances themselves were well worth the concentration.

Sally Matthews wonderfully delineated Blanche's emotional journey. Throughout the first half, particularly in the scenes with her father (Paul Gay) and brother (Valentin Thill), this Blanche was on her dignity yet wound up as tight as a spring. What you got from Matthews' performance was the sense of Blanche's control. As her scenes in the convent developed, Matthews' brought out something else, you felt Blanche's inner spirit develop until the scene with her final farewell to her brother, when Matthews' affirmation of her faith and commitment to Carmel were profoundly moving. Of course, things dissipated immediately, and Matthews depiction of the way Blanche lost almost total control was devastating, leading to the moving final scene. What was noticeable throughout the production was the economy of means and the telling use of small gestures - Matthews' Blanche fighting with Karen Cargill's Mother Marie over a saucepan in the scene where Blanche has fled back to her father's house, and the lovely gesture when Sister Constance (Florie Valiquette) grasps Blanche's hand just before going to the scaffold.

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites - Katarina Dalayman - Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Sisi Burn)

For the opening scenes, Blanche's world is delineated by her relationships with her father, Paul Gay's Marquis, and her brother, Valentin Thill's Chevalier. Both relationships were depicted with remarkable physicality so that Gay's rather stiff Marquis moved between aristocratic control and positively threatening behaviour. Valentin Thill's Chevalier was a remarkable portrait, this was an angry young man, highly physical and rather intense, something that Thill brought out in the Chevalier's final, unsatisfactory farewell to his sister.

Once in the convent, Blanche's world centred on three women, the Old Prioress (Katharina Dalayman), the New Prioress (Golda Schultz) and Mother Marie (Karen Cargill). The Old Prioress is a gift of a role and I have seen some amazing singers performing it including Regine Crespin and Rosalind Plowright. Katharina Dalayman did not disappoint. Frail and needing help from the outset, Dalayman made the woman fierce despite her frailty. The initial interview with Matthews' Blanche was as unsettling as it should be, and then Dalayman's death scene was simply riveting yet finely sung too. The way Matthews' sat right behind Dalayman on the bed as the Old Prioress died hinted at the opera's theme of the transference of grace (the Old Prioress having the 'wrong death'), but also suggested that Kosky had been reading Margaret Attwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Mother Marie began as simply a rather forbidding figure, but charged by the dying Old Prioress to watch over Blanche, her role increased and she almost dominated the second half. Karen Cargill combined a mesmerising stage presence with a superb feel for the music, this was a highly charged yet intensely controlled performance where physical presence, text and phrasing combined. Cargill brought a richly expressive phrasing to every sculpted utterance, yet she was expressive throughout as she has a very speaking countenance, whatever was going on this Mother Marie was reacting to it. And as the second half developed, you felt the way Cargill showed that Mother Marie's faith really burned. In many ways, Mother Marie is the engine of the whole opera, and Cargill did not disappoint bringing a sense of power and intensity to the role, always there yet never dominating.

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites - Valentin Thill, Sally Matthews, Paul Gay, London Philharmonic Orchestra - Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Sisi Burn)

In her initial remarks to her new charges, Golda Schultz really brought out the New Prioress' home-spun, down to earth nature. Schultz made her natural and charming, down to earth but with an easy grace that let Mother Marie's evident rancour slide off her. It was Schultz's New Prioress who ushered the nuns to their death and Schultz' lovely naturalness made these moments rather moving.

Florie Valiquette's Sister Constance was charm itself, with Valiquette making Sister Constance's chatter feel natural against the quiet intensity of Matthews' Blanche. This Sister Constance was more than simply a foil for Matthews' Blanche, and there was an underlying seriousness to Valiquette's performance and she really made you care about Constance, right through to that final gesture.

The smaller male roles were all finely performed. Vincent Ordonneau made a moving Father Confessor, a man without all the answers yet immensely sympathetic. The other men were all of a different cast.
Gavan Ring and Michael Ronan were the two thuggish Commissaries, neither remotely sympathetic, not even the one who tells Mother Marie that he used to be a sacristan. The other revolutionaries were equally unsympathetic, with Theodore Platt as Jailer and Michael Lafferty as an officer. Jamie Woollard and Matthew Nuttall provided fine support as Thierry the footman and M. Javelinot the physician.

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites - Fiona Kimm, Golda Schultz, Theodore Platt, Gavan Ring - Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Sisi Burn)

Each nun was lovingly delineated, creating a sense of a community of characters. Fiona Kimm's fierce, upright Mother Jeanne of the Child Jesus gradually came to the fore during the opera's closing scenes, whilst Jade Moffat was Sister Mathilde. The other nuns, from the Glyndebourne Chorus, were all equally strong and created area sense of community.

The production retained hints of Kosky's original, the time travelling costumes, the details of the nuns' confinement and execution echoing the treatment of the Jews in the Concentration Camps. There were, at times, too many non-musical exclamations, as if Kosky did not quite trust the music, and there were also awkard pauses between Poulenc's scenes when the composer anticipated the music carrying on regardless. I was, however, rather taken with the way the spoken scene was done, with Matthews' Blanche, almost vibrating with anxiety and foreboding, hearing the voices in her head.

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites - Glyndebourne Festival at BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Sisi Burn)

But overall, what we got was a plain exploration of the work and the characters. Robin Ticciati and the London Philharmonic Orchestra played a large role in this. The orchestra's playing wonderfully on point and if at times they were too strong in the balance, what we were hearing was terrific. You can listen to Poulenc's score and pick out all of the references, Stravinsky looms large and the whole was relatively conservative for the 1950s, yet Poulenc combines these elements into something truly remarkable with strong emotional power. Ticciati brought out this sense with his players, the emotional arc of the nuns being echoed by the power of the orchestral playing, culminating in the march to the scaffold before the final scene.

The concert is available on BBC Sounds until early October (30 days after the Last Night of the Proms), do try and catch it.

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