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Frustratingly Patchy
Charpentier's 'Louise',
reviewed by MIKE WHEELER
Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956) is pretty much a one-opera composer, and Louise is pretty much a one-aria opera. Set in Montmartre's bohemian community at the end of the nineteenth century, it is something of a French La bohème, except that, for the two lovers, Louise and Julien, at least, it turns out all right in the end. But for all that Charpentier actually lived in Montmartre, the opera leaves the impression that its portrayal of bohemian life is not just idealised but sanitised...
Copyright © 29 July 2015
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
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