Review: In 'Pelléas,' the Met Opera's music director takes charge

NEW YORK — Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the new music director of the Metropolitan Opera, may not have many appearances with the company this season. But conducting the opening of Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” on Tuesday night, he seemed fully in charge.

The 43-year-old conductor captured the hushed eeriness of the work’s first few measures, in which the orchestra suggests the somber, mysterious mood that pervades the entire opera. But that’s not all.

What also came through immediately was that, still fresh in his new role at the Met, Nézet-Séguin has arrived with bold interpretive ideas and the determination to carry them out. He took a daringly slow tempo in this opening passage, a solemn, low theme in chords that hints at modal plainchant. The restrained sound of the strings was deep and dark, yet resonant and slightly tremulous. The theme that immediately follows — a nervous, oscillating two-note motif — was all the more ominous for his subdued, weighty rendering.

Throughout this long work, Nézet-Séguin conveyed the subliminal intensity that courses through even the most seemingly languid and diaphanous passages. The fraught eruptions had shattering impact. During whole stretches, the orchestra enshrouds the vocal lines with sonorities that give lift and clarity to the sung words, while tapping into the psychological undertow of the emotions. All this came through in the performances Nézet-Séguin drew from the inspired orchestra and admirable cast.

In a revealing interview with The New York Times published this week, Nézet-Séguin said that the “basic presence of the orchestral sound” at the Met is not exactly what he imagines it could be. With his elegant, vibrant performances of Verdi’s “La Traviata” in December, he worked to bring out what he called a richer, more resonant and bass-oriented sound.

Though his comments were a little vague, what he is describing generally characterized this “Pelléas.” He emphasized the Wagnerian elements that seeped into Debussy’s score, especially with the orchestra’s deep-set, warm sound — which did seem different from the lighter textures favored by his predecessor, James Levine. (Levine was fired last year over allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied). Yet, the weightiness was balanced by French-styled radiance in the opera’s many iridescent passages.

This “Pélleas” is the first revival in nearly a decade of Jonathan Miller’s 1995 production, which metaphorically sets the story of an ill-fated family in a Gothic 19th-century castle where outdoor forests and chalky inner sanctums seem to merge. The sense of doom that runs through this opera, with a libretto Debussy adapted from Maeterlinck’s Symbolist play, came through in the opening scene between Prince Golaud, a grandson of King Arkel of Allemonde, and Mélisande, the frightened, secretive young woman Golaud encounters weeping by a fountain in the forest. The bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen commanded the stage as Golaud, his voice robust and strong, yet grave.

A lonely widower, Golaud is at once drawn to and protective of Mélisande. He knows not to press her immediately with questions about where she has come from, who has harmed her, and how. The mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard brought a melting sound to Mélisande while suggesting the character’s fears and volatility. Yet, she intriguingly tapped into this fragile young woman’s willfulness. After all, it takes control to maintain secrets (and to downright lie) as Mélisande does. You understand why she almost passively, as we soon learn, marries Golaud. What other course is there? In a way, what does it matter?

Tenor Paul Appleby brought youthful impulsiveness and sweetness to Pelléas, Golaud’s impressionable younger half brother, who falls uncontrollably in love with Mélisande. But on Tuesday, he seemed vocally underpowered, especially in his lower register. The role has been sung both by light baritones and tenors. Appleby’s voice had more presence when the music took him into his bright, upper range.

Veteran bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, singing with earthy sound and aching sadness, was magnificent as the old, nearly-blind Arkel, who seems to accept that all people, even the members of his sullen family, are guided by fates we can only guess at. The plush-voiced contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux had a notable Met debut in the small but crucial role of Geneviève, the wistful mother to both Golaud and Pelléas. A. Jesse Schopflocher, an impressive treble, made an endearing Yniold, Golaud’s young son, who is baffled by the adults and turns fearful when his father is seized with violent jealousy of his wife.

Alas, there are only four remaining performances, with Nézet-Séguin conducting just three. It will take time for him to fill out his schedule at the Met. But it’s worth the wait.

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Pelléas et Mélisande

Through Jan. 31 at the Metropolitan Opera, Manhattan; 212-362-6000, metopera.org.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.