I currently own the following. Any others I should hear?
Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande - Abbado
Faure Pelléas et Mélisande - Dutoit
Schoenberg Pelleas und Melisande - Karajan
Sibelius Pelleas & Melisande - Beecham, Karajan
Alert: Beecham UK reissue Feb. 11
(http://www.mdt.co.uk/public/pictures/products/standard/5096922.jpg)
Thielemann is spotty for me but this one is a real gem. Save your pennies as it's rare and OOP, though worth it (or keep your fingers crossed it becomes an Arkiv "on demand" item soon).
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/5e/2c/4351228348a0ade6d5e5e010.L.jpg)
Ordinarily I'm not a big fan of Boulez, but this is "da bomb."
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61TTe6MTWpL._SS500_.jpg)
For a complete 180 degrees from Abbado (who I enjoy), Cluytens is more on the measured side (three discs vs. two) which gives the music more weight and mass. The singing is in that stylish early-twentieth-century French talk-ese and is brimming with local color - as is the tangy French orchestra.
The 1956 mono sound comes up sensationally well in this Testament transfer.
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/a5/20/948b793509a0197510bd2110.L.jpg)
Only 1 of 4 works referenced in this thread is vocal music. Brilliant.
Quote from: donwyn on January 22, 2008, 04:14:34 PM
Thielemann is spotty for me but this one is a real gem. Save your pennies as it's rare and OOP, though worth it (or keep your fingers crossed it becomes an Arkiv "on demand" item soon).
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/5e/2c/4351228348a0ade6d5e5e010.L.jpg)
Actually, you can get it whenever you want as often as you want for $11.99 through the DG online store. The downloads are at 320 kbps, which is adequate for most listening purposes (you'll run into equipment limitations, likely, before you run into serious problems with the SQ).
Just throwing that out there for anyone who really wants this set.
I bought this recently and I really enjoyed it:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31F5PD5RZPL._AA208_.jpg)
It is Debussy's Pelleas with Karajan with the BPO.
marvin
Quote from: BorisG on January 22, 2008, 11:14:30 AM
Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande - Abbado
You probably mean the complete opera. There is also this:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FS0R9TGFL._AA240_.jpg)
You could also explore the historic (1941) performance of Debussy's 'Pelléas' by Désormiere (can't make an accent grave). Download costs almost nothing at Classical Music Mobile. I don't mind the sound: it's a fascinating document. Clear singing, great direction. And you get an illuminating sense of the performing tradition of half a century ago.
Quote from: donwyn on January 22, 2008, 05:09:14 PM
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/a5/20/948b793509a0197510bd2110.L.jpg)
Oooh, Souzay. I like! Thanks for the recommendation - have ordered :).
Quote from: Jezetha on January 23, 2008, 03:16:50 AM
You could also explore the historic (1941) performance of Debussy's 'Pelléas' by Désormiere (can't make an accent grave).
Dunno what Dutch keyboards look like, but chances are you just have to hold the shift key while you hit the ', then release it and type the vowel.
Quote from: M forever on January 23, 2008, 08:36:03 AM
Dunno what Dutch keyboards look like, but chances are you just have to hold the shift key while you hit the ', then release it and type the vowel.
When I do that I get 'ë', a combination of " and e...
Quote from: Jezetha on January 23, 2008, 08:59:43 AM
When I do that I get 'ë', a combination of " and e...
If you're using Windows, you can type "charmap" into run to get a box of every accent combination you could ever want :)
Quote from: Lethe on January 23, 2008, 09:24:39 AM
If you're using Windows, you can type "charmap" into run to get a box of every accent combination you could ever want :)
Yèèèès!
(Thanks for reminding me!)
(http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9900/kbgm6.jpg)
Quote from: M forever on January 23, 2008, 09:51:16 AM
(http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9900/kbgm6.jpg)
That's a Mac keyboard... All the same, it points me in the right direction... The
tilde above the ' is on the upper row, left.
Tada! è
Thanks!
Quote from: Jezetha on January 23, 2008, 10:13:08 AM
The tilde above the ' is on the upper row, left.
Same on the English keyboard. You hsould alos check if your keyboard is set to the correct language settings. Under Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options>Regional and Language Options>Language>Details are a lot of settings (even for some of the "smaller" languages) many don't know about. For instance, my system and jeyboard are set to English (US), but the keyboard is not set to the standard settings for US keyboards but to US International which still gives me the basic US layout but some additional functions, e.g. the umlaut dots ("ü") is added to the ' and " key so I can type umlauts easily.
Quote from: PSmith08 on January 22, 2008, 09:36:46 PM
Actually, you can get it whenever you want as often as you want for $11.99 through the DG online store. The downloads are at 320 kbps, which is adequate for most listening purposes (you'll run into equipment limitations, likely, before you run into serious problems with the SQ).
Just throwing that out there for anyone who really wants this set.
That's good to know. $11.99 is a lot better than some of those aftermarket prices.
Quote from: Novitiate on January 23, 2008, 04:15:52 AM
Oooh, Souzay. I like! Thanks for the recommendation - have ordered :).
Yeah, and Souzay is just the tip of the iceberg as far as great singing on this set...
Quote from: M forever on January 23, 2008, 02:51:09 AM
You probably mean the complete opera. There is also this:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FS0R9TGFL._AA240_.jpg)
That's a lovely recording (though the concert suite is live-- odd, I can tolerate Glenn Gould's awful voice, but I can't stand people coughing-- I swear there must've been a flu bug going on at the time of that concert LOL). But the performance is great and a good intro to the whole opera.
The Abbado recording of the entire opera is marvellous as well.
For some expanded enjoyment, you might want to check out DG's DVD of the opera with Boulez conducting. Tears, tears more tears-- I'm generally not a big opera fan, but I have to keep a hanky close by when watching this... :'(
Quote from: Ephemerid on January 23, 2008, 07:41:20 PM
That's a lovely recording (though the concert suite is live-- odd, I can tolerate Glenn Gould's awful voice, but I can't stand people coughing-- I swear there must've been a flu bug going on at the time of that concert LOL). But the performance is great and a good intro to the whole opera.
The Abbado recording of the entire opera is marvellous as well.
For some expanded enjoyment, you might want to check out DG's DVD of the opera with Boulez conducting. Tears, tears more tears-- I'm generally not a big opera fan, but I have to keep a hanky close by when watching this... :'(
Thanks for the responses everyone. I will endeavor to hear the Thielemann and Boulez recommendations. I did mean suite/incidental/poem, and was surprised that the thread was moved here, since many opera buffs are not too keen on these basically instrumental shorties.
Ephemerid, you were laughing a lot during your post, so I do not know if I should take it seriously, or instead applaud your vivid imagination. Anyway, coughing on that Miro-covered Abbado recording is a non-issue, either with loudspeakers or earphones. I have had that recording since its release.
Quote from: BorisG on January 24, 2008, 06:09:13 PM
since many opera buffs are not too keen on these basically instrumental shorties.
Ah! But whenever opera buffs see the words
Pelléas et Mélisande they think
Opera, not instrumental shorties! ;)
Quote from: uffeviking on January 24, 2008, 07:30:22 PM
Ah! But whenever opera buffs see the words Pelléas et Mélisande they think Opera, not instrumental shorties! ;)
Which, I imagine, is exactly why BorisG quite properly originally put it in the " Great Recordings and Reviews" forum: so that people who
aren't opera buffs would see it, since his original question was about recordings, and, as the thread title makes clear, not just recordings of Debussy's operatic version.
I do have to confess that my own
Pelléas collection consists of five versions of the Debussy opera and one of the Schoenberg piece. :-[
Quote from: Wendell_E on January 25, 2008, 03:15:04 AM
Which, I imagine, is exactly why BorisG quite properly originally put it in the " Great Recordings and Reviews" forum: so that people who aren't opera buffs would see it, since his original question was about recordings, and, as the thread title makes clear, not just recordings of Debussy's operatic version.
I do have to confess that my own Pelléas collection consists of five versions of the Debussy opera and one of the Schoenberg piece. :-[
Uffeviking blew it, but enough of that.
For those who did not see, Tim Ashley in Guardian provides his perspective on these works.
Read fast, this may be moved. ;D
http://music.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,331941179-122406,00.html
Quote from: BorisG on January 25, 2008, 08:18:27 AM
For those who did not see, Tim Ashley in Guardian provides his perspective on these works.
Read fast, this may be moved. ;D
http://music.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,331941179-122406,00.html
Thanks for the link!
(I just remembered - I once sat in Maurice Maeterlinck's chair at a book fair in Ghent, reading from my novel-in-progress, parts of which had been published by a Ghent literary magazine...)
There is also Pelleas and Melisande suite by some Scottish composer on Hyperion.
As for these already mentioned there is Supraphon two-fer with Czech Philharmonic conducted by Serge Baudo. Haven't heard it but now made me curious, how often can you hear Sibelius played by Czech Philharmonic?
(http://www.supraphon.com/!img_katalog/SU3899_2_xl.gif)
William Wallace (1860-1940) also wrote a "Pelleas & Melisande" suite for orchestra, in 1900. It has been recorded by Hyperion quite recently.
Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on January 22, 2008, 04:14:34 PM
Thielemann is spotty for me but this one is a real gem. Save your pennies as it's rare and OOP, though worth it (or keep your fingers crossed it becomes an Arkiv "on demand" item soon).
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/5e/2c/4351228348a0ade6d5e5e010.L.jpg)
Yes, this is an excellent recording and a true Romantic reading of the work. I personally like Karajan's the best though as lovely as Thielemann's is and I also have a fondness for Boulez (Warner/Apex) and Eschenbach (Koch w/ a great reading of Webern's
Passacaglia).