This live recording more than ever brings out the brilliance of this oriental story about love, duty and friendship.

The accompanying booklet is also highly informative. Foto: Donata Wenders

Le seul bémol, de mon point de vue, c'est que je ne retrouve pas la qualité sonore que l'on peut avoir sur youtube et qui m'a amené vers l'enregistrement. Here are the fishermen and the pearls.

Matthew Polenzani as Nadir and Diana Damrau as Leila in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles.

Foto: Donata Wenders

Of the capital's two state-subsidised opera houses, The scene is a desolate seashore, with the ruins of a Hindu temple in the background.

un enregistrement sauvé par l'Orchestre National de Lille dirigé par Alexandre Bloch

Star soprano Diana Damrau sings Leïla, the virgin priestess at the center of the story.

Buy Bizet: Les Pecheurs De Perles by Fournet, Alaire, Simoneau, Choeur from Amazon's Classical Music Store. Foto: Donata Wenders

In some variations Zurga meets his death in other ways, and his body is consigned to the pyre.)

So often that is the problem with concert performances.

Foto: Donata Wenders

Set in ancient times on the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the opera tells the story of how two men's vow of eternal friendship is threatened by their love for the same woman, whose own dilemma is the conflict between secular love and her sacre…

Here's committed singing that reminds us that Bizet's story is not just about passion andjealousy but also about a community clinging to the shoreline in search of a perilous and uncertain livelihood. Foto: Donata Wenders

Vor der Kulisse eines fernen Inselparadieses schildert Georges Bizet eine durch wahre Freundschaft verkomplizierte Dreiecksgeschichte: Schon einmal drohte die Liebe zu der jungfräulich geweihten Brahmanin Leïla die langjährigen Freunde Zurga und Nadir zu entzweien.

​ Vor der Kulisse eines fernen Inselparadieses schildert Georges Bizet eine durch wahre Freundschaft verkomplizierte Dreiecksgeschichte: Schon einmal drohte die Liebe zu der jungfräulich geweihten Brahmanin Leïla die langjährigen Freunde Zurga und Nadir zu entzweien.

Dvořák nº 8 - Duration: 25:26.

Christopher Cook.PERFORMANCE ****/RECORDING **** --

Berlioz, however, was kinder, particularly about Bizet's music, and he was right.