Lalo Le roi d’Ys

Giuseppina Piunti, Margared
Guylaine Girard, Rozenn
Eric Martin-Bonnet, le Roi d’Ys ;
Sébastien Guèze, Mylio
Werner Van Mechelen, Karnac.

Mise en scène :Jean-Louis Pichon.
Décors : Alexandre Heyraud.
Costumes : Frédéric Pineau.

Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Wallonie/Patrick Davin


DVD Dynamic 33592

This opera about love rivalry between two sister princesses used to be popular in France, but this revival for a first appearance on DVD does it no favours. The production is fusty and, often, risible, with peculiar costumes and stock acting.

The settings are minimal and the singing OK but no more than that. The orchestra is well conducted to do for it what can be. It is very much a provincial realisation in Liege, and not deserving of world wide distribution, though a few avid "collectors" of vanished operas may want it.

Definitely one for CD and your own imagination. See enthusiastic review for Amazon by Ralph Moore of the inexpensive Paris/Devaux recording [Gala 599].

Peter Grahame Woolf