It is in a completely exceptional orchestral configuration that the Grand Théâtre de Genève presents a new version of
Debussy
's
Pelléas et Mélisande
.
In fact, to respect the necessary distance, the orchestra pit extended over the first six rows of the pit.
Conductor Jonathan Nott officiates in the middle of his ensemble, the brass facing the stage and the violins in the direction of the audience… as if there was one!
Read also: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui dances life
Because this show was designed for video capture.
The absence of spectators will have had at least the advantage of allowing unexpected innovations.
For this new version, Marina Abramovic signs a masterful scenography in perfect harmony with the staging of the Belgian-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and his acolyte Damien Jalet.
This shocking tandem was needed to physically translate the indescribable power of this lyrical drama.
In this respect, the show is faithful to the will of Debussy, who would have liked this drama, created on April 30, 1902 at the Opéra-Comique Paris, to never stop and that
"the mobility of souls
" is expressed through it. a music that goes on endlessly.
The composer had attended ten years earlier the original play by Maurice Maeterlinck, who had never ceased to work on the composer's mind.
We can say that
Pelléas et Mélisande
by Debussy is the French equivalent of
Tristan et Yseult
by Wagner.
A violent love, a passionate love, an infinite love, forbidden by a jealous husband.
On the stage of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the cast is impeccable despite a last minute change.
The orchestra of French-speaking Switzerland sounds wonderful, even if one might have feared that the new arrangement of the musicians in the heart of the parterre would create an acoustic imbalance between the orchestra and the singers who remained on the stage.
Fortunately, it is not and the harmony of the whole borders on perfection.
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui wanted the dancers to remain permanently alongside the singers and that their choreography illuminates all the implications of the libretto until the final outcome.
This remarkable production of the
Grand Théâtre de Genève
will be broadcast this Monday evening at 7:30 p.m. on the gtg.ch website.
And if you miss the screening, you can still stream it again while waiting for its broadcast in a few months on TV5 monde.
