Pelléas et Mélisande

"Recommended: Claude Debussy's operatic masterpiece is one of the most eloquently orchestrated works of the Twentieth Century ... Now along comes a version with something more to reveal about this piece, as does this fine newcomer on review here ... Pierre Dumoussaud is a conductor who is fairly new to the international scene ... Dumoussaud presents a very lucid and eloquent account of Debussy's score. His collaboration with the Bordeaux orchestra and the team of recording engineers has produced one of the most transparent recordings of this work that I have yet come across ... essentially unveiling all the fine nuances in this magical score. The orchestra sounds as if the listener were actually standing in the orchestra pit alongside the conductor ... The cast of principals is in general quite good ... While this may not be the Pelléas recording of one's dreams, I found so much in it to enjoy that despite some minor vocal flaws, I would now choose this recording over the Simon Rattle recording with the LSO".

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"Roth and his band, Les Siècles, have made a specialism of this tumultuous era in the musical life of the French capital with superb sets ... One of the greatest pleasures has been hearing the distinctive timbres of the instruments used at the time before homogenisation made most orchestras sound very similar. The same is undoubtedly true of this new recording ... The pick of the bunch for me is Julien Behr's beautiful traversal of the part of Pelléas ... It is exquisitely played, beautifully paced and generally extremely well sung in the modern style. I won't be budging but I will keep coming back to the Roth to listen in wonder yet again to the miracles Debussy achieves in the orchestral parts of this luminous, mysterious score".

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"Recommended: François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles have already given us some Debussy orchestral music on disc ... Now Roth and his HIP ensemble take on a much more substantial challenge in the form of Debussy's only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande ... It seems to me that there isn't a weak link in the cast ... Obviously, the vocal contributions are crucial to the success of any performance of Pelléas et Mélisande and Roth has assembled an excellent, persuasive cast ... The sounds that François-Xavier Roth is able to conjure up from Les Siècles are wonderfully subtle ... [and] strikes me as well-nigh ideal ... I've long felt that François-Xavier Roth is one of the most interesting conductors currently before the public; this Pelléas is, I think, one of his finest achievements to date ... an utterly absorbing account of Pelléas et Mélisande".

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"Recording of the week: The metaphorical curtain has barely risen on Debussy's uncanny forest before the special magic created by the use of early twentieth-century wind and brass instruments kicks in. The other striking aspect of this recording is the slightly unorthodox characterisation of the three main roles: this is a very human Pélleas rather than an interpretation which cloaks the central relationships in mysticism, and though some listeners may baulk at that as tantamount to heresy I found it ultimately all the more moving".

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"Partiet som Pelléas kan synges både af en lys baryton og en tenor. Simon Rattle har valgt den elegante liedsanger Christian Gerhaher ... [Mélisande:] Til dette dæmpede, hen svævende alfeportræt har Rattle med velberåd hu valgt sin hustru, den tjekkiske mezzosopran Magdalena Kozená. Af alle verdens vedetter råder hun over det mest regnbuefarvede stemme spektrum ... Kozenás pastelfarver er af en anden verden ... Overalt er musikken dækkende, i sin ømme skønhed, og med London Symphony Orchestra præsterer Simon Rattle en ubønhørlig markanthed".

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"For a quintessentially French opera, there are surprisingly few recordings of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with a French orchestra ... That makes this new accoung ... doubly welcome ... There is a real sense of tension and mystery but without the veil if mysticism that some conductors drape over Debussy's shadowy score ... . Dumoussaud's is alson one of the swiftest accounts ... with vivid orchestral playing ... This is a really distinguished orchestral rendition. The central singers ... are all securely inside the drama ... Chiara Skerath is an affecting Mélisande ... Stanislas de Barbeyrac [Pelléas] outstanding".

"I enjoyed the orchestral contributions of Les Siècles and the lucidity that period instruments bring to Debussy's score. Roth doesn't cut string vibrato entirely, but there's an almost clinical clarity to their playing ... There's very little to choose between these two excellent recordings [by Roth and Dumoussaud (Alpha)], Pelléas fans will want to hear both".

Editor's choice: Rattle maintaints both a clear pulse in individual scenes and a through line which positively celebrates Debussy's and Maeterlinck's radical intercutting of scenes of varied physical and emotional locations in the central acts ... The LSO's playing throughout is at a high level of virtuosity ... Both Gerhaher and Kozena are good at not over-egging the pudding of their confusions and naiveties ... This new version ... scores high up the list and is highly recommended".