Opera Scotland

Pelléas and Mélisande 2005Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Read more about the opera Pelléas et Mélisande

These rewarding semi-staged performances of Debussy's masterpiece were unfortunately mistimed by the RSNO - the Scottish Chamber Orchestra were simultaneously giving concert versions of Fidelio with Sir Charles Mackerras and Christine Brewer. The potential audience for both works suffered because of the division, but Pelléas was probably penalised more seriously. This was a pity, given that the RSNO rarely does operatic concerts nowadays, and Denève had a definite flair for the French repertoire. Also Natalie Dessay and Laurent Naouri rarely appeared in Scotland - indeed these were the only appearances by the great soprano in any operatic role.