Customer Reviews

Massenet - Werther / Alagna · Gheorghiu · Hampson · Petibon · Courtis · Fouchécourt · Frémeau · LSO · Pappano

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those of you who are not familiar with Werther or who do not speak French, I will translate that title for you: "Dream! Exctasy! Happiness!". It is what Werther feels as he gazes at his beloved under the moonlight, and what I felt listening to this stunning new recording.

Ever since Roberto Alagna recorded "Pourquoi me reveiller?" for his first recital CD, I have been eagerly awaiting him to sing the entire role, an appetite further whetted by his wonderful renditions of Don Carlos, Romeo and Hoffmann. Nothing, however, prepared me for just how fantastic he is here. The voice has such beauty, warmth and sweetness, and a dark color perfectly suited to Werther's melancholy. Whatever minor technical problems he might have had in the past are just a fleeting memory. His upper register has really solidified, and he manages not only a stupendous C at the end of the "Prodigal Son" aria (and he really seems to be praying!), but gorgeous dreamy pianissimi in the "Claire de lune" scene and especially the Act II duet with Thomas Hampson. Of course, his French is superb, and his diction is so good that if I spoke the language better I wouldn't even need the libretto. Most important, he truly lives the role, and projects every emotion and nuance of the text perfectly. He is the finest interpreter of the role since Georges Thill and Alfredo Kraus.

There may be those who prefer a mezzo to a soprano in this role, but Angela Gheorghiu is the latest in a long line of excellent soprano Charlottes. Her voice is like the most radiant and beautiful starry night you can imagine, perfect for the "Clair de lune". If the very bottom of her register is slightly hollow (and it's a beautiful lower register), it only adds to Charlotte's sadness and introspection. Her French is not quite as good as her husband's, not being a native, but is more than acceptable. Like Alagna, she makes every word and emotion in the text mean something, even if the intense fire and passion of the last 2 acts suit her slightly better than the more conversational first two. The Act III confrontation between Charlotte and Werther is absolutely hair raising.

Thomas Hampson is luxury casting as Albert and the sweet and delightful Patricia Petibon nearly steals the show as Sophie. The French supporting cast is idiomatic and wonderful. And bless Antonio Pappano who brings out all the beauty and drama of this magnificent score - he is a serious candidate for first Great Conductor of the 21st Century.

Werther is an opera that has done very well on records- almost all the recordings are worth hearing. But this is something truly special, and whets my appetite for more operas with this superb team. I just have three more words....FAUST! FAUST! FAUST!

I will admit that I am "imprinted" on the Georges Thill/Ninon Vallin recording from the 1930s and no recording since then has even come close. But this recording does. Alagna (who is a native French speaker, in spite of the Italian name) has the diction and, more important, the style to sing poor Werther perfectly. Gheorghiu sings beautifully as well, and there is no problem with the tessitura, in spite of Charlotte generally being more comfortable for mezzos. Pappano is an up-and-coming conductor who does himself proud with this recording. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one.

This is an excellent recording .It has everything going for it.Wonderful sound,brilliant orchestra,conductor and singers.Roberto Alagna is perfect for the title role.This is the sort of stuff that he does best,his glorious lyric tenor conveying all of the suffering and pathos of poor Werther.His best work yet.Angela Gheorgiu is also excellent,especially in the Act three monologue.Hampson is his usual wonderful self even in this rather boring role(can this man do anything wrong?)Pappano picks the right speeds and dynamics and keeps the piece moving.Highly recommended!

The reviewers below have praised this EMI Werther so thoroughly that there's little to add. Gheorghiu is the only soprano besides Victoria de los Angeles (1868, also on EMI) to record this classic mezzo role, and at times one hears the strain as she reaches for the bottom notes. She lacks de los angeles's many emotional shadings, giving us instead a fairly consistent, verismo-tinged passion, but her vocalism as such is thrilling.

Roberto alagna, a native French speaker despite his name, is the only prominent Werther who can claim that distinciton. I've always felt he was much better suited to French opera than the heavier Verdi-Puccini roles that he now sings, and which (shadoes of Carreras) have led to a coarsening of his voice, along with a pronounced wobble and intonation problems. but he is a star, no doubt, and here he brings charisma and style to Wether. He takes care to find many musical shadings throughout, and since the date for this recording is 1998-99, he is nearly in best voice.

Everyone has praised Pappano (are they following the lead of The Gramophone reviewer, who thought he was the best thing here?), but Colin Davis, Georges Pretre, and Kent Nagano had done as well. Pappano;s distinciton is that he is a bit slower, more dleiberate, and self-consciously refined. I'm not sure that's always a great advantage in Massanet, whose music is given to sighs and longueurs--it can use help form an energetic conductor. EMI's recording form London is a bit distant but otherwise quite good.

IN all, this is a gripping peformance that deserves all the praise it has gotten, but it doesn't erase memories of other fine Werthers, an opera that has been amazingly successful on records. The Davis features a remarkable Charlotte in Frederica von stade and a passionate, verismo Carreras in top form (Philips), the Nagano has gorgeous if not quite idiomatic singing from von Otter and Hadley in a more low-key, melliflous style (Erato), and of course there's the classic Pretre version with de los Angeles and Gedda. This only skims the surface, for there is an oustanding live 1977 performance with Domingo and Fassbaender under Lopez-Corbos from Munich (Orfeo). Indeed, when the Amazon reviewer claims that the Plasson set with Troyanos and Kraus on EMI "dominated" the stereo era, he is far from accurate.

this is alagnas best role so far.of course he is noted for his french roles especially romeo.but he is even better as werther.his phrasing his elegance his meticulous attention to the text is remarkable.i have the video of his rehearsals of werther at toulouse in 97.but as usual he rethinks his roles just as he did with elixir and boheme and makes his interpretations better.he is the perfect werther.i had doubts about angela singing charlotte but she proved me wrong.she is terrific especially in act 3.pappano is i think the best conductor of opera today.covent garden is lucky to have secured his services as future music director.

I own most of the recordings by these two talented singers, and while I admire their many fine interpretations, on no recording do Alagna and Gheorghiu sound so thoroughly involved, so entrenched in the drama, as on this recording of "Werther." I was very moved in the last two acts, in which both singers are completely believable in the characters they portray. Vocally, they are both in excellent form, and, as some critics have noted, Alagna seems especially at home in the French repertoire.

In recent years, some have dismissed the Alagnas as lightweight. Among some opera aficionados, it seems that if a singer is popular, young, and beautiful (as both these artists are), then their artistry is somehow suspect. Don't buy into these haughty attitudes and let yourself be robbed of the pleasures of enjoying two of the most talented and charismatic artists singing today. This is a fine recording -- and it certainly whets the appetite for their "Manon", which is on the way.

Husband and wife singing sensatio Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, in another stunning EMI recording, dramatically commit themselves to the passionate characters in this now forgotten opera Werther, which quite possibly is Massenet's best work. Although Alagna and Gheorghiu can sing the Italian opera repertoire with aplomb (Tosca, Trovatore, Boheme, Pagliacci, La Rondine) they have proven time and again that their strongest reperotoire is French opera. As soon as their Romeo Et Juliette hit record stores and stage houses, they were immediately hailed as today's finest French opera singers, a rarity. Not only do they possess beautiful voices but they are intensely dramatic and character-driven. Never more so than in Massenet's Werther, a Gothic romantic drama about the tormented love of the titular hero who kills himself. It's drawn from a popular Romantic-Era 19th century novel - The Sorrows of Young Werther. Both Alagna and Gheorghiu are in great vocal shape. They understand the significance of the text and they are blessed with the talents of their champion conductor, Antonio Pappano, who draws out the power in the musical score with the London Symphony Orchestra. All true fans of Alagna and Gheorghiu will want to own this one, as it is indeed their best work yet.

Roberto Alagna has been criticized for his flawed technique- he sings with self-conscious grandeur and often imitates the lyric tones of predecessors Giuseppe Di Stefano and Franco Corelli. He has a nearly "pop" style voice - all razzzle-dazzle, great volume, beautiful tone, but often fails in the more difficult music. He is however, very gifted and intelligent and attempts to sing with as much passion and drama as possible. I for one love what I hear from him, especially in this recording, where he has never sang better. Angela Gheorghiou sings with her usual dramatic diva flair - thrilling high notes, tessitura, chest voice, musicality and all the good things she has used for other great hits like Juliette and Manon. But in this performance, while it is still good, she is not really in her element. This is a mezzo-soprano role. Charlotte, Werther's unattainable love, must sing with mezzo soprano voice in order to seduce Werther a la Bizet's Carmen. While it is definately a role for a high mezzo, it is not for the purely soprano voice of Angela Gheorghiu. You have to be a fan of these two in order to appreciate Gheorghiu's treatment of a mezzzo soprano role. It is basically the same thing as her Carmen, another mezzo soprano role. If you want to hear outstanding mezzo sopranos in Werther check out the dramatic mezzo style of Brigitte Fassbaender who is by far the best intepretor or check out Federica Von Stade who sings a cooler and less intense Charlotte opposite the supercharged Jose Carreras. Pappano does a great job with the music - bloom, brilliance, darkness and this is by far the best modern recording of the opera.

Sorprendente acierto de la EMI (la casa para la que grababa Alfredo Kraus, uno de los interpretes de referencia del papel de 'Werther') al confiar a una de las parejas mas activas discograficamente del momento, Roberto Alagna y Angela Gheorghiu, la grabacion de 'Werther' en 1999 (justo el año de la muerte del mitico Kraus)
Y digo sorprendente porque quizas ROBERTO ALAGNA sea el mejor interprete de Werther desde el mitico Kraus. Sus interpretaciones son muy diferentes entre si, ya que Alagna muestra un timbre mas baritonal que el liviano de Kraus y un canto mas afrancesado: Un canto elegante y entregado capaz de llegar a los agudos sin grandes problemas, que hacen de Alagna seguramente el mejor Werther de su generacion (y por tanto el mejor despues de Kraus).
Como Charlotte encontramos a la soprano ANGELA GHEORGHIU, en un papel que aunque habitualmente es cantado por mezzos, le queda francamente bien: la voz doliente y expresiva de Gheorghiu se presta perfectamente a la psicologia de Charlotte, y la quimica con Alagna en los duos de amor (sobra decir que es su esposo en la vida real) es total.
Completando el reparto nos encontramos con los lujos de PATRICIA PETIBON (una Sophie cuyo timbre recuerda mucho al de Natalie Dessay) y el Albert de un THOMAS HAMPSON que es todo sutilidad. El resto del reparto rinde tambien a buen nivel.
ANTONIO PAPPANO dirige a la LONDON SIMPHONY (que suena igual de bien que siempre) y el coro infantil canta con mucha correccion. Si a esto le sumamos un sonido magnifico (podemos oir en algunos momentos incluso los susurros de Pappano a la orquesta), esto nos lleva a pensar que este 'Werther' sea la mas adecuada segunda opcion, despues de tener la obviamente obligada de Alfredo Kraus. Muy buen trabajo.

Perfect casting for the title role... Alagna feels *good* and sorry for himself...no problems there! Just listen to him belt and bleat through "Pourquoi"...it's no wonder Charlotte changes her mind. "Stop whining!"

This CD is worth your money, provided you already like the opera. Personally, Werther's selfishness drives me up a wall.

There's only one major problem: why is Gheorghiu singing a mezzo role? The middle register of her voice is *not* her best of show.