A performance of Debussy's opera recorded in 1987. John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Lyon Opera Orchestra. Read more
| Starring | Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Francois Le Roux, Jose Van Dam, Roger Soyer |
|---|---|
| Director | Jean-Francois Jung |
| Genres | Music/Musical |
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A performance of Debussy's opera recorded in 1987. John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Lyon Opera Orchestra.
| Starring | Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Francois Le Roux, Jose Van Dam, Roger Soyer, Jocelyne Taillon, Lyon Opera Chorus, Lyon Opera Orchestra |
|---|---|
| Director | Jean-Francois Jung |
| Studio | ARTHAUS MUSIK |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 27 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Music/Musical |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Subtitles | DVD: English, German |
| Released | DVD: 06 Nov 2000 Production year: 1987 |
| Format | DVD |
I'm not surprised your other reviewers were baffled by this infuriating, vain and deeply unintelligent production. Debussy's great opera relies on a realistic presentation of the stage action for its symbolism to work. This dreadful production has the not terribly well thought through idea of staging the action in a dream or in some kind of shared fantasy of the protagonists. Not only is this emphatically not what Debussy intended it simply does not work and is not even consistently executed within its own terms! For example Golaud has very 'realistic' dressings applied to a wound in one scene (implying the injury 'happened' outside his imagination) but in another Arkel's observation that he has blood on his forehead seems ridiculous when there is clearly no blood to be seen. But then only as ridiculous as the non existent ring lost in a non existent cave with non existent beggars at the entrance. Best of all the non existent baby at the end and Arkel singing (of Melisande) 'there she lies' when she's got up and left the stage (in 'reality' or in someone's imagination - who cares?). The not so bright 'dream' idea also struggles to convince when outdoor scenes are so clearly well indoors. This isn't me being 'literal' - the joy of the opera is in the richness of meaning that can be extracted from places, events, people and even objects in every day life. This joy is killed stone dead by this production which in trying to make real things 'unreal' misunderstands and trivialises the Materlinke/Debussy vision and is simply risible.
I'm an opera fan. I can't get enough of them. But this one I got so bored I switched off halfway through and posted it back