DEBUSSY Pelléas et Mélisande • Roger Désormière, cond; Jacques Jansen (Pelléas); Irène Joachim (Mélisande); Henri-Bertrand Etcheverry (Golaud); Paul Cabanel (Arkel); Germaine Cernay (Geneviève); Yvonne Gouverné Ch; Anonymous SO • EMI 45782, mono (3 CDs: 196:45 &)

Recorded in April and May of 1941, with World War II transpiring not too far away, this performance is sometimes thought of as an affirmation of French culture in the face of the German occupation of northern France. Maybe so. To me, it’s just a very good performance of Pelléas, if no longer the crème de la crème of recordings of the opera. It was issued on French EMI CDs back in 1988 and on Andante just a few years ago. If you are an enthusiast for this opera, the Andante set is very nearly the ultimate Pelléas collection (if you can find it), containing as it does, not only the Désormière recording, but every important collection of excerpts from the opera that preceded it. As it happens, the one significant omission can be heard on the EMI set, namely Mary Garden, the Mélisande of the world premiere, singing “Mes longs cheveux descendent” from the Tower Scene with none other than Debussy himself at the piano. As an “encore,” the EMI set includes numbers one, three, and five of the Ariettes oubliées performed by Garden and the composer. The EMI set, like its French Référence predecessor, is filled out with 1936 recordings of various Debussy songs by Maggie Teyte and Alfred Cortot, including the Fêtes galantes, Chansons de Bilitis, Le promenoir des deux amantes, No. 2 of the Proses lyriques, and No. 3 of the Ballades de François Villon.

Although I believe that the Désormière has been surpassed by some later, better-sounding stereo recordings (Abbado, Haitink, and Karajan, in their varying ways), it remains a formidable performance, with a strong cast from top to bottom, engaging each other in a conversational way that engenders a feeling of intimacy. Even with some respectable competition from Ansermet and Fournet, it was the benchmark recording for many years and is still mighty impressive.

FANFARE: James Miller