Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

Sir Simon Rattle has said that Debussy’s opera is a work he simply has to conduct every few years, and it was one of the first major projects he undertook after being named the London Symphony Orchestra’s new music director. His love for the score is evident everywhere as he coaxes some ravishing playing from this great orchestra. His cast is a fine one, with Magdalena Kozená (Mélisande) and Christian Gerhaher (Pelléas) a touching central pair, but it is the magnificently characterized Golaud of Gerald Finley that most impresses in a score where much stirs below the placid surface.