DEBUSSY: “Pelleas et Melisande.” Michele Command, Jocelyne...

DEBUSSY: “Pelleas et Melisande.” Michele Command, Jocelyne Taillon, Claude Dormand, Gabriel Bacquier, Roger Soyer; Ensemble Vocal de Bourgogne; Orchestre de Lyon conducted by Serge Baudo. Eurodisc 7794-2-RG (three compact discs). This mid-priced 1979 recording, receiving wide distribution in this country for the first time, is the first completely French production on disc since Roger Desormiere’s World War II recording; the pleasure derived from hearing a native cast project the text of Maeterlinck’s murky allegory with such naturalness may outweigh the enterprise’s lack of glamour. Bacquier deploys his veteran baritone to conjure a deeply tragic and appealingly vulnerable Golaud, but, as the lovers, Command and Dormand rarely generate the muted passion that ignites a memorable “Pelleas,” and Soyer’s Arkel reveals a once suave bass in tatters. Baudo sustains an admirable dramatic pulse, sometimes at the expense of Debussy’s iridescent textures.