Lakme

Those of us who bought this set were utterly charmed by Mesplé's intelligent, thoughtful, alternately vulnerable and independent Lakmé and Burles's sensitively shaded, quintessentially French-sounding Gerald. From the very first entry of Lakme in `Blanche Dourga, pale Siva', Mesple sends goose-bumps to listeners with her ethereal coloratura .

For all its exotically tinged, trademark Orientalism, so fashionable in late-19th-century France, Delibe's opera Lakmé is at heart a simple story of tragically misplaced love. This marvelous and sensitively wrought interpretation renders the intensity of that love story with a surprising emotional credibility. Conductor Michel Plasson allows the music's arching melodies to breathe and unfold leisurely, like a lovingly cultivated floral display; he even discovers hidden nuances within the formulaic fluff that pads Delibe's score. And his vision is shared by the outstanding principals here. As the titular Hindu princess, Natalie Dessay gives a jewel-like performance, full of stunningly shaped phrases and tapered notes that sound like spun silk (and one that can favorably compare with Joan Sutherland's account on London).

Léo Delibes - Lakmé - extraits
Renée Doria - Alain Vanzo - Adrien Legros
Jésus Etcheverry ( 1 CD 1986 )
EAC Rip | FLAC-TRACKS+CUE+LOG Stereo AAD | 1 CD | Scans | 53 Min. | 237 MB
Label : Accord / Catalogue : 149164MU750
Opera / LP Released in 1966 /

Renee Doria has a very unique voice and not a 'cookie cutter' the way a lot of sopranos nowadays sound–I can always tell it is her singing. I love her fast, fluttery vibrato and rich, warm, creamy, powerful middle voice. My only complaint is (as I've heard from some of the youtube posts) that sometimes she puts too much pressure on the notes above the staff and sounds like she is screaming them out. But here she sounds completely polished and nearly seamless from top to bottom.

Lakmé, Delibes greatest opera, is performed by Opera Australia in all its oriental glory. Starring the exquisite coloratura soprano Emma Matthews as the innocent girl priestess Lakmé, and superb tenor Aldo Di Toro as the love-struck Gerald, the story tackles religion and cross-cultural love against a backdrop of British rule in India in the mid-19th century.