Marius Constant, who had an intimate knowledge of DeBussy's Pell�as et M�lisande, published Impressions de Pell�as, published in 1992 an abridged version for six singers and two pianists. In an intense flow of music, he telescopes the five acts with great finesse, removing a few scenes and making a fair number of cuts and a few minimal adjustments to the musical material. For the scenography, he suggested, "We are in an early twentieth-century salon." This reflects the fact that during the genesis of Pell�as, DeBussy regularly played fragments of it for his circle of friends. In this version, both listeners and performers are involuntarily swept towards the origin and essence of DeBussy's masterpiece: a "music of the soul" in which we can all recognize our own M�lisande, Pell�as, Arkel, Genevi�ve, Yniold and Golaud. This chamber version of the opera is completed by the Pr�lude � l'apr�s-midi d'un faune in DeBussy's own transcription for two pianos and the suite en blanc et noir. The two pianos used are the new straight-strung instruments built in Belgium by Chris Maene at the request of Daniel Barenboim.