Les pêcheurs de perles

"The production is quite handsome ... Although there's nothing particularly realistic about any of it, the staging works well, giving off just the right exotic aura ... it's a fine performance, the tenor notwithstanding".

"Handlingen foregår blandt perlefiskere på Ceylon, og i de to første akter kan man nyde den opulente regi, som The Met er så kendt for. I terrasseformede omgivelser ser man små hytter, et lille Brahma-tempel - og man godtager det som Ceylon for er par århundreder siden. Men i tredje akt skifter regien helt karakter, nu befinder man sig i et nyere overdimensioneret arkivlokale. Perlefiskernes leder, Zurga har en bærbar computer stående på sit skrivebord ... Et sceneskift, der er svært at sluge for denne anmelder - regissøren har efter min opfattelse i den grad sat sig mellem to stole. Enten skal man opdatere eller lade være".

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"Updated to Sri Lanka and located in a shanty village clinging to the seashore Woolcock finds a double drama in Bizet's opera ... The sea is evident in the music, Gianandrea Noseda drawing sumptuous playing from the Met Orchestra ... The Met fields a magnificent cast ... But it's Diana Damrau's Leïla who steals the audience's heart ... Her appeal to Zurga to spare Nadir's life would make the very pebbles on the seashore weep".

"The performances are mostly more than acceptable, despite some truly appallingly accented French ... So if it's the familiar duet you want, go for this new recording".