Struggling to survive amid the turmoil
DESPITE its quasi-medieval setting, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (premiered in 1902) is actually a condensed, multi-generational saga describing the ruination of a bourgeois family.
At Glyndebourne, Stefan Herheim’s new production suggests as much by locating the action in a facsimile of the so-called Organ Room, where Glyndebourne’s founder John Christie staged amateur performances before establishing the festival that has been a playground of the bourgeoisie since 1934.
The opera’s text, faithfully adapting Maurice Maeterlinck’s 1893 play, details the settings that make up the troubled domain called “Allemonde” — roughly, “anywhere and everywhere”. Philipp Fürhofer’s set evokes rather than delin- eates those locations, which in any case are products of a fin-de-siècle Symbolist imagination. The problem is that Herheim inserts his own symbolist add-ons; some add texture, others merely underline or undermine what is in the text.
The playing of the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Robin Ticciati is rather more nuanced. While some of the acting has a silent-movie quality that isn’t inappropriate, the singers don’t always achieve the subtle vocal delivery that Debussy sought.
Christopher Purves embodies the pent-up rage of Golaud. But he is too angry, too soon, while his rape of his son Yniold is an addendum too far. John Chest plays Pelléas as a sensitive artist yet doesn’t always convey amorous ardour, but Christina Gansch has a voice that suggests both mystery and mischief. Her Mélisande is a free-thinker determined to survive the turmoil around her. She doesn’t, of course.
⬤ Until August 9 (01273 815000, glyndebourne.com)