Debussy's Opera, Pelleas et Melisande


Just finished listening to the Media Player(1 miniute) offerings of a few of the avaliable recordings of this opera by Debussy. The recording that struck me most in terms of emotional involvement was the recording made back before our time, Desormiere conducting the Yvanne S.O. The Karajan recording was far superior in terms of acoustic engineering. Though the Desormiere recording is very poor quality, this is the one i will order. However there are 2 others made by French conductors that were not offered on Media Player, and am curious about these. If someone has a collection of recordings of this opera, please post your notes. Frankly don't see how any conductor could present the opera with more understanding than does Desormiere.
tweekerman
The other French conductor i was refering to was , Ingelbrecht, i just received from Tower. This 6 cd set of almost all of Debussy's orchestral works is a must to own. If you order the Desormiere recording, be prepared for a very poor quality recording, but most moving of all. Listen carefully to the opening 2 minutes, beyond words. The vocalists are perfect.
The Desormiere has been the standard to beat with the first (early 50's) Ansermet (LP Only as far as I can tell) and Ingelbrecht as the only close contenders. I enjoyed the Karajan but it really isn't in the same league.

A friend of mine, who is a serious French Opera fanatic and is familiar with all the recordings, strongly recommends the Lyon Opera cast conducted by Gardiner on DVD. However, I haven't borrowed it yet so I can't give you a first hand opinion.
Yes Desormiere is genius. Magical. I have a few other classical recordings that are magical in nature, revealing an essence of a work that goes way beyond the score as well as the instruments.