Delibes: Lakmé (2-CD) – Natalie Dessay, Gregory Kunde, José van Dam

Composer: Léo Delibes
Artists: Natalie Dessay, Gregory Kunde, José van Dam, Delphine Haidan, Franck Leguérinel, Patricia Petibon, Xenia Konsek, Bernadette Antoine, Charles Burles, Chœur et Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse
Conductor: Michel Plasson
Number of Discs: 2
Label: Erato
Release Date: September 2, 2022

Opera audiences in 19th-century Paris may never have visited India, but they loved to dream about it. After the successes enjoyed by Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles and Massenet’s Le roi de Lahore, Delibes knew what he was doing when he chose to set an adaptation of Pierre Loti’s novel Rarahu, and duly scored a hit with his opera Lakmé at the Opéra-Comique in 1883. 

As Lakmé, Natalie Dessay never fails to remember that Delibes’s heroine must be fragile and sensitive. Her delicate fil de voce is perfectly poised, heartfelt, and leaves no doubt that this is a Lakmé who deserves to go to heaven. 

Gregory Kunde, as Gérald, is at ease at the top of his voice, phrasing his opening solo, “Fantaisie aux divins mensonges,” with poetic sensibility. In the duets, he and Dessay are tender young love personified.

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