The singers on this recording of Pelléas et Mélisande are mid-level French figures, and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine is hardly in the premier position among French orchestras. However, all of that can work to the advantage of Debussy's opera, which is a web of delicate balances that star power can pulverize. Despite the violent story, the opera mostly holds to a quiet, conversational level, and as Donald Jay Grout put it some time ago, "In most places the music is no more than an iridescent veil covering the ...
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The singers on this recording of Pelléas et Mélisande are mid-level French figures, and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine is hardly in the premier position among French orchestras. However, all of that can work to the advantage of Debussy's opera, which is a web of delicate balances that star power can pulverize. Despite the violent story, the opera mostly holds to a quiet, conversational level, and as Donald Jay Grout put it some time ago, "In most places the music is no more than an iridescent veil covering the text." The grim, abusive finale is almost static, and here, it has a deeply moving effect. Conductor Pierre Dumoussaud builds the web rather than disturbing it, and the opera's cumulative spell is strong. Even better are the singers -- led by Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Pelléas -- who seem to enter the orchestral texture as if the process were entirely natural and bring great depth of characterization within a constant flow of seemingly elusive musical ideas. The performance was recorded...
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