Search - Claude Debussy, Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite

Top notch Pelleas

E. Weed | Houston, TX | 01/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It was good to return to Abbado's Faun after listening several times to Rattle's more recent interpretation with the same orchestra. Rattle's disc has terrific sound, but Rattle presents Faun as a series of episodes. With Abbado, the musical ideas flow very naturally from one to the next, making for a much more coherent and satisfying listen.



Abbado's Nocturnes are very good, too, but I've sensed something perfunctory in the interpretation every time I've listened. I wish he would have been a little more leisurely. But this is still one of the better interpretations I've heard, in terms of clarity and flow.



The Pelleas is the big item here, occupying almost half the disc. It is an orchestral suite made up of music from the opera. Debussy did not create it, and was initially opposed to putting such a thing together, though later softened his position. Some reviewers have objected to this suite, on the basis that it consists of chunks of the opera music stuck together without really fitting together. Yet the sound world of the opera is pretty much all of a piece, which means the suite, though sometimes sounding somewhat fragmented, particularly if you know the opera, still sounds properly interrelated to me, at least.



I think the Pelleas Suite is terrific, myself. The opera is fine enough, too, but, to put it bluntly, this gives me a stimulating and satisfying dose of the operatic score without having to sit through the whole thing. And it's a great score. For lovers of Debussy's orchestral music, I'd say, don't pass this up. Abbado's performance, which is live, is first-rate. (Maybe he's best in front of an audience.) So is the sound (although I must admit that the sound of the Rattle disc, referenced above, suggests that better sound for Berlin is possible.)



I'd rush out and grab this one."