I've said it - it's out there
There's an excellent interview with Sir Simon Rattle here. Well worth a read.
I make a beeline for his all-too-rare concerts in London - I was at the recent Dvorak 7 to which he refers, which was fasinating in an 'it's Brahms' way. But I have passed on what promises to be a musically stunning Pelleas at the Royal Opera House, with the wonderful Simon Keenlyside. I have a problem with Pelleas: I don't like it. Worse than that, I am bored by it. I've yet to hear or see a performance which hasn't left me screaming in my head for it to be over and done with.
It's not just Pelleas. It's Debussy as a whole. He does nothing for me. A big yawn.
But, I now realise, it's not just Debussy. If truth be told...I don't like most French music. I find it dull and pointless. There. It's out there. I said it. It's a huge generalisation, of course. But while are there are some French pieces I enjoy, there's not one piece of French music I would call great music - nothing more than first-rate second rank music. I do like Berlioz, but I despair when I read inflated claims about his worth. A stunning orchestrator, composer of some fantastic to hear music - the Symphonie Fantastique, La Damnation de Faust, for instance - but nothing that even comes close to any number of pieces by German or Austrian composers. Even - who'd have thought it a hundred years ago? - a British composer, Elgar, whose Second Symphony is a masterpiece.
I wish I could 'get' it. I know I'm the one missing out (although I'd defend my view about no French composer deserving to ranked alongside the likes Bach, Beethoven and Wagner and no French piece deserving the label of 'great'). I toyed with trying Pelleas again. But life's too short to pay a small fortune to sit in the Royal Opera House and be lulled to sleep by Sir Simon Rattle and Debussy.
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dennis
May 11th, 2007 8:59pmI agree on pelleas but I really recommend some shorter pieces by ravel like sonatine, mother Goose or tombeau de couperin
john moran
May 11th, 2007 10:18pmStephen,
You rate Wagner highly, however there is some degree of anti semitism associated with him. As a jewish person and a lover of opera can you comment at some point?
Ampontan
May 12th, 2007 4:50amNot even the Debussy and Ravel string quartets? Try the Alban Berg version...
Michael
May 13th, 2007 2:18amPoulenc's Dialogue des Carmelites has got to be one of the most riveting operas of the twentieth century, surely! Otherwise I'm more or less in agreement. Berlioz's Les Troyens, for example, contains maybe a half hour of great music - but that doesn't make it a great opera.
szeni
May 14th, 2007 10:30am'Carmen' avec Domingo "second rank" et 'Gaspar de la nuit' par Dinu Lipatti et Debussy par Walter Gieseking "dull and pointless"? Quelle grosse erreur de gout!