The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Mikko Franck, perform Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande orchestral suite. Concert recorded live on 5 October 2018 at the Grande salle Pierre Boulez of the Philharmonie de Paris.

GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) : Pelléas et Mélisande - Composed for piano in May 1898 and orchestrated in 1900. First performed on 3 February 1901 (without the Sicilienne) in Paris, and with the Sicilienne in 1912.

Prélude
La fileuse
Sicilienne
Mort de Mélisande

"I shall never find my way out of this forest. Heaven knows how far this animal has led me. I had the impression it was mortally wounded. Yes, here are traces of blood." Uttered by Golaud, the verty first words of the symbolist melodrama Pelléas et Mélisande by Maurice Maeterlinck were later immortalised by Debussy in an opera that would profoundly impact music history. The work by the Belgian playwright, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911, was a great success following its premiere at the Bouffes-Parisiens theatre on 17 May 1893. A story of darkness and twilight filled with references to the courtly world of the Middle Ages, the drama was adapted on countless occasions on the stage, with notably Sarah Bernhardt in the masculine role of Pelléas, alongside Mrs Patrick Campbell as Mélisande.

Though Debussy gave future generations the most remarkable musical version of Pelléas Si Debussy laissa à la postérité la version musicale la plus remarquable de Pelléas, other composers were equally and successfully inspired. Schoenberg wrote a symphonic poem, Sibelius a music for the stage, Mel Bonis a work for piano and William Wallace a suite for orchestra. It was Gabriel Fauré, however, who had the honour of being the first to put these evanescent characters to music, becoming so after the London performances in 1898. It was therefore in the language of Shakespeare that Fauré's "Chanson de Mélisande" was first performed. Mrs Patrick Campbell, also known as alias Mrs. Pat, whom later took on the roles of Eliza Doolitle in Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, first called upon Debussy for this English version of Pelléas and Mélisande.

However, as Debussy was entirely dedicated to his opera, Mrs Pat turned therefore to Gabriel Fauré. Given only enough time to compose a version for piano, Fauré used old incomplete scores, such as his Bourgeois gentilhomme from 1893 for the famous Sicilienne, and called upon his student Charles Koechlin to orchestrate this new work for the stage. Two years later, an orchestral suite was required for a symphonic concert, for which Fauré himself orchestrated four movements from the initial score, doubling the number of instruments. According to his biographer Jean-Michel Nectoux, "Pelléas et Mélisande is Fauré's symphonic masterpiece."

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