A day at Aldeburgh: Lise Davidsen's Aldeburgh Festival début in Schubert and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande semi-staged

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande - Myrna Tennant, Camilla Seale, Phoebe Rayner - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Schubert: Gretchen am Spinnrade; Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister; Der Tod und das Mädchen; Erlkönig; Lise Davidsen soprano, James Baillieu piano; Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande; Jacques Imbrailo (Pelléas), Sophie Bevan (Mélisande), Gordon Bintner (Golaud), Sarah Connolly (Geneviève), Nicolas Testé (Arkël), Beth Stirling (Yniold); dir: Rory Kinnear, set/costume designer Vicki Mortimer, lighting designers Paule Constable/Imogen Clark; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Ryan Wigglesworth; Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 13 June 2026

Making her Aldeburgh Festival début, Lise Davidsen delivered a memorable afternoon recital of Schubert Lieder brilliantly accompanied by the pianist, James Baillieu. In the evening, the semi-staged performance of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande highlighted the brilliance of the orchestral playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth and the conversational clarity of the singers with Sophie Bevan and Jacques Imbrailo in the title roles. 

[Elsewhere on Planet Hugill, Robert chats to James Baillieu about his new role on the Britten Pears Arts Young Artist Programme and to Ryan Wigglesworth about being Featured Artist at this year's festival]

I was more than proud being a member of the audience when Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen made her Bayreuth Festival début in 2019 as Elisabeth in Tobias Kratzer’s outstanding but unconventional modern staging of Tannhäuser. [see Tony's review] The show featured an odd assortment of characters up to no good either riding a battered old Citroën Type-H van (Venusberg on wheels), nicking burgers from Burger King or siphoning off petrol - and the rest! Get the picture?

Her Bayreuth performance was immaculate, catapulting her into the upper echelons of the opera world while cementing her status as one of the world’s leading Wagnerians. Her Aldeburgh début follows suit. I found it satisfying being in the cosy, comfortable and spartan space of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall harbouring acoustics, I feel, perfect for voice and piano and so ideal for Davidsen singing Schubert Lieder.

James Baillieu, Lise Davidsen - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

Admirably accompanied by James Baillieu on piano, Davidsen opened with such glowing and accurate accounts of Gretchen am Spinnrade and Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, a couple of acclaimed art-songs that Schubert set to texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Widely considered the masterpiece that created German ‘Lied’, the scenario of ‘Gretchen’ depicts the tormented and lovesick character sitting at her spinning-wheel longing of Faust after he abandons her while she agonizes over her lost peace of mind.

What I found particularly pleasing to the overall effect and mood of the piece veered towards the piano accompaniment when mimicking the repetitive whirring motion of the spinning-wheel and the unsteady beating of Gretchen’s heart which was played so effortlessly by Baillieu and sung with dignity and clarity by Davidsen.

An effortless and well-controlled performance continued with Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister based on the poetry found in Goethe’s monumental 1795 novel, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, which introduces several iconic and emotionally charged characters most notably the mysterious young girl Mignon whose poems express deep themes of longing, isolation, madness and unrequited love.

And one of Schubert’s most haunting and deserving pieces Der Tod und das Mädchen, set to a poem by German writer, Matthias Claudius, duly followed. A scenario of uncertainty, it tells of a brief dialogue between two characters - The Maiden and Death. The portrayal of The Maiden - begging ‘death’ to pass her by because she’s still young - was sung by Davidsen with a sense of marked urgency while the portrayal of Death was delivered slowly in a deep and comforting tone as befitting the subject.

James Baillieu, Lise Davidsen - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Britten Pears Arts)

Ending her recital, Davidsen opted for one of Schubert’s most popular and most admired works Erlkönig composed in 1815 when he was 18 years old. Based on Goethe’s famous poem, the scenario tells of a father frantically riding his steed through a stormy night to save his feverish terrified son who’s being lured to his death by the supernatural Erlkönig who haunts ancient woodlands and notoriously known for stalking children who wanders into his domain thus representing an ominous omen of death.

What makes Erlkönig so remarkable and, indeed, so pleasing is to the fact that Schubert conjures up so much drama and tension into what is a lovely and inviting song. For instance, Baillieu digs deep to play the rapid and thundering triplet patterns that mimics the relentless and desperate galloping of a horse while Davidsen portrays four distinct roles using different vocal ranges and dynamics to achieve the right balance and mood for each part - Narrator, Father, Son and Erlkönig.

Rounding off a lovely programme was a telling performance of the Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen (Litany for the Feast of All Souls) sung so tenderly and assuredly by Davidsen who most definitely captured the hearts of an admiring audience who wanted more - and that’s what they got. They were duly treated to a lovely rendering of An die Musik (To Music) one of Schubert’s most famous and deeply moving songs which serves as a beautiful prayer of gratitude to the art of music which Schubert often turned to for comfort during difficult times.

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande - Sophie Bevan, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Receiving its première at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, 1902, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande - based on the famous symbolist play written by Flemish author, Maurice Maeterlinck, in 1892 - is a masterpiece of musical impressionism and symbolism.

Critics and public alike were perplexed by its subject-matter but the opera duly became one of the most admired works in the repertoire beguiling audiences time and time again with its elusive shimmering beauty not least by the discerning and attentive audience that packed Snape Maltings for a couple of outstanding semi-staged performances directed by Rory Kinnear.

Vicki Mortimer offered minimal set design intelligently utilising the orchestra’s space on stage to reflect the forest and the comings and goings of the characters to subtle effect while Paule Constable and Imogen Clarke’s lighting scenario vividly captured and pin-pointed the emotional core and intimacy of each scene of Debussy’s most valuable opera.

Catching to the eye, too, was the odd bunch of costumes also conjured up by Mortimer. For instance, Mélisande was attired in a long-flowing, worn-looking white dress just right for a Rocky Horror night out with the girls while the men were dark suited and booted and the small coterie of extras (non-singing roles) were turned out in grey-coloured, factory-type overall gear but always fully in gear as handmaidens to Mélisande.

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande - Sophie Bevan, Ryan Wigglesworth, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

An incredible, adventurous and pioneering piece of writing, for sure, Debussy radically rejected the traditional operatic conventions and opted for ‘sprechgesang’ (speech-singing) which completely rejects standard lyrical arias and recitatives in favour of a declamatory musical style mimicking the natural rhythms, inflections and pacing of spoken French which more than cemented the composer’s legacy as a master of musical impressionism while introducing and shaping a completely new musical landscape.

Therefore, to add to the overall drama of the work, Debussy employed instrumental interludes to reflect and create a mysterious dreamlike atmosphere which were ravishingly played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth while some of the mysterious elements of the story such as the ever-present imagery of water was left to one’s imagination and, therefore, I lovingly recall Wagner’s famous philosophical comment: ‘Imagination creates reality’. I guess it does!

In fact, Debussy was significantly influenced by Wagner particularly during his formative years though he ultimately rebelled against his dominance to forge his own distinct impressionistic musical style embracing whole tone scales, parallel chords and an atmospheric format but nonetheless was deeply captivated by Wagner’s lush harmonies and sweeping orchestral passages which is self-evident in Pelléas et Mélisande.

Debussy’s score, too, harbours added luxury for its subtlety and shifting orchestral colours not least by its brilliant use of silence thereby allowing time and space for the unresolved tensions and unspoken traumas of the characters to unfold.

Blessed by so many good scenes such as the forest meeting when Golaud, lost in the woods, discovers the weeping Mélisande, the opera’s most famous scene witnesses Mélisande leaning from her tower window - Kinnear puts her with the conductor on the podium, as good as place as any! - brushing her shoulder-length silvery blonde hair with Pelléas dashing towards her through the auditorium to offer her a strong and passionate embrace with his jealous and raging half-brother, Prince Golaud, looming in the darkness.

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande - Sophie Bevan, Jacques Imbrailo, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

Another great and moving scene unfolded when Golaud, the role so strongly acted and sung with authority by Gordon Bintner, forces his young son, Yniold, to spy on the two lovers, the role so accurately played by Beth Stirling, ended in utter tragedy when he confronts and kills Pelléas while the tender and fragile Mélisande dies in childbirth without ever fully revealing the truth of her past or their love.

Forming an excellent partnership as Pelléas and Mélisande fell to Jacques Imbrailo (whose first major success was playing the title-role in Britten’s Billy Budd at Glyndebourne 2010) and Sophie Bevan (a graduate of the Benjamin Britten International Opera School) who absolutely excelled in their respective roles offering sensitive and intelligent readings as befitting their characters.

Dame Sarah Connolly was excellent in her brief mezzo role as Geneviève - mother of Pelléas and Golaud. Her moment comes in the first act where she reads a letter from Golaud to Arkel announcing his secret marriage to the mysterious Mélisande which sparks off the tragic love triangle that ends so bitterly.

The authoritative role of King Arkël (Golaud’s grandfather) was outstandingly played by Nicolas Testé whose deep grand bass voice radiated round the intimacy of Snape Maltings with consummate ease while the minor roles of Doctor and Shepherd were admirably played by Fabian-Jakob Balkhausen and David Kennedy respectfully with the Chorus singing offstage.

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande - Ryan Wigglesworth, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Craig Fuller)

The creative partnership of Kinnear and Wigglesworth made Debussy’s mysterious and forbidding opera work - and work well - to the delight of a packed and admiring house who added to the overall drama of the night by offering a tumultuous and thunderous roar of approval at curtain-call. Bravo!

Never miss out on future posts by following us

The blog is free, but I'd be delighted if you were to show your appreciation by buying me a coffee.

Elsewhere on this blog

• Vocal fireworks & extreme emotions: Franco Fagioli & the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal de Versailles in music written for the castrato Velluti - review 
• A portal into how we reflect the world around us now: violinist Violetta Suvini on bringing three world premieres to Cheltenham Music Festival - interview
• Familiar yet unfamiliar: with Summa, Cello Octet Amsterdam present Arvo Pärt's music in performances that are simply mesmeric - record review 
• Finding his way home through a single voice: cellist Sebastian Plano on his new album, Solo, his most personal work to date - interview 
• La Clemenza di Tito: despite a lack of staging, Christopher Rousset & Les Talens Lyriques light up the stage in Mozart's great final opera at The Grange Festival - opera review 
• Every nuance tells: Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up receives its UK premiere at Guildhall School - opera review 
• St Magnus Festival at 50: a composer-led vision that still lives and breathes in the North - Alasdair Nicolson's article 
• Admirably reinvented for a small stage: Wild Arts intimate & vividly engaging account of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro - opera review 
• Home