{"id":6462,"date":"2023-08-31T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/?p=6462"},"modified":"2023-10-27T22:31:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T22:31:30","slug":"poulenc-through-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/2023\/08\/31\/poulenc-through-glass\/","title":{"rendered":"Poulenc through glass"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I didn&#8217;t plan my Proms season, and my decision to go to the Glyndebourne Prom performance of Poulenc&#8217;s <em>Dialogues des Carm\u00e9lites<\/em> was a spontaneous one made earlier that day.  This opera (did any have a more offputting title?) is one of those works like Bach&#8217;s <em>Coffee Cantata<\/em> that really shouldn&#8217;t exist but does.  I have wanted to get to a performance of it for some time and suddenly realised that here was my chance.<\/p>\n<p>I decided to treat myself to a seat in one of the boxes, hoping to avoid the noisy eating, fidgeting and conversation that have blighted a lot of recent Proms concerts that I&#8217;ve been to &#8211; although perhaps there were fewer disruptive people at this Prom than at many others.  I was in Loggia 07, Seat 8.  This was at quite a sharp angle to the stage, but I knew this in advance and didn&#8217;t mind too much that I&#8217;d see the action almost sideways on.  What I did mind was that there was a glass panel between me and the stage (and the orchestra).  This blocked the sound and I felt that this seat should be charged less than others in the box for that reason.  I suspect the panel is a relatively recent addition, decided on by someone with a tin ear.<\/p>\n<p>The production retained (I&#8217;m told) much of the Glyndebourne staging.  It was largely in period though with some 20th\/21st century  intrusions. (I noticed an iron with an electric flex)  It was as well performed and as moving as I could have wished for.  I won&#8217;t add to the glowing reviews cited below &#8211; this was generally agreed to be one of the best Proms of the season so I chose well &#8211; except to single out Karen Cargill&#8217;s Mother Marie, whose sternness thawed as the action progressed.<\/p>\n<p>Reviews:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seenandheard-international.com\/2023\/08\/glyndebourne-operas-dialogue-of-the-carmelites-stuns-at-the-bbc-proms\/\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/seenandheard-international.com\/2023\/08\/glyndebourne-operas-dialogue-of-the-carmelites-stuns-at-the-bbc-proms\/', 'Seen and Heard International');\"><em>Seen and Heard International<\/em><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalsource.com\/prom\/prom-31-glyndebourne-poulencs-dialogues-des-carmelites\/\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/www.classicalsource.com\/prom\/prom-31-glyndebourne-poulencs-dialogues-des-carmelites\/', 'The Classical Source');\"><em>The Classical Source<\/em><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/theartsdesk.com\/opera\/prom-31-dialogues-des-carm%C3%A9lites-glyndebourne-bbc-radio-3-review-full-force-air\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/theartsdesk.com\/opera\/prom-31-dialogues-des-carm%C3%A9lites-glyndebourne-bbc-radio-3-review-full-force-air', 'The Arts Desk');\"><em>The Arts Desk<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I didn&#8217;t plan my Proms season, and my decision to go to the Glyndebourne Prom performance of Poulenc&#8217;s Dialogues des Carm\u00e9lites was a spontaneous one made earlier that day. This opera (did any have a more offputting title?) is one &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/2023\/08\/31\/poulenc-through-glass\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[1370,1556,1555,271,687],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6462"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6462"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6481,"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6462\/revisions\/6481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.virginiaknight.org.uk\/vhkssinging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}