DEBUSSY: “PELLEAS et MELISANDE.” Mireille Delunsch, others;...
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DEBUSSY: “PELLEAS et MELISANDE.” Mireille Delunsch, others; Orchestre National de Lille-Reegion Nord/Pas-de-Calais, Jean-Claude Casadesus, conductor. (Naxos) * * *
This is a welcome muscular version of Debussy’s sole opera, more in the robust Boulez style than the atmospheric Ansermet tradition. Recorded during a stage performance and studio sessions at the Opeera de Lille in 1996, conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus emphasizes dramatic pacing but never fails to make the distinctive orchestral textures and details tell.
The singing is idiomatic. Other than the veteran Gabriel Bacquier (once a towering Golaud, here a sympathetic Arkel), the principals are not well known in this country, but that should change. Mireille Delunsch makes a light and silvery Melisande; Gerard Theruel, a vivid and ardent Pelleas. Armand Arapian is a tense, dark-toned Golaud.
The libretto is in French only. Useful scene summaries in English are provided, with many but by no means all lines translated. Index marks divide the work almost entirely into scenes, which makes it difficult to find particular passages.
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