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Pelléas et Mélisande
Berlin Philharmonie, Sunday 23 April 2006 – semi-staged concert performance.
By Gwyneth Davies
I had expected that the singers at this concert performance of Debussy’s opera would line up in front of the orchestra, as is customary with concerts in the UK. I should have remembered from the Songs of Love and Desire DVD that this is not the practice in Berlin, where the singers inhabit a raised platform behind the orchestra. This worked particularly well for this performance, as it gave the artists the opportunity to create a small stage world of their own, even within the confines of a concert performance.
When Angelika Kirchschlager (Mélisande) appeared wearing the red dress from the Salzburg production, I did wonder momentarily whether all the cast would be in costume and pierrot outfits would be the order of the day. Happily this was not the case, as Laurent Naouri (Golaud) then appeared wearing the usual white tie and tails, occasioning a sigh of relief from this audience member!
In Act I, scene 2 Pelléas made his first appearance – with Simon Keenlyside dressed in a black three piece suit, pale blue shirt and dark coloured tie. This had the immediate effect of making him look far younger and more informal than his more soberly dressed step brother, Golaud. This youthful effect was reinforced throughout the concert, as he first disposed of the jacket, then loosened his tie, then rolled up his shirt sleeves and finally unbuttoned his waistcoat as Pelléas progressed through the story to his tragic end.
Throughout the concert, the playing of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle, was absolutely thrilling – from beautiful hushed moments to great swelling waves of sound, as the protagonists moved from the light beside the sparkling fountain to the terrifying darkness of the seaside grotto and the castle vaults. The lack of scenery or staging was entirely overcome by the orchestra painting wonderful musical pictures of all the locations. If I have one criticism it would be that on one or two occasions the sound threatened to overwhelm the singers in their quieter moments, but nevertheless it was amazing to hear such wonderful fluid playing.
From the outset, Angelika Kirchschlager’s Mélisande seemed quite wild – more an untamed creature of the forest than the usual rather fey, otherworldly young woman. She shrank back in terror from Golaud as he tried to lead her away at the start of the opera but later gave the impression of being a much more forceful character. The red dress gave her the air of a temptress or seductress, which at times seemed at odds with the character in the text, who is described by Arkel as having “une grande innocence”. There were moments when AK made the character appear truly mad - when she dropped her wedding ring into the fountain she had a strange smile of triumph – it is the first time I have ever believed that Mélisande’s behaviour in this scene was deliberate and calculated. Although quite beautifully sung, especially the scene in the tower, this portrayal was not always particularly sympathetic and I never felt that this Mélisande truly loved Pelléas.
Laurent Naouri’s portrayal of Golaud increased in stature as the performance proceeded. He gave a most convincing portrait of the suspicion and jealousy gradually dawning on the man – both through his singing and acting. His anger at Mélisande’s lost ring gave a foretaste of his explosion of rage later in the opera – at the end of the tower scene his cry of “quels enfants, quels enfants” was truly terrifying and from then on his ever more violent behaviour became inevitable, as he declined into a sort of madness that would lead to the destruction of the two people he loved most.
Simon Keenlyside as Pelléas gave a truly remarkable performance. He was able, through just a gesture or expression, to convey his innermost thoughts to the audience. The tower scene was wonderfully acted – Mélisande stood bathed in light on the right hand side of the stage holding both arms out to either side of her. Pelléas first stood and then knelt on the opposite side of the stage, with arms outstretched as he tried to reach Mélisande. As the music rippled with the effect of Mélisande’s hair falling down, Pelléas moved with the same ripples, almost seeming to swim and drown in the hair, creating a magical effect. Suddenly he moved behind Mélisande, holding her and touching her hair - as if his thoughts had given him a presentiment of their final embrace before his death – before returning to his original position far away from her.
When Golaud tells him in Act III, scene 3, that Mélisande may soon become a mother, the look of despair on Simon Keenlyside’s face brilliantly conveyed Pelléas’s pent up emotions. After the touching and symbolic scene where Yniold sings of the lambs on their way to slaughter, just before the final tragedy unfolds, Pelléas’s pain as he is torn between his loyalty to his brother and the love for Mélisande which he cannot control was almost unbearable to hear and watch. The final declaration of love between Pelléas and Mélisande, when their hands finally touch, was quite electrifying, and was swiftly followed by a vividly portrayed moment of terror, as Pelléas understands that his own brother is going to kill him.
At the end of the concert what felt like several minutes silence elapsed before the audience reacted with wild enthusiasm, many giving the orchestra and singers a standing ovation. Simon Keenlyside received the loudest applause of the evening (plus a round of applause from his fellow singers), followed by Simon Rattle. On their second curtain call, the singers all received posies of flowers. Simon Keenlyside proceeded to pick his to pieces and scattered petals over the orchestra below – a gesture warmly applauded by his colleagues on the stage, who all heartily applauded the orchestra for their magnificent playing.
Without costumes, sets, props, or stage lighting these wonderful singers managed to turn a concert performance into an absolutely riveting drama - it was erotic, it was tense, it was terrifying, it was tragic in turns - the acting and singing was of the absolute highest quality and I feel privileged to have been present at such an amazing performance.
Gwyneth Davies 27.04.06