Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Claude Debussy
Genre:
Opera
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 6/1994
Media Format: Laser Disc
Media Runtime: 158
Catalogue Number: 072 431-1GH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Pelléas et Mélisande |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Alison Hagley, Mélisande, Soprano Claude Debussy, Composer Donald Maxwell, Golaud, Baritone Kenneth Cox, Arkel, Bass Neill Archer, Pelléas, Baritone Penelope Walker, Genevieve, Contralto (Female alto) Peter Massocchi, Doctor, Baritone Peter Massocchi, Shepherd, Baritone Peter Massocchi, Doctor, Baritone Peter Massocchi, Shepherd, Baritone Peter Massocchi, Doctor, Baritone Peter Massocchi, Shepherd, Baritone Peter Stein, Wrestling Bradford Pierre Boulez, Conductor Samuel Burkey, Yniold, Soprano Welsh National Opera Chorus Welsh National Opera Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Claude Debussy
Genre:
Opera
Label: DG
Magazine Review Date: 6/1994
Media Format: Video
Media Runtime: 0
Catalogue Number: 072 431-3GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Pelléas et Mélisande |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Alison Hagley, Mélisande, Soprano Claude Debussy, Composer Donald Maxwell, Golaud, Baritone Kenneth Cox, Arkel, Bass Neill Archer, Pelléas, Baritone Penelope Walker, Genevieve, Contralto (Female alto) Peter Massocchi, Doctor, Baritone Peter Massocchi, Shepherd, Baritone Peter Stein, Wrestling Bradford Pierre Boulez, Conductor Samuel Burkey, Yniold, Soprano Welsh National Opera Chorus Welsh National Opera Orchestra |
Author:
It would have to be some sort of musical saint, I think, who could put hand to heart and swear never to having wished Pelleas et Melisande would move a little faster. But saints and sinners alike have found that once it is over it goes on. The orchestra plays on in the mind, murmuring in shadowy triplets and ever-shifting keys; the voices continue their speech-rhythm half-song till bedtime; and now, with video, the faces haunt with their bewildered glimpses of light in a world of darkness.
In particular, the Melisande and Arkel remain vivid. Alison Hagley has the childlike innocence and, more uncommonly, the aristocracy of feature and bearing; something too which tells of an inner knowledge of which the girl is at most only fleetingly conscious. Her voice is the one with the character, as indeed is that of the old king, sung and acted with fine resources of sonority and compassion by Kenneth Cox. Donald Maxwell's Golaud is a man who smiles once and seems to be paying for it ever after. At times one wishes for a darker, firmer voice, as with Neill Archer's Pelleas the grace of song and personality seem by a quite narrow distance to be out of reach. The Genevieve (Penelope Walker) is fine, but so grim-set that one can't help thinking (as though in the context of a soap-opera) that it can't be much fun for her; as for poor Yniold (Samuel Burkey, with a notably good French accent), nobody seems to think of his future, but if ever a child was nurtured in a wasteland fed by acid rain, it must be him.
Of the production, I thought the best aspect to be its lighting. The frequency, particularly early on, of posed, stylized gestures is tiresome. In the first fountain scene it is momentarily disconcerting to find the camera coming to rest on a kind of chimney pot, the episode being also 'framed' so that on stage it must appear as though distanced and glimpsed as in a story-book. It was an excellent idea, however, during the interludes to withdraw from the stage to the pages of the full score. Never do we go on one of those deadly tours of the orchestra, and never do we set eyes on Pierre Boulez—to whom, with his players, much gratitude is none the less due.'
In particular, the Melisande and Arkel remain vivid. Alison Hagley has the childlike innocence and, more uncommonly, the aristocracy of feature and bearing; something too which tells of an inner knowledge of which the girl is at most only fleetingly conscious. Her voice is the one with the character, as indeed is that of the old king, sung and acted with fine resources of sonority and compassion by Kenneth Cox. Donald Maxwell's Golaud is a man who smiles once and seems to be paying for it ever after. At times one wishes for a darker, firmer voice, as with Neill Archer's Pelleas the grace of song and personality seem by a quite narrow distance to be out of reach. The Genevieve (Penelope Walker) is fine, but so grim-set that one can't help thinking (as though in the context of a soap-opera) that it can't be much fun for her; as for poor Yniold (Samuel Burkey, with a notably good French accent), nobody seems to think of his future, but if ever a child was nurtured in a wasteland fed by acid rain, it must be him.
Of the production, I thought the best aspect to be its lighting. The frequency, particularly early on, of posed, stylized gestures is tiresome. In the first fountain scene it is momentarily disconcerting to find the camera coming to rest on a kind of chimney pot, the episode being also 'framed' so that on stage it must appear as though distanced and glimpsed as in a story-book. It was an excellent idea, however, during the interludes to withdraw from the stage to the pages of the full score. Never do we go on one of those deadly tours of the orchestra, and never do we set eyes on Pierre Boulez—to whom, with his players, much gratitude is none the less due.'
Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande
Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande
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