Les diamants de la couronne

Les Diamants De La Couronne is well worth the discovery. It's story is silly but diverting, and the music is beautiful, the Overture, the Act 1 choir-like music, the Act Bolero and the Act 3 Sarabande faring best.

Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne 's productions of lesser-known, often obscure, operas (all in French) are always interesting, and many of them are good, and some like their Heny VIII and Le Songe De La Nuit E'été are outstanding. Their production (also available on audio CD) of Les Diamants De La Couronne is among their better ones. Its only problems really are the meticulously designed but sometimes rather drab-in-colour and occasionally too darkly lit sets – when they could have been grander considering the building- and the lack of subtitles, as somebody studying French for their music degree in vocal and operatic studies it wasn't a problem but it will be for those unfamiliar with the language and with no knowledge of the story.

Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne 's productions can be marred by poor DVDs, with grainy picture quality and lack of clarity in sound with uneven balance. The good news is that Les Diamants De La Couronne contains one of their better DVDs, (though the production is hard to find on DVD) the picture quality is clear and focused with unobtrusive without being static videography and the sound is nicely done and, apart from occasional moments where it favours the orchestra or Raphanel in ensembles, the balance is much better than it can be. The costumes are very sumptuous, and some of the sets are elegant .

Pierre Jourdan's stage direction is very intelligent, nuanced and witty, with no signs of being static or distaste. The large amounts of dialogue is great to begin with, and delivered with lots of character and sparkle if occasionally a little too hastily.

Musically the production is truly super, the orchestra play beautifully and stylishly with lively style and the ability to provide some depth. Edmon Colomer's conducting is very spirited, and the three leads are excellent, with Ghyslaine Raphanel's beautifully sung, with a dark but beautiful tone, really expressive phrasing and surprisingly flexible in the colouratura passages, and sympathetically acted Catarina being particularly good. Christophe Einhorn's singing as Henrique is pleasantly lyrical with no hints of strain or pushing and he is not too stolid as an actor either. The Rebolledo of Armand Arapian is very characterful.

All in all, very entertaining and well done. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox