Dutoit and a top-notch cast weave a night of Debussy magic

AUSTRIAN mezzo soprano Michaela Selinger won over the audience as a last-minute replacement in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande.

Michaela Selinger and Elliot Madore in the title roles of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande with Charles Dutoit conducting Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

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CLAUDE Debussy only wrote one complete opera but with Pelleas et Melisande he certainly nailed it.

When people compare it to other operas there’s only one ever mentioned, Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, to which it bears a resemblance in storyline at least. But whereas Wagner gives his characters arias and a leitmotif, or a musical signature, Debussy dispenses with all that and produces a symphonic orchestral score wedded perfectly to the text from Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist play.

It’s very French, full of Debussy’s distinctive harmonies and colours and requires singers who are in complete command of the language, as well as a conductor who is alive to every nuance of the three-hour action and score.

There is no better maestro for that job than Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit, a regular guest of the SSO who, at 80, has been coming here for 40 years.

ENGROSSING

His current tour has not been without dramas. First French soprano Sandrine Piau had to withdraw as Melisande when she broke her foot. Then his former wife, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich, cancelled three concerts she was to perform with him next week.

Fortunately this concert performance of Pelleas, the first the SSO has done, didn’t suffer with a stunning replacement in Austrian mezzo soprano Michaela Selinger joining a wonderful cast. The use of surtitles above the stage made for an engrossing experience.

Debussy spared little expense in his forces, having a shepherd come on just to deliver one line, and a chorus placed at the top of the auditorium for the voices of sailors caught in a storm at sea.

Selinger was superb as the enigmatic and ultimately tragic heroine, and her scenes with lover Pelleas – playful and wistful at times, passionate and teasing at others – were a highlight. The musical chemistry between her and Canadian baritone Elliot Madore was something to behold.

The expressive Madore with his fluid timbre is in great demand in America and Europe and has appeared with Dutoit in various productions.

FRESH

Also in the cast were three excellent French singers. Baritone Marc Barrard, as Pelleas’s half-brother Golaud, gave a remarkable performance as credulity transformed to suspicion and ultimately fatal jealousy over his wife Melisande’s fidelity.

Bass Jerome Varnier got one of the loudest cheers of the night as the half-blind king Arkel – he gets the nearest thing to an aria near the end of the evening – and young soprano Julie Mathevet was a pure-toned breath of fresh air as Melisande’s son Yniold.

There was also good local support in Opera Australia regulars mezzo Anna Dowsley as Pelleas’s mother Genevieve and bass-baritone Daniel Sumegi as the doctor.

Oh and let’s not forget Simon Lobelson’s brief appearance as the shepherd. He’s a Pinchgut Opera regular and lectures at the nearby Sydney Conservatorium so he didn’t have far to travel.

You still have a chance to see this rare concert performance. At nearly three-and-a-half hours it is demanding – there were noticeably more empty seats after the interval then before – but it’s well worth it when conductor, orchestra and singers turn on the Debussy magic.

The final performance of Pelleas et Melisande takes place at 7pm on Wednesday, June 28, at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

DETAILS

● CONCERT: Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande, Sydney Symphony Orchestra

● WHERE: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

● WHEN: Friday, June 23