Pelléas et Mélisande – review

Barbican, LondonPelléas et Mélisande works uncommonly well in the concert hall. Debussy's symbolic tragedy takes as its starting point the belief that "music begins where words are powerless". The characters, with the exception of Arkel, lack insight into their own natures, and the opera consequently thrives on ambivalences of meaning and psychological motivation. Recent productions have made it too specific, which limits its depth of ambiguity. This marvellous performance gave us the greatest...

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