Of all Offenbach's major collaborations with Meilhac and Halevy, La Perichole is the one that oozes charm. The satirical touch is there, but the edge is less sharp, and one detects a vein of genuine feeling for the fate of the Peruvian street-singer heroine that one never does with Eurydice, Helen, Boulotte or the Grand-Duchess of Gerolstein.
The splendid songs of Offenbach composed for Hortense Schneider (the Letter song, ''Ah! quel diner'', ''Ah! que les hommes sont betes'' and ''Je t'adore, brigand'') head up a richly melodic score. Regine Crespin is a somewhat matronly Perichole, but she knows how to tease the textual and melodic phrases in a way that brings the best out of them. Her Piquillo, Alain Vanzo, is the ideal light Offenbach tenor, while Jules Bastin brings experience to the role of the Viceroy, without quite capturing all its comic possibilities. Overall, the performance succeeds better than the more recent Plasson/EMI version (CDS7 (CD) 47362-2, 3/87—nla), in which Berganza and Carreras never quite sound at home. Alain Lombard directs sympathetically, if not managing the finesse that Igor Markevitch brought to EMI's classic 1958 recording (now abridged on a single CD— (CD) CDM7 69845-2).
The Plasson set scored over this Erato in having the CD-change between acts and in having linking dialogue. On the original LP issue, Erato provided a linking narration by Alain Decaux, which survives in the libretto but has here been edited out of the performance. This presumably explains why, though the box claims a playing time of 100 minutes, neither CD lasts more than a few seconds over 43 minutes. But even if the CD transfer has been somewhat thoughtlessly carried out, Erato are to be praised for providing a complete libretto at mid-price. Those who do not know the score should not miss the chance to fall under its spell.'