Pelléas et Mélisande

Of the DVD competition for Pelleas et Melisande, this production fares very favourably, third best in fact with the WNO and Glyndebourne productions above it and the Lyon and especially Zurich productions being at the bottom.

The minimalist and sparsely decorated sets weren't always to my tastes, there were times where the austerity was very telling like in the more closed interiors but there were other points where a more enchanting out-worldliness would have been more welcome. The opera also has many different settings and scene changes, and there didn't seem to be an awful lot of difference here. Wolfgang Schöne is a little stolid and dry-sounding as King Arkel, Nikolaus Lehnhoff makes a great effort in making the characters and their interactions as interesting as possible and is on-point at almost all times but Schöne didn't seem very involved here. Also did not care at all for the screen animation projections, they weren't necessary and irritated rather than intrigued.

On the plus side, the production is very atmospherically lit and again the austerity did work in places, it just didn't need to be all the time. The costumes are effective as well and not too unflattering. Lehnhoff's stage direction is very good, he directs the singers very compellingly and succeeds in making the characters and their interactions interesting(especially Golaud). Especially in the mysterious Act 1 forest scene, the sensual tower scene and the incredibly intense murder of Pelleas, the emotional final act brings a lump to the throat as well. He follows the story closely and with precision, also always coherently and resorts to very few eccentricities.

Musically, the production's outstanding. The orchestral playing writhes with beautiful tone, silky phrasing, blazing passion and smouldering sensuality. Debussy's long and sustained phrasing sounds almost seamless and blends beautifully from one phrase to another. Stefan Soltesz's conducting gives the right amount of Impressionist lyricism and Wagnerian heft. With the exception of Schöne the performances are first-rate. Doris Soffel is past prime vocally but her singing is intelligently done still and she gives Genevieve a lot of dignity. Dominik Eberle is touching as Ynoild though it's a shame about the Shepherd scene being omitted. Jacques Imbrailo brings youthful passion and a sturdy voice to Pelleas, he does sound ever so slightly strained in places but only at points where psychologically the character is being stretched right to the edge so it wasn't exactly inappropriate. Michaela Selinger brings mystery, erotic sensuality, deeply felt emotion and nuance to Melisande as well as a beautiful voice. The standout performance came from Vincent Le Texier as a very powerfully acted and multi-layered Golaud(on par with his Paris performance and even better), menacing and sometimes chilling but also very conflicted and nuanced, his dark rich voice fits the role very well too.

All in all, dramatically compelling, musically outstanding and one of the best productions of Pelleas et Melisande on DVD. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox