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Francis Poulenc's "Dialogues of the Carmelites," one of the few modern operas to catch on with the general public in this city, returned to the repertory of the Met on Saturday night with undiminished success. Based on a 1940s movie script by Georges Bernanos, "The Carmelites" deals with the tragic fate of a community of nuns during the worst excesses of the French Revolution.

In accordance with the composer's wishes, the Met presents "The Carmelites" in English translation. Obviously, Poulenc was not as interested in beguiling the audience with beautiful music as in confronting it with powerful drama. His chief interest, however, was not narrative excitement but spiritual meaning - above all, the lesson to be learned by the young Blanche de la Force about the relationship between self-sacrifice and redemption.

In this crucial role, mezzo- soprano Maria Ewing went a long way toward satisfy Poulenc's requirements. Vulnerable and tense, she communicated vividly the agony of a restless soul in search of peace. But possibly because she was restricted in expressiveness by the need to struggle with a role written for a soprano, she was ultimately less moving than impressive.

In some operatic roles, experience is more important than vocal resources. So it is with that of Madame de Croissy, the Carmelite prioress who dies in a state of spiritual agony. Using a wealth of vocal inflections (as well as a few telling gestures), Regine Crespin, at the age of 60. succeeded in making one feel as never before the utter desperation of the character's attempt to find spiritual consolation at the threshold of death.

Hardly less effective was mezzo-soprano Florence Quiver as Mother Marie. As Madame Lidoine, Jessye Norman, though often beautiful to hear, was verbally - and thus interpretively - a cipher. Ironically, the clearest enunciation of the text came from Crespin, who sang with a strong French accent, but gave every word its due. As Sister Constance, Betsy Norden chattered away with appropriate cheerfulness, though she used too little vibrato.

Manuel Rosenthal's conducting showed conviction - more than John Dexter's 10-year-old production, which does violence to Poulenc's intentions by changing the structure from three acts to two and choreographing the musical interludes. Still, there was never any doubt about the opera's effectiveness.

Search by season: 1986-87

Search by title: Dialogues des Carm?lites,

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