Charles Dutoit, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal - Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande (1991)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 570 Mb | Total time: 150:44 | Scans included
Classical | Label: DECCA | # 430 502 | Recorded: 1990
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 570 Mb | Total time: 150:44 | Scans included
Classical | Label: DECCA | # 430 502 | Recorded: 1990
Among modern recordings of the opera, this one is a safe bet, assuming you want a safe version of this opera. Unlike Herbert von Karajan's oppressively string-heavy reading with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI, this is a balanced, idiomatic account of the score, given a special luster by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's coloristic instincts and the warm recording acoustic at St. Eustache Church. Conductor Charles Dutoit has a fine instinctive feel for Debussy in general and this score in particular. The singers in the title roles–Didier Henry and Colette Alloit-Lugaz–have both come to terms with the opera's enigmatic dramaturgy. However, it's very much a symphonic rather than operatic performance, clearly a product of the recording studio rather than of the stage.