Susanna Mälkki’s musical direction, with its rather calm tempos and its attention to details and colors, maintains the atmosphere of a waking dream.
Photo: Pelléas et Mélisande at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 © Jean-Louis Fernandez
“Susanna Mälkki’s musical direction, with its rather calm tempos and its attention to details and colors, maintains the atmosphere of a waking dream.”
“Si el fenómeno y no los hechos importan en esta ópera, entonces merecerá recordar por mucho tiempo el trabajo de unos intérpretes decididamente sobresalientes. Empezando por Susanna Mälkki, capaz, por acción de esos milagros difíciles de comprender, de convertir a la misma orquesta de la Ópera de Lyon en una bruma sonora capaz de expandirse y circular con una claridad insospechada. Su propuesta musical alcanza lo milagroso y raya lo inaudito, en el límite del desfallecimiento en muchos momentos y siempre arropando la acción, cuidando las voces y esa estructura ‘sin forma’ que tanto molestó a muchos de los contemporáneos de Debussy.”
“Was die finnische Dirigentin Susanna Mälkki (die das Pult von ihrem Landsmann Esa Pekka-Salonen übernommen hat) an dramatischer Delikatesse aus dem Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon herausholte”
“Doublement mis à contribution cette année (Madame Butterfly et Pelléas et Mélisande), l’Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Lyon est placé sous la direction d’une habituée du Festival d’Aix : Susanna Mälkki. De gestes généreux et savamment pesés, la cheffe finlandaise conduit avec force et cohérence l’exécution d’une partition qui exige une attention à tous les détails de la musique et aux multiples couleurs que Claude Debussy parvient à tirer de l’orchestre. Les nuances sont particulièrement dosées, chaque départ donné avec soin aux chanteurs, dans une écriture rythmique des parties chantées qui comporte de nombreux pièges. ”
“…Susanna Mälkki, maestra de los timbres y precisa y elegante en todo momento, dejando tocar a la orquesta y cantar a los personajes en una obra que debe avanzar con la misma fluidez e imprevisibilidad con que las olas acaban muriendo en la orilla.”
“ Susanna Mälkkis Klangfantasie erscheint unerschöpflich, sie zeigt unverblümt, wie Debussy aus „Tristan“, Verdi und „Parsifal“ seine Klangträumereien ableitet.”
“Conductor Susanna Mälkki brings a selfless musicality and vision to the podium that recalls Bernard Haitink — control without ego, and a combination of lush fluidity with structural rigour that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Hers is unquestionably the finest opera conducting of this year’s festival, and the orchestra of the Lyon Opera plays ravishingly well for her.”
“Susanna Mälkki’s direction makes the score a waking dream, lucid, on the lookout for the slightest emotional jolts of the sung words. The baton makes vertical and precise back-and-forth movements, measured in the pit, launched on stage to find the balance between control and spontaneity.”
“As for the musical direction of Susanna Mälkki, at the head of the Lyon orchestra, it follows in a dazzling way the intentions expressed in his time by Debussy who wrote: ” I wanted the action to never stop, to be continuous, uninterrupted. The melody is anti-lyrical. It is powerless to translate the mobility of souls and of life. I have never consented to my music rushing or delaying, as a result of technical requirements, the movement of the feelings and passions of my characters. It fades away as soon as it is appropriate that it leaves them complete freedom of their gestures, their cries, their joy or their pain. ”And this results in a masterpiece of emotion carried by an exceptional ensemble.”
“The Lyon Opera Orchestra demonstrated with a very high level of performance the influence that the baton that conducts it can have on an orchestral sound. […] I have no doubt that it is due to the expert direction of one of the most interesting, professional and outstanding batons of today: that of Susanna Mälkki. Once again the Finnish conductor demonstrated with that elegant and precise gesture that characterizes her that she can raise a musical structure as special as Pelléas to the point of admiration and, above all, respect for a job well done, without publicity displays, without media noise, with perseverance and professionalism. It was a privilege for everyone, singers, musicians and audiences, to have had her on the podium.”
“Sous la direction musicale de Susanna Mälkki, la partition de Debussy, avec ses contrastes et sa fluidité, emporte le mélomane dans des zones subtiles, délicates ou violentes.”
“The best was a revival: Katie Mitchell’s masterful production of Claude Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande”, in which the girl from the forest goes through a perverse dream in a labyrinth of moving spaces and lost passions. Produced in 2016, it has now returned to Aix with a new cast; with a conductor at the podium, Susanna Mälkki, who fluidly adjusts every note, every progression, every breath. Remember: what is good can always be improved. The old Bayreuth work-in-progress idea is also alive again in Aix.”
“The Orchestra of the Opera de Lyon is simply in a state of grace, particularly with regard to the solo interventions of the woodwinds, always perfectly in focus. Susanna Mälkki ’s direction is firm, but rigorous, and does not seek particular theatrical effects from the pit, concentrating instead on underlining Debussy’s coloristic choices (as in the frequent passages with parallel harmonic intervals).”
Connessi all’Opera
“Dirigent Susanna Malkki dirigeert dit werk van Debussy voor het eerst. Natuurlijk heeft ze geluisterd naar de vorige versie van dit werk van haar, eveneens Finse, collega Esa-Pekka Salonen. Ze zegt: ‘Finnen in het algemeen zijn vaak fan van Franse muziek en we zijn erg zuinig met woorden, zoals de tekst van de opera ook is. Die is precies en vaag op hetzelfde moment en vooral heel geconcentreerd. Dezelfde economie is te vinden in de muziek van Debussy, waar nooit een regel teveel staat en dat kleine mysterie wat blijft, is een mix van dramatisch bewijs en onzekerheid, doordrenkt met poëzie en vreemdheid.’
Susanna Malkki laat een mooi uitgebalanceerde uitvoering horen. Ze geeft zelf aan veel verschillen in sfeer te willen scheppen en dat is herkenbaar. Debussy’s partituur, met al de impressionistische kleurschakeringen, orkestrale rijkdom en fijne nuanceringen voert ze sprankelend uit en de rubati (vrije tempi) voelen natuurlijk aan.
De prima zangers in deze bezetting krijgen van haar volop ruimte en per zanger lijkt ze het orkest ook bij te sturen. Een hele- aan opera dienstbare- dirigente die ruim voldoende eigenheid aan de partituur geeft. Het woud komt tot leven, het water twinkelt en de duistere krochten van de prachtige decors donderen in deze prima uitvoering door het Orkest van de Opera van Lyon.”
“The Aix-en-Provence Festival revived the production of Pelléas et Mélisande under the masterful direction of Susanna Mälkki and with a staging by Katie Mitchell that, although best known for its premiere in 2016, continues to dazzle with its intelligence and theatricality. From the first chord, Mälkki demonstrated her deep understanding of Debussy’s score. The conducting was sublime, standing out for its combination of fluidity and structural rigor, which kept the audience in suspense. The Lyon Opera Orchestra, under her baton, gave a dreamlike performance, rich in nuances and with an emotional depth rarely heard live.
[…] The combination of Mälkki and Mitchell created an operatic experience that is as much a feast for the senses as it is an intellectual challenge.”