Werther - ROH

[Ein Heldenleben]

Cheap seats here too! We thoroughly enjoyed it -- my friend hadn't seen much/any live opera before she started coming with me to the ROH this year but she really loved it. The music is so accessible you can't fail to be enraptured. Good to hear JDF live at last and the music showed off beautifully the textures of his voice. Agree about Isabel Leonard and Heather Engebretson -- always nice to discover a new talent (to me, anyway!) in a supporting role.

One thing though -- can someone please ask Edward Gardner to turn down the volume? At times it drowned JDF.

That’s interesting- I thought at the rehearsal JDF was marking - now I suspect he wasn’t . He sang Pourquoi Me Reveiller quite beautifully...

[Lancashire Lass]

That’s interesting- I thought at the rehearsal JDF was marking - now I suspect he wasn’t . He sang Pourquoi Me Reveiller quite beautifully...

We did wonder if it it was the orchestra or JDF. Someone else we spoke to said they'd seen him performing elsewhere and he was much stronger then. And I've heard the orchestra this loud before and it's not irritated me at all.

The frustrating thing is that JDF's voice does project of course, but I'm assuming it always has been a light one. Given the orchestra's ability to play at full blast and diminuendo to nothing within a microsecond, you'd think they'd have been able to tweak the volume as needed. But we heard him fine most of the time and yes, it was exquisite.

[Constantbee]

I’ve now had a chance to watch the Plesson Werther on Medici TV under the two week freebie offer. If you can’t get to ROH it’s as good as, IMHO. Jonas Kaufman’s voice is superbly cast for the tragic role, and he slithers so comfortably across the stage it’s almost eerie I knew nothing about the special character of the spinto tenor (described as a darker, more lyric tone) before looking it up, but I do now. You live and learn.

A review of the same screening can be found here:

https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-15864/

Not much to disagree with here. One slightly off-putting feature mentioned may be that the camera occasionally cuts to the wings of the stage for shots of the performers' view of the stage, so we see Sophie Koch’s Charlotte limbering up for her entrance, and Werther doing his breathing exercises. Maybe it makes for a more involving viewing experience.

The Medici TV screening is available on DVD. I’ve noticed that second hand opera DVD titles are sometimes hard to find, and retain their value well, which suggests that the people who bought them might be hanging on to them.

[Cockney Sparrow]

My appreciation of the work on second hearing, last night, was to be more taken with the merits of the piece - certainly musically, orchestrally, vocally, and in the dramatic performances of last night's cast. The soloists were all as good as before.
Florez was maybe a little more commanding vocally than on the 20th, also perhaps Gardner has fine-tuned the orchestral dynamics - all in all I thought Florez made a commanding stage presence and sang beautifully and strongly (and also very softly at times). There were just a few short moments when his voice was subsumed in the full orchestra sound - very end of Act 1, etc. But that is to be expected and I would rather he didn't try to compete in those moments. All in all a very rewarding second visit - I must get a recording now, and the piece (and as a result, Manon which I have not yet sought out to hear or see) is on my "go again" list.

[David-G]

Must have been the last performance of the run last night (no further performances on ROH website). My appreciation of the work on second hearing was to be more taken with the merits of the piece - certainly musically, orchestrally, vocally, and in the dramatic performances of last night's cast. The soloists were all as good as before.
Florez was maybe a little more commanding vocally than on the 20th, also perhaps Gardner has fine-tuned the orchestral dynamics - all in all I thought Florez made a commanding stage presence and sang beautifully and strongly (and also very softly at times). There were just a few short moments when his voice was subsumed in the full orchestra sound - very end of Act 1, etc. But that is to be expected and I would rather he didn't try to compete in those moments. All in all a very rewarding second visit - I must get a recording now, and the piece (and as a result, Manon which I have not yet sought out to hear or see) is on my "go again" list.

I was there last night. Absolutely wonderful! Florez was sensitive, stylish and exceptionally beautiful, forceful enough when required. Leonard a very beautiful Charlotte (but I wish she had more than one dress!). Engbretson an extraordinarily convincing 15-year old. (She, by the way, was the Woodbird in last year's Ring at CG.) Albert usually seems a dull character, but Imbrailo was in lovely voice and made something of him - one could almost see why she married him. The whole thing was very touching, and magnificent in the great Act 3 climax. I have always loved this opera, and this was an exceptionally fine performance.

The final performance is on Saturday. Highly recommended!!

[underthecountertenor]

I was there last night. Absolutely wonderful! Florez was sensitive, stylish and exceptionally beautiful, forceful enough when required. Leonard a very beautiful Charlotte (but I wish she had more than one dress!). Engbretson an extraordinarily convincing 15-year old. (She, by the way, was the Woodbird in last year's Ring at CG.) Albert usually seems a dull character, but Imbrailo was in lovely voice and made something of him - one could almost see why she married him. The whole thing was very touching, and magnificent in the great Act 3 climax. I have always loved this opera, and this was an exceptionally fine performance.

The final performance is on Saturday. Highly recommended!!

I was there then too, and wholeheartedly agree.

And no need for the Regiemaske (R) on this occasion!