Dialogues des Carmelites, Klagenfurt

Alexander Soddy, the young orchestra director, is – after four encounters in recent years, it may be said decidedly – one of the most eminent conducting talents in opera for years. In these actually undramatic "Conversations" (meaning the opera "Dialogues des Carmélites") (...) he instinctively sets precisely sounded out dramatic accents, as it were from within. The delicate colourfulness and luminosity that he creates thanks to the fabulous homogeneity and playing culture of the Carinthian Symphony Orchestra is exemplary. His unerring sense of sound perfectly benefits the idiom of the work, gives it intelligent contour and, through its austere beauty, banishes the ever latent danger of being suspected of kitsch