Perfect Pelléas: Debussy's opera seduces in Frankfurt

By Matthew Rye, 02 April 2017

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“The score hasn’t sounded this sheerly beautiful since the glory days of Abbado and Boulez”

Reviewed at Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main on 1 April 2017

Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande

Oper Frankfurt

Joana Mallwitz, Conductor

Claus Guth, Director

Christian Schmidt, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Gaëlle Arquez, Mélisande

Björn Bürger, Pelléas

Brian Mulligan, Golaud

Alfred Reiter, Arkel

Judita Nagyová, Geneviève

Thesele Kemane, A Doctor

Anthony Muresan, Yniold

Olaf Winter, Lighting Designer

Norbert Abels, Dramaturgy

Tilman Michael, Choirmaster / chorus director

Opera Frankfurt Orchestra

Frankfurt Opera Chorus

It's party time onstage: Carl Nielsen's Maskarade at Oper Frankfurt

Kevin W Ng, 20th November

Carl Nielsen's Maskarade makes a welcome rare appearance, with a great time had by everyone onstage and off.

***11

Christof Loy’s Lonely Hearts Club at Oper Frankfurt

Mark Pullinger, 26th March

This is no Liederabend with singers taking their turn to file up to the piano. It’s a fully staged drama in which baritone Vladislav Sulimsky’s character reflects on his past loves and losses.

*****

Indomitable: Billy Budd in Frankfurt

Matthew Rye, 25th May

Oper Frankfurt's revival of Richard Jones's production of Billy Budd with a homegrown cast is a devastating combination of powerful music and searing drama.

*****

Words or music? Collaboration or resistance? A new Capriccio in Frankfurt

John Johnston, 24th January

Camilla Nylund’s rich, ample voice bloomed in the glorious setting of the sonnet, cosseted by burnished horn playing, in Strauss' unsurpassed operatic farewell to the soprano voice.

****1

Iain Paterson's Dutchman drops anchor in Frankfurt

John Johnston, 20th May

Iain Paterson's house debut as the Holländer was sufficient reason to drop anchor in the Main for this revival of David Bösch's 2015 production.

***11

A dark and stunning new Rigoletto

Ako Imamura, 28th April

Oper Frankfurt's new production of Rigoletto focuses on the dark side of the tragedy with excellent singing from the two principals.

****1

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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).