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Rating: 
Summary: Strangely compelling
Review: Finally a music-drama where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.But it is such a confusing opera -- i didn't know whether to laugh or cry or call a shrink. Anti-wagnerian to the point of being a spoof it would seem but i can't really tell. Yet i cannot deny its charm.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating production
Review: First of all, this is NOT 4:3 full screen version as it's written on the box. I was so glad when I played it and found out it was widescreen. The video transfer is superb, so is the sound. Only complain is that there is a glitch of video&sound in the middle of the romantic scene when Pelleas touchs Melisande's long hair. It's a technical thing of DVD-9, though, DG engneers could have chosen a right spot to put the glitch where there is no video or sound.
The singers act well and they all look their part. And beautiful voices with impeccable French diction from everyone, especially Melisande.
Musically, I think this DVD version is superior to any CD versions and it's visually wonderful to look at, too.
Rating:
Summary: Strangely compelling
Review: I've always had a difficult time with this opera. After awhile it just becomes so beautifully boring. BUT, not so here. This production held my attention from beginning to end. It is probably the most perfect opera on DVD you will ever find. My only complaint is with the packaging. Why on earth did DGG spread it over 2 discs? The second one has only the short Act 5 which could have easily been on the first disc.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic For Sure
Review: I've always had a difficult time with this opera. After awhile it just becomes so beautifully boring. BUT, not so here. This production held my attention from beginning to end. It is probably the most perfect opera on DVD you will ever find. My only complaint is with the packaging. Why on earth did DGG spread it over 2 discs? The second one has only the short Act 5 which could have easily been on the first disc.
Rating:
Summary: A great performance!
Review: This is not only an astonishing production in every respect--it may be one of the best opera videos to appear to date.
Rating:
Summary: The best recording of Pelleas?
Review: This is the best combination of conducting, orchestral playing, singing and sound quality that I have yet heard in this highly distinctive masterpiece (also, the staging is spare, but attractive and believable). Boulez belies his reputation for coldness with conducting full of warmth, atmosphere and dramatic involvement (unlike the bland and placid Von Karajan), and the orchestral sound is both lush and refined. Secondly, the singing of the principal roles of Pelleas, Melisande, Golaud and Arkel is first class in terms of both beauty of sound, sense of style and perception of characterization. Moreover, both Neil Archer and Alison Hagley, the Pelleas and Melisande, are young and good looking, thus adding to their credibility. In particular, Archer as Pelleas sings with a genuine light baritone timbre (what the French call baryton marton-I have only heard this vocal quality from the young Jansen on the classic 1941 Desormiere recording) ,which not only further conveys the youth of Pelleas but also presents a meaningful contrast to both the heavier baritone of Donald Maxwell as the considerably older Golaud and the genuine basso of Kenneth Cox as the elderly Arkel. The only complaint that I would offer is that the recording of this less than 3 hour work is spread over 2 DVDs, thus needlessly increasing the cost (strangely, the first four of opera's five acts is on disc one). This performance, which I find distinctly superior to those of both Von Karajan and Abbado, deserves to become a classic.
Rating:
Summary: not for puccini lovers
Review: to this day pelleas has never entered the standard repetoire
(american opera goers insist upon a la boheme every season), which is sad, yet refreshing in that it still is a challenge.
this is a modernist opera and further proof that debussy could often be more progressive than even webern (jeux is the quintessential example).
leave it to boulez to cast non french cast in this very french opera.
his reasoning was that french performers have become grounded in french traditions and his goal was to wipe away that sense of complacency.
it worked.
this is a hauntingly beautiful production that refuses to follow the norm.
there is no real 'action' scenes. no obligatory recatitives.
it is well known that the librettist himself so hated debussy's treatment that he made a concentrated effort to stop further performances, and damn near succeeded.
in retrospect this was a curious reaction, because debussy's score perfectly compliments the story.
but, indeed the 'story' doesnt follow the basic libretto 101 formula. clarifying the protaganists and antagonists is nowhere as simple as it might seem. the same could be said for parsifal, and yet this is supposedly very anti-wagnerian.
upon seeing parsifal debussy publicly stated that he felt klingsor (the villian of the piece) the only real decent character of the opera.
and i suspect his own sympathies in pelleas may have been for the put upon husband.
regardless, the methodically slow haunting eroticism will stay with you.
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