Recordings

In 1960, the Paris Opera Comique chalked up its 1,500th performance of Delibes’ “Lakme,” which premiered in 1883. But this hothouse plant hadn’t held the American or even the European stage so consistently for quite a while. It has begun to sneak back into consciousness, however, as background music in an upscale car commercial. But those drawn to the ravishing Jasmine Duet aren’t likely to find the long, perfumed whole all that enticing, even when sung by such French vocal paragons as here: Dessay in the title role; Kunde as the British officer Gerald she falls in love with; and Jose Van Dam as her rabid Brahmin father Nilakantha.

Plasson conducts with a light, lovely, occasionally ardent touch, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that the elegant musical inspiration is rather thin and the 19th century Parisian vision of India and Hinduism impossibly silly.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).