Pelléas et Mélisande (Herbert von Karajan recording)

Pelléas et Mélisande is a 162-minute studio album of Claude Debussy's opera, performed by Christine Barbaux, José van Dam, Nadine Denize, Ruggero Raimondi, Frederica von Stade, Richard Stilwell and Pascal Thomas with the Chorus of the German Opera Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. It was released in 1979.
Recording
The album was recorded using analogue technology in December 1978 in the Philharmonie, Berlin.
Critical reception
Lionel Salter reviewed the album on LP in Gramophone in December 1979. Karajan's conception of the opera, he wrote, scorned the understatement customary in most performances of it. Here the work seethed with barely-suppressed tensions which constantly erupted in passionate outbursts. Again and again the orchestra boiled over in an ecstasy which could scarcely be contained by the engineers, who at the other end of the dynamic scale had to cope with pianissimos that can hardly have caused a flicker of the potentiometer needles. Many of the climaxes went far beyond Debussy's markings. On the other hand, one might easily miss the distant cries of the sailors almost completely. The orchestral sound was patently Karajan's chief concern. Purely as sound, it was often ravishing, with a rich, glowing warmth, but it greatly reduced the clarity of articulation. Relative levels of voices and orchestra were rather variable. The casting was mostly excellent. Frederica von Stade well conveyed Mélisande's wide-eyed innocence and simplicity by her purity of voice and lightness of tone, and made credible the transition from the startled gazelle of the opening to the awakening woman of Act 4. As the unhappy Golaud, José van Dam gave a distinguished performance, alike in the heavily charged calmer moments and in his self-tormented rages. As a baryton-martin absolutely suited to Pelléas, Richard Stilwell was in his element, and handled the awkward tessitura with assurance, freshness and an engaging youthfulness. The rapturous quality of the two love-scenes was ardently portrayed. There was an effective and unaffectedly childlike Yniold from Christine Barbaux, an acceptable Geneviève and an Arkel whose character was not very well defined and whose voice it was difficult to distinguish from that of Pascal Thomas. It was noticeable that though the declamation throughout was very natural, it was often less than exact to the text. In short, the album was a very characteristically Karajan performance, decidedly unorthodox as an interpretation.
J. B. Steane reviewed the album on LP in Gramophone in April 1980. The opera, he wrote, had never before moved him so much either on record or in the theatre. The great beauty of the orchestral playing and the excellence of Michel Glotz's production provided the basic conditions; the appeal of Frederica von Stade's Mélisande provided a particular distinction; but overall there was the inspiration of Karajan's intellect and sensitivity seen here completely at the service of finding out the heart of the music. Thus the first scene bloomed more passionately, involved one more in the feelings of credible human beings, and, as there was never a lapse in the extraordinary dreamlike concentration, all else followed on. If any cause for regret suggested itself, it was that the male voices were too alike. so that musically there was a loss in colouration. Von Stade, so very girl-like, unoperatic in tone, gave an infinitely touching performance. Of course the recording had to stand the test of time, but surely it would survive as one of the classics of the gramophone.
Hilary Finch reviewed the album on CD in Gramophone in February 1988. Debussy, she wrote, wanted the action of Pelléas to be "continuous and uninterrupted". Now, more or less, it was. The transfer to CD had done justice to the composer's great continuum and to the might of Karajan's great crescendo of inexorability. For some connoisseurs, this performance could still come too near go bringing out the reluctant Wagnerian in Debussy. But only the most ungenerous spirit could carp at the playing which did, as Debussy wanted it to, emerge from and return to shadows: there was a fine balance of individuation and blend in the orchestral texture with its rich palette of string tones and slim, penetrating woodwind solos. And the palette of voices was, generally speaking, more than satisfactory. The exception was the Pelléas of Richard Stilwell. Finch found it less than sensuous, and nowhere near an expressive match for von Stade's Mélisande. The latter was without doubt the central performance: there was the sense of animal instinct, the raw nerve endings, the simplicity. And there was, above all, von Stade's sensitivity to Debussy's changes of register. José van Dam's Golaud was also outstanding. He was certainly the man "fait au fer et au sang" (made of blood and iron). Yet he commanded sympathy at every turn of phrase. Ruggero Raimondi's Arkel was less hoary in his wisdom than some, with a true grasp of the role's legato.
Lionel Salter reviewed the album on CD in Gramophone in November 1999. Controversy, he wrote, had surrounded this recording ever since it first appeared. To the extent that it had opened everyone's eyes and ears and had forced them to think about the true nature of Debussy's idiosyncratic score, it had unquestionably made a very deep impression. Salter suggested that Karajan openly flouted the composer's express injunction that 'the score should be subservient to the text' and instead drew forth a voluptuously lush orchestral sound that, ravishing as it was, again and again boiled over in a scarcely containable ecstasy and was completely at odds with the Gallic restraint and understatement by which Debussy set such importance. Also, there were some rhythmic imprecisions, and the technical recording was not as ideal as had been claimed: Geneviève's letter-reading scene, the sailors and the shepherd were all too distantly placed, while Pelléas was very closely recorded in Act 4, and the whole performance was overlaid with a kind of patina which acted like a dark varnish on a painting. The real plus point of the issue was the cast. Von Stade was a quite lovely, pure-voiced Mélisande, childishly innocent in her actions but with a touchingly vulnerable and emotional core. Stilwell, sounding young, eager and ardent, was a very likeable Pelléas; and van Dam, a consummate artist in everything he undertook, admirably portrayed the bluff, bewildered Golaud who could not comprehend the delicate creature on whom he had stumbled. The smaller parts were all well taken.
Track listing: CD1
Musical
* Ruggero Raimondi (bass), Arkel, King of Allemonde
* Nadine Denize (mezzo-soprano), Geneviève, mother of Golaud and Pelléas
* José van Dam (baritone), Prince Golaud, a widower, grandson of Arkel
* Richard Stilwell (baritone), Pelléas, grandson of Arkel, younger half-brother of Golaud
* Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano), Mélisande
* Christine Barbaux (soprano), Yniold, young son of Golaud
* Pascal Thomas (bass), Shepherd and Physician
* Choir of the German Opera Berlin (chorus master: Walter Hagen-Groll)
* Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
* Herbert von Karajan, conductor
Other
* Janine Reiss, French language coach
* Michel Glotz, producer
* Wolfgang Gülich, balance engineer
Release history
In 1979, the album was released as a triple LP by Angel Records in the USA and by EMI Records elsewhere: the catalogue numbers were SZCX 3885 and SLS 5172 respectively. Both releases included a booklet with notes, texts and transltions. The album was also issued on cassette (catalogue number TC SLS 5172), again with a booklet with notes, texts and translations.
In 1987, the album was released as a triple CD by Angel Records in the USA and by EMI Records elsewhere: the catalogue numbers were CDCC 49350 and CDS 7 49350 2 respectively. The discs were issued in a slipcase with a 128-page booklet containing a photograph of Debussy, an essay in French by Maurice Tassart, essays on the opera and its leitmotivs by Felix Aprahamian in English and German and synopses and libretti in all three languages.

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