Search - Massenet, Haddock, Azzaretti :: Werther

Good bargain choice

L. E. Cantrell | Vancouver, British Columbia Canada | 01/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For an opera that is not presented all that often, "Werther" seems to have accumulated an extraordinary number of complete recordings.



Unfortunately for dedicated audiophiles, far and away the best performance, one that almost certainly is not going to be matched or even approached by the current or foreseeable crop of singers and conductors, is fossilized on recordings made about seventy years ago. That is the "Werther" with the great Georges Thill, a performance as authentically French as the Eifel Tower. For anyone more interested in art than in mechanical reproduction of sound, I strongly recommend that you acquire a copy right now. Naxos has done an admirable job in rescuing as much of its sound as current technology allows.



For those of you who feel comfortable only with DDD sound, this performance is as good as more expensive ones with better-known performers. It is consistently and competently sung throughout. It is workmanlike in execution and as close to being authentically French as is likely to be found in this era of the jet-setting "international" style.



For overall performance of the opera, as opposed to star-turns from famous (but sometimes curiously cast) singers, this "Werther" is as good as anything recorded in the digital era.



And, of course, it has to be better than that thing with Bocelli."

Quite acceptable, but others are better

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 01/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This live recording from a regional opera company in France has several things going for it. First, of course, is the price - as always a plus with Naxos releases. Then there is the excitement of a live performance. (By the way, there is no audience noise that I can hear except for a burst of applause at the end of the opera.) There is the mostly French cast, which means that diction of the French text is better than most. And finally, both the conductor and primary singers are quite acceptable. The only non-French singer is the American tenor, Marcus Haddock, who has quite a nice voice with heft and an easy top, although the sound is a bit generic. His diction and his acting are quite good. The Charlotte, mezzo Béatrice Uria-Monzon, has a first class voice and knows how to act through the voice. This recording will not erase memories of the classic recording from the 1930s with Ninon Vallin and Georges Thill. Nor is it as good as the recent Alagna/Gheorghiu/Pappano recording. Nor does it have as good an Albert (René Massin) as the Pappano recording (Thomas Hampson, in one of his best portrayals). Be warned that the libretto is in French only, so unless you know the opera very well or are fluent in French, this should not be your only recording of this opera that some feel is Massenet's best."