Composer: Gabriel Urbain Fauré, Arnold Schoenberg
Orchestra: Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Paavo Järvi
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Catalogue: ALPHA1058
Release: 2024
Size: 577 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Schoenberg: Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5
01. I. Die Achtel ein wenig bewegt – zögernd
02. II. Heftig
03. III. Lebhaft
04. IV. Sehr rasch
05. V. Ein wenig bewegt
06. VI. Langsam
07. VII. Ein wenig bewegter
08. VIII. Sehr langsam
09. IX. Etwas bewegt
10. X. In gehender Bewegung
11. XI. Breit
Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80
12. I. Prélude. Quasi adagio
13. II. Fileuse. Andantino quasi Allegretto
14. III. Sicilienne. Allegretto molto moderato
15. IV. La mort de Mélisande. Molto Adagio
No fewer than four major composers — Faure, Debussy, Schoenberg and Sibelius — were inspired by Maurice Maeterlink’s play Pelleas et Melisande (1892). Given that we celebrate anniversaries of Faure and Schoenberg in 2024, Paavo Jarvi here offers his reading of their settings of Pelleas et Melisande with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, whose Music Director he was for almost ten years. Debussy was so much involved with his own operatic setting of Pelleas et Melisande that the famous English actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell turned to Gabriel Faure to write incidental music for the play; this music then became an orchestral suite in four movements that is considered to be Faure’s symphonic masterpiece. Schoenberg followed advice given by his much-admired role model Richard Strauss in 1902 and composed his own symphonic poem based on Pelleas et Melisande. Its complex combinations of musical motifs and the rich fabric of the large-scale orchestra not only captivate us but also reveal his own vision of this archaic and yet universal story.