Debussy & Schoenberg: Pelléas & Mélisande

Featuring

Jonathan Nott
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Claude Debussy
Arnold Schoenberg

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Recording & Production

The Debussy and Schoenberg works on this album were recorded in Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland, in June 2019 and November 2020, respectively.

Interpretation

Jonathan Nott's orchestral version of Debussy's "Pelléas" is a single-movement tone poem that aims to complement Schoenberg's tone poem, creating a comparison of French and German musical perspectives.

Critical Reception

The 1905 premiere of Schoenberg's "Pelleas und Melisande" caused an uproar, with one critic recommending the composer be put in a lunatic asylum.

Recording & Production

This album features a world premiere recording of Jonathan Nott's orchestral arrangement of Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande."

Composer's Artistic Vision

Arnold Schoenberg, composer of "Pelleas und Melisande," initially planned to convert Maeterlinck's play into an opera but gave up the idea, not knowing Claude Debussy was working on his own opera at the same time.

Composition History

Maurice Maeterlinck's play "Pelléas et Mélisande," which inspired both works on this album, was published in May 1892 and had international appeal.

Compositional Technique

Schoenberg consciously modeled his "Pelleas und Melisande" on the single-movement symphonic poems of Richard Strauss and grandly-conceived movements found in Mahler's early symphonies.