Jean-Claude Casadesus - Debussy: Pelleas Et Melisande (1997)

"Pelleas" was a work that charmed many other musicians of the time: both Gabriel Faure and Jan Sibelius composed the accompanying music for the piece, and Arnold Schoenberg wrote a symphonic poem on the subject. Debussy found in her the perfect opera libretto he was looking for. In a 1902 article, "Why I wrote Pelleas," Debussy explained the appeal of the work: "The drama of Pelleas, which, despite its fabulous atmosphere, contains much more humanity than the so-called "documents of real life," as it seemed to me, perfectly corresponded to my intentions. It has an evocative language, the sensitivity of which can be extended to music and to the orchestral background."