Sunday 20 August 2017

Michael Boyd's Debussy

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

Pelléas Jonathan McGovern
Mélisande Andrea Carroll
Golaud Paul Gay
Arkel Brian Bannatyne-Scott
Geneviève Susan Bickley
Yniold William Davies
Doctor Dingle Yandell
Shepherd Joseph Padfield

Conductor Jac van Steen
Philharmonia Orchestra
Director Michael Boyd

Garsington Opera Festival, 1 July 2017
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Debussy's only completed opera is a special one, quite unlike anything else musically in the repertoire.  On an idyllic summer's evening at Garsington Opera on the Getty family estate it was the turn of director Michael Boyd to bring the symbolist opera to life.
Andrea Carroll as Melisande
The setting was an ornate old theatre, seemingly risen again from the bottom of the ocean. Boyd was inspired by old theatres he had seen in Detroit, left in a state of "gloomy, exquisite and overgrown decay".  So, perfect for Pelléas and it provided an inspired setting for a production which was otherwise refreshingly straightforward.

Jac van Steen was a steady hand for the wonderfully atmospheric score with its Debussian take on Mussorgsky and Wagner.  The orchestra had us all entranced, none more so than a woman nearby who spent the entire evening staring at the tympanist's every move.

Andrea Carroll was a very fine Melisande opposite Jonathan McGovern's solid Pelleas.  They were a youthful pairing with excellent support throughout the cast. The production's success was crowned as Acts Four and Five only increased in intensity, and lingered long in the memory.
Garsington Opera's temporary structure