Achieving perfection in opera, the most complex form of artistic expression that Western culture has ever created, is not easy, but when it is achieved, the result is magical. The Pelléas et Mélisande currently on stage at Liceu does not reach perfection but it is very, very close to it and it is more than likely that it will become the great show of the season on an artistic level and will remain for many years in the theatre’s memory. Pelléas et...

Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera of disconnections. Mélisande’s first words are, ‘Ne me touchez pas!’ -- ‘Do not touch me!’ And, indeed, she (and everyone else) remains isolated. Not only physical contact, but emotional and intellectual contact seem impossible throughout the opera. Characters fail to understand their own emotions and fail to communicate what little they do understand. They constantly...