It's… good to welcome back EMI's reissue of the 1992 Virgin Classic's Dialogues… superbly cast. Catherine Dubosc is Blanche par excellence, Rita Gorr graduates from Mere Marie in 1958 to the Old Prioress, and Brigitte Fournier is an irresistible soubrette of a Constance.

Poulenc's chef d'oeuvre is one of the few operas written since Wozzeck that has survived in the repertory – and deservedly so. It's written from, and goes to, the heart, not in any extrovert or openly histrionic way but by virtue of its ability to explore the world of a troubled band of Carmelite nuns at the height of the terrors caused by the French Revolution, and do so in an utterly individual manner. Poulenc unerringly enters into their psyches as they face their fatal destiny.
Nagano responds with perceptible keenness to the sombre, elevated mood and intensity of the writing and unfailingly delineates the characters of the principals as they face their everyday martyrdom.
The magisterial authority of Martine Dupuy's Mère Marie, the agony of Rita Gorr's Old Prioress, the inner torment of Catherine Dubosc's Sister Blanche, the restraint of Rachel Yakar's Madame Lidoine, the eager charm of Brigitte Fournier's Sister Constance are only the leading players in a distribution that's admirable in almost every respect. The score is for once given complete. The atmospheric recording suggests stage action without exaggeration.