Impressions de Pelléas

Feel free to call Pelléas et Mélisande the concert with the ‘Belgian all stars’. A number of the best singers and musicians from our country take to the stage with Pierre-Yves Pruvot to perform Debussy’s magical and poetic opera. Debussy has created a new kind of musical drama with Pelléas. The text, by the Belgian Nobel prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck, is incorporated word for word. The play is a high point in symbolism and explores psychology, humankind’s deepest nature and feelings. Much of the appeal of the piece—it has been set to music a total of five times—hides in the shroud of mystery that envelops the characters and their mutual intrigues. That Debussy’s version is the most popular has everything to do with the composer being able to perfectly translate the sultry, mysterious atmosphere of the story into a magnificent interplay between sound and colour.

Flagey, Klarafestival