Orla Boylan provides an admirable line; her final solo before the executions is most moving… the veteran tenor Ryland Davies is a model of style and feeling as the Chaplain and Peter Wedd makes his mark in the ungrateful role of the Chevalier de la Force.’

Opera
Disc of the month
‘…the playing (of the English National Opera Orchestra) is exceptionally responsive to everything demanded of it by Poulenc, and the warm surround devised by Chandos’s Brian and Ralph Couzens emphasises the similar warmth felt by the composer for his characters. He loved them for their strengths and their frailties, and Paul Daniel, in what was surely one of his best undertakings at ENO, loves and understands them too. The moments of violence and pain are there, but his reading as a whole is one of lyricism, tenderness and compassion… mocked by Darmstadt when it was new, (The Carmelites) is now central to the repertory… as one of the great 20th-century operas.’

The Sunday Times
Classical CD of the week
'Poulenc always wanted his only full-length "grand opera" to be performed in its audience's vernacular, so it is entirely appropriate that this masterpiece should feature in Chandos's admirable Opera in English series... It is a marvellous ensemble performance, gut-wrenching at the end as the chorus dwindles into a solo as each member perishes on the scaffold.'

The Sunday Telegraph
'Paul Daniel conducts a strong lyrical performance, finding the secret of Poulenc's delicate and always apposite orchestration. As Blanche, the novice whose nerve fails her, Catrin Wyn-Davies sings movingly throughout; her scene with Sarah Tynan's adorable Sister Constance is a touching highlight. Felicity Palmer's powerful Old Prioress sends a chill down the spine, and Josephine Barstow gives a riveting portrayal of Mother Marie. The studio recording is clear and well up to this label's high standards.'

The Guardian
'It's conducted with implacable menace by Paul Daniel, and superbly played.'