Isabel Leonard and David Portillo sing Blanche and the Chevalier de la Force’s Act II duet in the final dress rehearsal. Production: John Dexter. Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 2018-19 season.
This is ONE of my favorite moments in this epic work and they start RIGHT at my FAVORITE melodic line of Blanches "Oh, do not leave me so with bitter anger and defiance. Alas, you are so accustom to pity me, that you can not see your way to grant me respect that you would give to the humblest of your friends"... maybe only next to that part in the first scene where she sings "So I can find a cure for the fear and the torment that's been with me all of my life. if I could not believe that our Lord is guiding my life and fate I would die of shame at your feet. If it be quite possible, that you (her Father) are right, that I've never given life a chance. But God will understand. I give my life to him, I abandon all, I renounce the world. May he restore me to grace." THIS production was SUBLIME....
I think it's one of the most profound works ever written... Poulenc even received the stigmata while writing it... or so I've heard... maybe that's only legend...
I have never understood why the Met keeps reviving this work and production. It's a second rate work. Is it because it is so cheap to bring back with its minimalist sets? At one point the Met simply reused the costumes from Suor Angelica?
She’s a soprano trained as lyric mezzo with darkening of the voice. It doesn’t sound good when she tries to sing this role. So Met have no lyric sopranos?
