Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) Dramme Lyrique en cinq actes
Pelléas - Nicolai Gedda (tenor); Mélisande – Anna Moffo (soprano); Golaud – George London (bass-baritone); Geneviève - Blanche Thebom (mezzo); Arkel – Jerome Hines (bass); Yniold – Teresa Stratas (soprano); Le berger – William Walker (baritone); Le médecin – Clifford Harvuot ( baritone)
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Ernest Ansermet
rec. 29 December 1962, Metropolitan Opera House, New York City
PRISTINE CLASSICAL PACO151 [157:06]
This recording is one of a series of releases from Pristine Audio which aims to refresh the sonics of some valuable over-the-air transmissions from the second half of the twentieth century. All of them have proved to be worth the investment and this one is no exception. This recording was auditioned using the Pristine download service of high resolution FLAC files which I then converted to CD.
The 1962 revival of Pelléas et Mélisande was the occasion of the only five performances by eminent Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet in the old Met opera house. He had conducted the orchestra in two concert performances of De Falla’s El Amor Brujo and Atlantida earlier in September from Philharmonic Hall in Lincoln Center, one of which was broadcast, but after this revival of Pelléas he would not return again.
For his cast the Met had assembled an impressive and unusual group of star singers, of which only Nicolai Gedda was known for his skills in the French repertoire. Gedda’s Pelléas does not disappoint. His clear and open-voiced vocal acting is a joy to encounter. His forthright top range brings the character of Pelléas out from the shadows, so-to-speak. Pelléas is often sung by a high baritone, as indeed it was earlier in this series of performances by Theodore Uppman. With a tenor of Gedda’s pedigree the dramatic essence of Pelléas is less veiled than usual, and he becomes something a little closer to the tortured Werther in Massenet’s opera. As Mélisande Anna Moffo, who was one of the reigning divas of the Met 1962. She presents as a less fragile sounding princess. With her lush feminine tone this Mélisande becomes less ill-defined than is customary in performances of this opera. Moffo’s sound is that of a femme fatale who is completely unaware of her effect on the men in the story; this brings Mélisande a lot closer to Alban Berg’s Lulu. Moffo tries to inject her scenes with some attempts at vocal acting, and she is particularly good at projecting the frightened and troubled waif of the first scene; but thereafter she settles down to a more generalized portrayal where she is content with producing luscious tones rather than heightening the drama.
One of the high points of this broadcast was the wonderful George London as Golaud. The first thing that struck me was London’s expert delivery of the Maeterlinck text. His French is of the very highest level for a non-native speaker, but considering that London spent his early years growing up in Montreal it should come as no surprise just how good his French skills would be. In this performance his Golaud is both frighteningly realistic and yet sympathetic in his emotional turmoil. Decca would choose him to record the role the role two years later when Ansermet made his second commercial recording of the opera. On that release,
it is wonderful to be able to hear him in true stereo but his voice is in better shape in this live recording.
Blanche Thebom was also no stranger to French opera, having been cast as Queen Dido in Berlioz’s Les Troyens for Covent Garden a few years prior to this. I find her assured, round tones to be a bit plummy sounding for my taste. I much prefer a more slender sound similar
to Jospehine Veasey for Ansermet’s Decca recording or Yvonne Minton for Boulez’s 1970 version on Sony. Jerome Hines makes for a sympathetic King Arkel, a role which he would continue to sing at the Met for another 21 years.
Ernest Ansermet’s approach to Debussy’s music was remarkably consistent throughout his three recorded documents of Pélleas. His conducting is direct, unfussy and at tempi that propel forward at an unstoppable pace not unlike the action in the opera. He gets some refined playing from the Met orchestra which obviously enjoyed the experience of working with him. Pristine has kindly included an interview with Ansermet speaking about the opera that was originally part of one of the intermission features of the radio broadcast that day. In Ansermet’s hands Pélleas never seems to fall into a dangerously sleepy zone the way it does sometimes in Karajan’s otherwise fine version on EMI.
Pristine’s remastering in their ambient stereo process is very successful in lifting the haze off this old broadcast. The recording is a bit rough for nearly a minute during the opening bars leading one to think that this might be a disappointment but thereafter it clears up relatively successfully. The feeling of a true stereo field seems even more realistic in this live recording than it has on some of Pristine’s studio based releases. For those wanting to experience Ansermet’s way with Debussy I would probably still recommend his first version from 1952 with the stunning Suzanne Danco and Pierre Mollet on Eloquence 4800133. This Pristine audio release is easily on an equal footing with the second Decca stereo recording of 1964 (NLA) with Erna Spoorenberg and Camille Maurane.
Mike Parr
