Mireille

Charles Gounod Mireille opera to libretto by Michel Carré. Directed 2009 by Nicolas Joel at the Paris National Opera. Stars Inva Mula, Charles Castronovo, Franck Ferrari, Alain Vernhes, Sylvie Brunet, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Sébastien Droy, Nicolas Cavallier, Amel-Brahim Djelloul, Ugo Rabec, Christian Rodrigue Moungoungou, Sophie Claisse, and Alexandre Duhamel. Marc Minkowski conducts the Orchestre et Choeurs de l'Opera national de Paris (Choir Master Patrick Marie Aubert). Set design by Ezio Frigerio; costumes by Franca Squarciapino; lighting by Vinicio Cheli; choreography by Patrick Ségot; television direction by François Roussillon. Released 2010, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

I just watched cold the FRA HDVD of Mireille shot at the Palais Garnier. At first I didn't like Mireille because of the utterly simple story with the poor girl heading to her doom from Chapter 1 on. But I gradually warmed up, read up a bit about the background and history of the piece, and got ready for second viewing. On second pass it hit me; this is probably the very best videography of a live performance that we have encountered so far in our 250 or so HDVD titles.

The FRA folks were sponsors of this production from the start. The opening of the show is presented with movie-style credits for the star singers, the main executives, plus FRA. All the artists involved did their work with the dual objective of looking and sounding good for the live audience and the recording forces. There is a lot of light on stage for most scenes, and the video is luminous and beautifully detailed throughout. The night scenes have have relatively little action and no irritating motion artifacts. The full stage shots are grand; the near and close-up shots are look better than any thing I can remember seeing in motion pictures or in HD TV.

Of course, good movies have locations and sets that outclass anything you can put on a stage. But for beauty and clarity of the images, especially of actors and their faces, FRA has capabilities that outshine what, say, David Lean could do. For Exhibit 1, I would offer in evidence the "Chanson de Magali" scene running from 30:05 to 34:10 (especially 33:05 to 34:10). For Exhibit 2, I would offer the "Death of Mireille" from 2:24:05 to 2:25:15. (The only problem with the death scene is that while Mireille climbs up to heaven, you clearly see through her dress the outline of a battery back stuck to her left buttock---the kind of goof-up that movie directors can cure with another take.)

I should also mention that the Supplement to the opera is maybe the best I've seen with our HDVDs. Christophe Ghristi, Nicolas Joel, and Marc Minkowski give relaxed but apt and intelligent mini-lectures in which they stay on a well-edited script. And it's all photographed in startlingly beautiful HD and fine sound.

This production has gotten good reviews in the International Record Review and in The Opera News. Gramophone gave it an Editor's Choice designation as a DVD without even being aware that it's also available in Blu-ray. There is apparently no other recent video, so this HDVD would have to be the best Mireille there is.  I gave this an "A." The demanding L'OperaDou Jury gave it an "A-." In that situation, I usually go with the higher grade, so we will stick with the "A".