Pelléas et Mélisande

From "James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met" CD Box Set James Levine brilliantly leads Debussy’s colorful score, illuminating the mysterious world in which the title characters are trapped. Jeannette Pilou is the elusive young Mélisande, discovered deep in a forest by Golaud (José van Dam in an incandescent performance), who marries her. But it is Golaud’s younger half-brother, Pelléas (Dale Duesing), with whom she falls in love. The increasingly jealous Golaud warns Pelléas to keep away from his wife. When the lovers meet one last time before Pelléas’s departure on a journey, Golaud kills him. Mélisande gives birth to a daughter and dies, leaving Golaud to wonder if she ever loved him. Jerome Hines co-stars as the old King Arkel, Golaud and Pelléas’s grandfather. This feature includes highlights from two other performances: one from 1978 with Teresa Stratas, Gabriel Bacquier, and Hines, and a second from 1995 with Frederica von Stade and Dwayne Croft.