Search - Alfred Maguenat, Charles Panzèra, Hector Dufranne :: Pelléas et Mélisande

This four-CD set showcases the premiere complete recording of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, recorded in Paris in 1941. Celebrating the centennial year of the opera's debut, this deluxe reissue features this famous recording led by Roger Désormière as well as substantial comparative selections from abridged recordings. One of andante's most sumptuous presentations to date, the set's 300-page-plus booklet includes an array of rarely seen photographs from the 1902 debut, along with vintage photos of the composer and the principal performers. The extensive annotation includes an introduction by Pulitzer Prize?winner Tim Page and essays by Pierre Boulez, Susan Sontag and Debussy himself, as well as the full libretto in French, English and German. In surveying the history of Pelléas et Mélisande on record in centennial articles for Gramophone and BBC Music magazines, the British critic and authority on French music Roger Nichols chose the! 1941 Désormière recording as the opera's definitive document.