Recorded at the Vienna State Opera in February 2005, this Werther is a complicated affair, and relatively satisfying. The production, updated to the 1950s, is by stage and opera director Andrei Serban, who is always full of good ideas. He has placed a huge tree center stage that remains there and defines the passage of the seasons; it is sometimes outdoors, sometimes in. This is less a bother that you might think. (The appealing set is by Peter Pabst, who, with Petra Reinhardt, also is responsible for the handsome period costumes.) Girls play with hula hoops; there is a ’50s-looking TV in the living room; the furnishings are absolutely right.
Given how repressive the 1950s were, the opera’s issues and Serban’s characterizations ring true: Werther’s and Charlotte’s love for one another never can be acknowledged in a pre-’60s atmosphere given the rigidity of marital constraints and “what the neighbors would say.” He furthermore turns Albert, who spies on Charlotte and Werther, into a genuinely cold man; his behavior toward Charlotte at the close of Act 3 is a shocker. Sophie is in love with Werther and flirts audaciously; her sexual awareness (and clothing, actually) are slightly anachronistic, but perhaps she is being seen as the generation to come. (Her “minuet” is more Elvis than Haydn.) Werther, neat as a pin in the opera’s first half, is disheveled and wildly unhinged by the third act; his emotional collapse is dreadful to watch.
Elîna Garanca is more impressive here than in her solo debut release on DG of bel canto arias (type Q12190 in Search Reviews). The voice is gorgeous and absolutely even from top to bottom. She looks beautiful and her acting is natural and convincing–when she finally breaks in the opera’s second half, it plays with great honesty, and her pent-up sensual feelings for Werther smolder as I’ve never seen before. Her voice occasionally lacks heft, and save for one or two moments, she refuses to use anything like chest voice, and this hurts the drama. You only hope that she finds a way to darken the tone to greater effect. And while she’s at it, she can work on her languages–her French is pretty bad. Adrian Eröd, as suggested above, sings and acts Albert with great profile. Ileana Tonca’s Sophie, very knowing, has a non-soubrette edge to her voice that suits the portrayal well.
Marcelo Alvarez’s Werther is hampered only by some cruel close-ups that show exaggerated facial expressions; otherwise, this is a portrayal of great style and subtlety. The voice is sounding handsome and healthy; he caresses soft phrases with ease and beauty and he lets loose in the big moments impressively. He acts thoroughly buttoned-up in the opera’s early, public scenes, but his disintegration, as mentioned above, is hugely played. You wish for a more tonally varied voice (the same might have been said of Pavarotti), but why carp?
The rest of the cast is good enough, although the opera’s “old folks” are very young as portrayed here, and Charlotte and Sophie seem to have innumerable siblings–the stage, when busy, can be too busy.
The Vienna State Opera Orchestra plays rhapsodically for Phillip Jordan. He comes close to delivering a great Werther, but he underlines some passages by slowing down artificially and it spoils the flow. Still, this is a stunning, newly and originally conceived show. By default it is the best version on DVD (the others are either oddly put together films or the baritone version of the opera starring Thomas Hampson which is only in concert), but you won’t be settling if you buy it. It sounds and looks marvelous to boot. A 12-minute bonus gives us a peek into the 2005 Opera Ball, all pomp and circumstance and wealth, which contains a very brief interview with Alvarez, Garanca, Jordan, Serban, and Pabst. And our mezzo and tenor sing a wonderfully entertaining Zarzuela duet–he in perfect Spanish, she in God-knows-what language.
