Things that make my heart melt....

Thanks twistty100 for the video!



Thanks coloraturafan for the video!

I can't explain how much i love this opera and miss hearing it live!!! I just stumbled upon this in youtube and i literally melted. And these two are gorgeous in one of the scenes i love most in this opera....

And it sounds just es gorgeous in French as in Italian.

Listen, watch.. enjoy :-)

Ludovic Tézier, Chevalier des Art et Lettres

I found out today that Ludovic Tezier has been awarded the title of Chevalier des Art et Lettres, which is, as far as i am aware of, the highest distinction the French state can bestow upon one of its artists. Congratulations!!!!!

Find out more and see some pictures of the ceremony, which took place yesterday before the Oneghin premiere at Opera Bastille from this fan blog.

And because i believe this is not only very well deserved, but that Ludovic Tezier is a wonderful artist, not sufficiently well known to the public, i've decided to have a little celebration of my own on this occasion, and share with you some of the reasons why i admire his language skills and diction, his style, his voice, his elegant and rich musicality. In no particular order of preference.....
Enjoy!

"Ah, no lasciarti in pace!" Nozze

Thanks ComteAnckarstrom for the video

"Pourquoi me réveiller" Werther

Thanks ComteAnckarstrom for the video

"Votre toast" Carmen

Thanks antmusique for the video

"Romance à l'étoile"

Thanks ComteAnckarstrom for the video

Air du Prince Yeletsky Pique Dame

Thanks ComteAnckarstrom for the video

"Eri Tu" Ballo in maschera

Thanks tenore23 for the video

"A moi viens, ouvre tes aîles" Lucie de Lammermoor

Thanks babyfairy for the video

The only thing left for me to say is actually a big question: Why, oh why does he not sing at the ROH????????? And i mean now, today, not x years ago or in concert performances... I'll keep hoping that he will be back in London singing sometimes soon.

Toute chose est encore à la place connue......

To have and to hold, to listen and watch, to remember and indulge, to cherish...

You can preorder for example from here (thanks a lot HM for this tip!)

Werther Jonas Kaufmann on France Musique tonight

If you would like to listen again, there is tonight's radio broadcast on France Musique:

19:05 CET , 18:05 UK time

Listen by either clicking on the main page linked above where it says in the left hand side menu:
écouter le direct

or by clicking on this LINK (will play in your Windows Media Player)

Enjoy!

Soirée lyrique
par Jérémie Rousseau
Jules Massenet, Werther

Opéra en quatre actes et cinq tableaux, sur un livret d'Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet et Georges Hartmannd'après Johann Wolfgang von Goethe en langue française

Werther Video Jonas Kaufmann & Sophie Koch

Werther Video on the arte webiste HERE (beware, you need an updated version of Adope Flash Player to view it, and you can get it here )

And remember, for those who live in Paris, or the lucky ones who can arrange a trip there, 2 performances left: 1st and 4th of February! Details from the Opera de Paris site.

(i know it is a crappy picture, but so is my mobile ;-))

And there will also be a radio broadcast on France Musique (you will be able to listen live from the web of the radio):

DIFFUSION SUR FRANCE MUSIQUE LE 13 FEVRIER 2010 A 19H05 (CET ), Uk time 18,05!

Werther Jonas Kaufmann & Sophie Koch

Update: there are yet more videos for the desperate ones ;-) at TenoreCorelli youtube channel HERE (Thanks!!!)

Sorry for not inserting them here but the blog page would die a pleasant but instant death :-) But please follow the link and you will find .. Werther :-))) Enojy!

.......

I didn't manage to "see" anything last night, but the connection was good enough to hear most of it and it sounded divine! The applause seems to be getting warmer (well, yes, crazier!) from performance to performance and they are getting better and better!

For all the ones who couldn't see it, here are some bonbons, all thanks to Macbett0 :-) (thanks very very much!!) More to follow as soon as available :-)

And now i am going to lock my credit card away just to make sure on Friday i don't give into temptation and run off to Paris!! You have no idea just how hard it is to resist at this point...

Enjoy!!

JONAS KAUFMANN, Je ne sais si je veille ... O Nature, pleine de grace, WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010



Sophie Koch, Air des lettres (Letter scene), WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010




JONAS KAUFMANN, Pourquoi me réveiller, WERTHER, Paris, 2010



Sophie Koch, "Va! Laisse Couler Mes Larmes", WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010



Sophie Koch & Jonas Kaufmann, N' achevez pas! hèlas!, WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010



Jonas Kaufmann & Sophie Koch, WERTHER, Finale, Paris, 26 Jan 2010

Encore Werther, toujours Jonas Kaufmann

JonasKaufmann.© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer

Werther, 23 January 2010

After the last one on this subject you might have thought all was said, or that I was going to quickly run out of adjectives. No, all is not said and not running out of adjectives, just yet :-)

But you will be relieved I’ve come back from seconds without emptying another box of Kleenex. That particular feeling of hearing this music live for the first time cannot possibly be repeated; whatever comes next is and will always be different. I The main shift I guess was that the focus for me moved last night from the story to the music. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t hear the music first time around, but things become clearer, shine through more intensely when a bit of times passes and when you actually know exactly what will happen next. I could basically take almost a mental step back and instead of hanging on every word, rather hang on every phrase, on every line, every wave of music. Which does by no means want to say that the experience was less touching, or that Werther rushing head on into death does not break your heart all over again.


It just means that the impact of the unexpected changed into the excitement of expectation.

I am not going to say I wouldn’t wish to see all the remaining performances, of course I do! As did half the hall each of the two times I have been. It is impossible to not want to relive something so amazing again and again. But, this is all about being really grateful for having been there! About joy, not about regrets :-)

And if nobody could have believed it could get any better, well the other night it did. Jonas Kaufmann was clearly feeling much better and to everyone’s amazement he managed to even outdo himself. It is an altogether different experience to hear him not only in control of body and voice, but actually free to let go of both and let the voice expand or float or trickle down without ever touching any limits. And in presence as well he won that extra touch of energy, of flexibility and drive, that glues your eyes and attention on him whenever he is on stage. His Werther became a touch more desperate, emotionally volatile while at the same time the voice was even more secure, warmer, sweeter in the piani and more brilliant and luminous at the top. The effect was truly mesmerising and it felt almost surreal to sit there and listen. Sophie Koch, Ludovic Tezier and Anne-Catherine Gillet also were even better than before. This performance was filmed, as you would expect as it is usual for broadcast and hopefully later DVD to be done from several recordings. I haven’t heard Tezier many times live but my jaw did drop slightly when he came on stage this time. Not only can he act. But he does it very very well! And that rich voice soars with amazing effect once he decides it should. It made me ask myself why he wouldn’t do that the first time around? He shaped Albert into an altogether different character, more engaged and yes, at the end more intent on his decision. He was intimidating menacing pushing the box of pistols with a decided gesture towards Charlotte. It was a pleasure to see him become so easily and naturally an equal part of this powerful trio. And the more I hear Sophie Koch the more I like her singing. Because she is one of those artists who makes you forget the notes she is singing, but makes you tremble with the intensity of her interpretation.

It’s such an obvious thing to say : ”Rêve! Extase! Bonheur!” But it truly was! And it could not have been bestowed on a more grateful and rapt audience. Very very few coughs and mostly breaths held, Nobody would have even dreamt of interrupting the flow of music with applause. It would have been almost out of place. But just imagine the explosion at the end! I’ve never ever heard such shouts at the end of a performance. The two men sitting behind and next to me left my ears ringing! But none of us could have stopped ourselves! It was a physical impossibility to express through shouts of Bravo and applause what we had received from all these wonderful artists on the night! I know what I must be sounding like (and all I had the whole day was water ;-))) but I swear if years and years of listening to music teach you something, it is to recognise a once in a lifetime evening when I happens. There are no words to describe the feeling, in spite of suicide and sad story, all I could feel was glory!


I can’t even begin to say how beautiful this music really is! I don’t think there is a note amiss, everything is carefully thought of, perfectly coordinated and tuned finely to obtain exactly the desired effect. There is a wonderful video of Mr Plasson on the Opera de Paris website who explains it just marvellously! I was indeed surprised at how easily I could remember almost the entire text and that is not something I tend to do easily, quite the contrary, but this comes absolutely naturally. Now this a composer and an opera which knows how to deliver punch lines! It is indeed all about accents and about lighting flames here and there, perfect musical spotlights on just the right word to make you smile, frown, hold your breath or sigh in pain.
And then there are the musical passages which introduce the scenes and set the mood, from the very beginning you feel the music changing from light, playful to melancholic and ethereal. Take for instance the introduction to Werther’s entrance in the 1act, you are still smiling at the children when the music suddenly becomes something quite different, a gentle tension, a “frisson” almost and then of course you see Werther. And before he even opens his lips to sing you know what he is all about, because the music tells it so clearly and convincingly! And this music accompanies him all the way through to the end. And Massenet liked to repeat words with different shading to great effect.

So Werther appears and there we go : o nature! And from the sweetness in his voice when he says it you know that is his heaven, his refuge. And then how the music soars every time on “soleil”, “rayon”, “lumière”…..

Then there is Charlotte’s music, starting off light and almost playful and becoming increasingly dramatic, just as Albert’s , while Werther’s gets increasingly passionate, grand, sweeping you away.

I have to say this time I was almost holding my breath for Werther’s first “Charlotte!!!” There is so much musicality in just that one name, as is indeed in “Werther” . You can’t just take the words very literally because they will become exaggerated. I mean just think of what comes out of Werther most of the time, he’s constant ecstasy, pain, it is all over the top… But, if you take the music step by step and just take each aria , even line, as it comes and listen and feel it rather than thinking about it , it speaks to you in a special way.

For instance, don’t you feel the caress when Werther sings softly : “Calmé par ses regards et bercé par sa voix! ”? And the way the music explodes in” Charlotte! je vous aime...
je vous aime... et je vous admire! ” It is so definitive, so absolute, you know there is no going back from there.

Then there is the calm, enveloping love that Albert expresses in: “Trois mois! Voici trois mois que nous somme unis! Ils ont passé bien vite... et pourtant il me semble que nous avons vécu toujours ensemble! » You really feel his inner peace in his toujours ensemble… ” and the” et j'ai l'âme ravie!” An the calmness of the music is such contrast to the explosions in Werther’s. And there is perfect connection between Werther’s “Un autre! son époux! ” ?(sung by JK in front of the curtain at the end of the first act) to Albert’s sombre “Il l'aime! ” And in this one word you feel Albert’s change of heart regarding Werther as well, there is no friendship left.

Strangely enough “Pourquoi me réveiller” is not my favourite part of the opera, I already like “Je ne sais si je veille..” better, but outside the last act, which is perfect in itself I think I like the 2nd act best in terms of Werther’s music. There is nothing quite like the exaltation of “J'aurais sur ma poitrine”, especially when you hear it sung in a way that makes you forget it’s difficulties. But my absolute favourite starts with Werther’s apparently resigned “..et ce sera ma part de bonheur sur la terre.”, interrupted by the joyous, bell like chant of happiness brought in by Sophie “Le bonheur est dans l'air! Tout le monde est heureux! ” There couldn’t be a more painful clash between her light and unpreoccupied joy and Werther’s dark despair, and later on Charlotte’s in the 3rd act.

Massenet gave Sophie the perfect music I think! And Gillet is the perfect voice for it, you hear laughter and birds chirping in her voice when she sings “Ah! le rire est béni, joyeux, léger, sonore! (léger) Il a des ailes, c'est un oiseau... ”

But the absolute highlight the other night was Werther/Jonas alone on stage singing :” Oui! ce qu'elle m'ordonne... ” From the softest imaginable beginning to the soul shattering “Père! Père! Père, que je ne connais pas, en qui pourtant j'ai foi, parle à mon coeur, appelle-moi! Appelle-moi! “ (Again the repeated words in different shading each time). It was mind-blowing!!! I don’t think anyone dared to breath until the end… It felt as if the words were literally slicing through his heart and yours as well…

And it was Sopie Koch’s time to dazzle! I find it amazing what she can achieve in 3 arias who follow each other closely. Her “...tu frémiras! tu frémiras! ” were incredibly dark and frightful! (Never mind that I find the idea of that particular letter unbelievably cruel from Werther! Who would ever write such a letter to someone they love????) And the intense way Sophie Koch sings it at that particular moment it leave almost no room to forgive Werther for writing it. The she gently follow with the teararia on a similar tone, just much sadder “le coeur se creuse... et s'affaiblit: il est trop grand, rien ne l'emplit; et trop fragile, tout le brise! Tout le brise! ” The desperate embrance with Gillete’s Sophie makes you fight back tears each time. And by the time Koch has reached the end of her «O Dieu bon! Dieu fort! ô Dieu bon! En toi seul j'espère! Seigneur Dieu! Seigneur Dieu! “ all I can do is wonder who does she do it??? I am all tied in knots after the first aria and she finds the force to increase the emotional engagement from one to another. Splendid!!

And then he is back! I find it rather touching that the composer and the librettist have made Charlotte into such a sweet and forgiving human being, which is capable of receiving him in such a tender way. He definitely does not start off on the right foot and I would have been anything else than sweet and warm like wonderful Charlotte. But of course her effort to sooth and pacify gives us musically another one of my very favourite moments: their intertwined: “Toute chose est encore à la place connue! ” Too bad there is no turning back to sweetness at this point. Werther’s desperate “Pourquoi me réveiller” brakes all barriers and their ensuing struggle was never more convincingly displayed. Their almost feverish “Je t'aime! Je t'aime! je t'aime! / Défendez-moi, Seigneur, défendez-moi contre moi-même!
Défendez-moi, Seigneur, contre lui... défendez-moi! ” sung with incredible force, never shouted, literally exploded with feeling. It was incredible !!! I get goosebumps by just remembering it! It was as if the music was carrying them both to the top, in spite of the sheer orchestral force behind that music they were always audible, above and beyond. If I hadn’t been there I would certainly think such a thing is impossible! I can’t assure I wasn’t sitting there mouth open just staring, not believing my own ears. I will cross al fingers and toes that tomorrow during the broadcast they manage to repeat that incredible moment! It is sure to lift us all from pout sofas, floating above in sheer ecstasy! I can’t stop gloating when I remember.

And again Massenet knew perfectly what he was doing writing the continuation and especially the introduction to the last act, because you have to actually gradually come back to reality and realise what is actually happening and to be able to enjoy the last shreds of tenderness between Charlotte and Werther and not exit with a bang after that high point you have just been pushed to. Mind you this time the introduction almost gave me a heart attack and not for the right reasons… remember the sliding room where Werther lies wounded? Well again something badly malfunctioned, the mechanisms were even noisier, there was a loud crack and the house wobble dangerously a few times, shaking Jonas on the ground to the point where I though they would end up throwing poor wounded Werther on the stage outside in the snow! Then the sliding suddenly was faster and I saw two technicians run up from behind to the back of the house. I honestly thought there was a danger of the thing coming off stage into the pit! They need to sort it out before the broadcast tomorrow because it is unfair to spoil the music with these mishaps! Thank God this is one cold blooded Werther who never even batted an eyelid and as soon as Charlotte was there one rapidly forgot about the silly house. The last act was different from the other time, differently sung and slightly differently played I would say. I can’t explain exactly how, but it sounded differently. Equally as good, if not better but the accents and dynamics varied. Koch was softer, rounder, her piani altogether better and well, you know Jonas his piani!! And if you don’t you better cancel all you have planned for tomorrow night, watch the broadcast and you’ll find out! A pity the orchestra, especially the solo instruments at times were a bit louder than last time around.

I had the strangest flash back here, as last time as well on Werther’s “Parle encore! parle je t'en conjure! ” Easy guess, from where? Of course: “Parlami ancora come dianzi parlavi, è così dolce il suon della tua voce!” (yes, Mario to Tosca, last act)

And that “Tout oublions tout! ”….

And you should hear Jonas sing:
“Mais, à la dérobée, quelque femme viendra visiter le banni...et d'une douce larme, en son ombre tombée le mort, le pauvre mort...se sentira béni... ” in the softest, most incredible piano i have ever heard ! There has to be a special name for what he does, because there is no other like it, I’m pretty sure he has invented it! So ... it is just the Jonas-caress :-)

Pretty strange thing having someone die so beautifully, singing so incredibly, with not a breath audible while still making death credible!. And every word intelligible! Heavenly!

I’m grateful for having been able to go, for having a wonderful and warm audience on the night, for a good orchestra and an amazing conductor, for the inspiration of Massenet, for incredible singers, for everyone and everything that made this such an unforgettable experience!


PS.
And merci beaucoup to Esti for being there to capture the impressions of a very special night! It’s equally as wonderful to be reminded through the intimate eye of her camera of the people, the feelings, the shades and traces which make such magical nights happen :-)

So tomorrow, the broadcast , details on the Opera de Paris web here or here where Intermezzo has kindly given all relevant details already :-)

So where do I pray for an unusually good internet connection???

Jonas Kaufmann gives life and death to Werther in Paris

Photo : Jonas Kaufmann.© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer

Werther - (1892)MUSIC BY JULES MASSENET (1842-1912) , 17 January 2010
POEM BY EDOUARD BLAU, PAUL MILLIET AND GEORGES HARTMANN AFTER JOHANN WOLFG ANG VON GOETHE
Michel Plasson Conductor
Benoît Jacquot Stage Director
Charles Edwards Sets
Christian Gasc Costumes

Jonas Kaufmann Werther
Ludovic Tézier Albert
Alain Vernhes Le Bailli
Andreas Jäggi Schmidt
Christian Tréguier Johann
Sophie Koch Charlotte
Anne-Catherine Gillet Sophie

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine⁄ Paris Opera children's Chorus
Original Royal Opera House production, Covent Garden, London (2004), owned by the Opera national de Paris

My mind is still being flooded with images and sounds from last night and I’ve never had such a hard time to find the words to describe how it was…

I’ll try to retrace my own steps which lead to last night in an attempt to sort out thoughts and emotions for myself as well, so please be patient if this will feel a bit chaotic! I think I mentioned that yesterday I saw Werther for the first time live. I can remember a few operas I have seen live for the first time in the last year and they were all experiences I am very grateful for, rich and exciting. But none of these experiences compare to last night.

In the past I almost never had the chance to hear French opera live but somehow I got hooked by just listening. I know some people think they tend to be long and tedious, excessively sweet, etc. But from the first one I heard I fell in love! I guess it is like colours or ice-cream flavours, each one of us has favourite ones. I enjoy all opera, but the French repertoire touches me in places inside no other manages to. It is strange in many ways, because French is not necessarily my favourite language, but in opera there is nothing like it! When it is right it enhances the music enormously, because it becomes music itself..and when it is wrong…. Of all the recordings I have listened to, or the performances I have seen, more than 90% of the time it sounds wrong and only a very few sound “right”. But the search is worth it!

Last night I found a gem! And am still stunned today that it happened because i rarely went into an opera with more contradictory feelings about it. I’ve listened to recordings, old and new and there were things I liked in each and things I didn’t. If you take away the ones where the Frenchs ends up trying your patience you are left with very few. And out of those in some the diction was at conflict with my understanding of their French, basically if I have to read what they are singing separately rather than understanding it directly, it’s destructive for the emotional link and I don’t like that . The one I ended up coming back to was an old recording with Goerges Thill. That had all the style and the clarity I was longing for but you know that the sound your are hearing from a remastering of a 1930s recording is not going to be anything like the live one. And even there I felt in some instances that beauty of sound won over intensity of interpretation. Generally I got an impression that musically some bits felt weaker and I just couldn’t get my ears round it like in others. It wasn’t like Manon or Romeo et Juliette, which I heard once and could almost sing it next. Still, I already knew I did like the arias very much, I just wasn’t sure about the whole.

Then there is the story… I know Goethe from school and sadly, I never liked “Die Leiden”… And the years passed have not made a character who just lays flat and begs for death grow on me. It is not so much the death wish in itself, there is plenty of that in opera and I’ve never not come to terms with one before. But there are death wishes and death wishes. There is romantic melancholy (like in Dichterliebe, which I adore and could die for!!) ..and there is Werther!!!! So once I had confused myself to bits with the music, I went and grabbed the libretto…. Which was love at first sight!!! I basically cried my way though it and it is pure poetry, just perfect. But by no means does it define exactly how Werther should come across or who he really is. With the time gaps and the unseen events it provides for, there is a world to be created. Besides, there are indications as to how certain passages should be expressed, but when I went back to the recording, tough luck in hearing what is written there! At least I understood why none felt really right or why there where bits in each interpretation that didn’t marry how they were sung with what they were saying. In a way it is like with Wagner, if only singing those notes when saying that text where easily possible then perfection would be achievable :-) So I set my expectations about last night at some level of imperfection. I was praying and praying that I wouldn’t end up in a personal conflict with the piece: please don’t make Werther a total whimp, please don’t make Albert into a cold hearted fellow, please let Charlotte be tormented at least a bit between the two. Please let me understand the French so I don’t have to read the surtitles and that I can concentrate on the music. And most of all I wished the music to make sense, to come together and just blow me away.

1er acte : Sophie Koch (Charlotte) et Jonas Kaufmann (Werther)(Photo : Elisa Haberer) at http://www.classictoulouse.com/

Every wish fulfilled, every dream made reality, even the ones I never dared to have!

It still is an unusual opera for me, as I normally take sides, involuntarily that is, not here, you just can’t. You can’t feel like Werther, or Albert or Charlotte, or rather you can feel and empathise with all. And it doesn’t have an ending you can logically deal with; it’s neither a great injustice done nor does it liberate or solve anything. Things happen because they do and nobody is better off at the end of it. You can’t find resolution or release, or at least I didn’t find it. Werther’s death is only a desperate try to escape from suffering; does it bring him peace? Will he be put to rest where he longs for, among the “tilleuls ? Where does it leave Charlotte and Albert? What will it mean for Sophie, so young, so full of life to know of Werther’s violent end?
All it leaves you with is sadness, endless sadness and even today I still feel the pulls of it now and then… So I can’t say that I like it, it seems an almost inappropriate word to use… but I felt it, with every pore and every breath and find it incredibly hard to disentangle myself from it.

So something, or rather many things must have been done right to create such a strong and lasting impression!

If there is a Werther who I can now hear singing it in my mind, exactly likes it says in the libretto, it is Jonas Kaufmann. Ive heard him sing many things on many occasions but I never before had the occasion to be immersed like this in this …. beautiful garden that is his voice and singing. I’ve seen the strong, bold ruby red roses before, the sweet tender snowdrops, I’ve felt the blue butterflies of his piani touch softly in the air, I’ve seen green moss grow under shady trees… but last night was like waking up under the silvery moonlight in the garden of Eden! With fresh flowers everywhere, with scents binding into each other to create the most intoxicating perfumes and then magically whirling away from each other, for single ones to be admired on their own. And at the very end, when he slowly guided you towards the gate, you stop and slowly turn back, not wanting to leave before taking one last look and in your hand you find the tiny drops of the bluest forget-me-nots, and through your fingers they fall leaving behind just the faintest of smells.

I just can’t think of it or describe it in any other way…It has to be heard and felt and seen to be understood. There are just so many layers to his Werther and although he is heartbroken he is never obvious or predictable. The character, expressed in extremely few gestures , explodes from nowhere or disintegrates into nowhere. This Werther is not tired of life, he is intoxicated with it, tortured by it, tempted with hope and thrown into despair. And at the same time the feelings are never exaggerated, never just on display, it makes you feel almost too shy to watch, that is how intimate it gets. And yet you are unavoidably drawn to him, from the moment he appears on stage to his last breath at the end. You hear and feel the depths bubbling under his surface and just can’t wait for layer after layer to be peeled off to discover what is underneath the next. I understand now the reviews I read, things that seemed out of proportion now barely touch the surface of how Werther comes to life and dies through Jonas Kaufmann. Now I found the Werther I was looking for instinctively all the time. Tough thing is, that every time now that he will be singing it and I won’t be able to hear it I will feel like I’ve been robbed of something very valuable (spoilsport!!!! Méphistophélès should be thy name! – the one from Damnation, because he has the better laugh- because you take something almost banal and make it into something magical and then take it away leaving us empty… )
Dernier acte : Sophie Koch (Charlotte) et Jonas Kaufmann (Werther)(Photo : Elisa Haberer) at http://www.classictoulouse.com/

In contrast, Sophie Kock’s Charlotte goes through the opposite process somehow, trying to contain her character’s growing emotional turmoil by desperately building up one shield after another, each cracking again and again until, at the final hour she lays her heart next to Werther’s, but alas all too late. She’s a wonderful and very convincing artist and in the third act she was absolutely amazing. Her voice is pleasant and rounded and it is again never displayed but only the instrument to bring Charlotte alive. There was intention in every word, every gesture. I couldn’t imagine this production without her and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to see her as my first. She is unforgettable.

Ludovic Tezier’s Albert is the perfect fit for the trio. Very restrained in the first part, he evolves into a steady and dependent character in the second part. I think he brings across the fact that Albert may act apparently simpler in comparison to Werther and Charlotte, but he is not simple at all. You heard and felt with him assurance, and a man certain of his goals and aspirations, but he always keeps you wondering what more there is behind it. He believes in good and forgiveness, but he is no fool, nor is his love for Charlotte to be taken lightly. The fact that his expression of the feeling is not as ardent as Werther’s is a trait of character, not a measurement of intensity of feeling. In fact, his first lyrical, hopeful arias says it all: « Ah! je voudrais qu'en rentrant Charlotte retrouvât les pensers que je laisse: Tout mon espoir et toute ma tendresse! » Charlotte is his hope in life for happines. He extends a hand to Werther, even tries to help him, by gently suggesting a different happiness possible. But think just how he might have felt, coming back home, feeling already that his wife is having doubts, finding the door to his house open, her totally disturbed and then finding out Werther is back. He is not a man of bold explosions, but he shows how much Charlotte actually means to him by his rash gesture. Or at least this is how I see him and I identified these thoughts perfectly with Tezier’s interpretation. His warm, very elegant voice is nothing but pleasure to listen to! Because for him as for the others the gestures were so contained I look forward to seeing the tv broadcast to get a close up of his expression :-) And I can listen to him again and again and again.
Anne-Catherine Gillet (Sophie) et Sophie Koch (Charlotte)© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer at http://www.forumopera.com/

Alain Vernhes (Bailli) and Anne-Catherine Gillet (Sophie) are a dream of diction and beauty of sound. She was like a blast from the past, such a beautiful reminder of the Thill recording ( there Germaine Feraldy) She is absolutely perfect for the role, a bell like voice, a beautiful and tender presence, with an innocence and candour that makes your ears rejoice and your heart melt!

All behind, or rather in front of it all , Michel Plasson! To me he is a legend, I’ve known about him for so long, I just feel privileged to have been able to have him conduct this Werther. He made me fall in love with the piece, in its whole and all the individual bits. He spun it into an ethereal construction fragile and lace like, that you feared it could disappear if touched. I was surprised how soft and elegant, how romantic and intimate the score could be. It charmed you into listening. And to see at the final applause how happy and proud he is of his singers is soooo touching! (that it made me cry all over again.. as if he hadn’t induced enough dehydration already ;-))) Applause for the wonderful orchestra as well!

The production has beautiful imagery and most of all, a picture-like colour palette, reflecting every characters personality. Simple, yes, but elegant and effective. Everyone looked beautiful, and why shouldn’t they? Having said that it does feel at times just too restrained. I like the tension that build with characters looking at each other from the distance and when silence and steadiness speak a thousand words, but sometimes it was taken a bit too far. I don’t like to feel any singer being transformed into a statue. An there were choices I disagree with: like in the 2nd act when Albert talkes to Charlotte she looks sternly away from him and even draws her hand away when he tries to hold it. That doesn’t make sense, Albert is content, happy about his 3 months of marriage, now he wouldn’t be would the woman next to him have treated him like this for these months. Besides, I think Charlotte cares about Albert and why shouldn’t she? She doesn’t love him maybe as passionately as she ends up loving Werther, but she does care about him. Which only makes her choices more tragic. For me this would have been a better interpretation of things, but it wasn’t this director’s choice, here she clearly and openly rejects him.

Also Werther’s little room in the last scene didn’t quite work, not the room in itself, but the room slowly sliding forward on the inclined stage. For me there is a simple rule, does what you want to do technically work without interrupting or disturbing the music? Does it add value? If the answers are no, just forget it and do something else. It was maybe interesting to see, but not with the sliding mechanisms screeching their way through the musical introduction to the 4th act and all the mechanics showing behind the sliding box.

Other than that I think it was a good production with some really beautiful images that burned themselves into my mind. It all worked well together and the production and we all ,who see it are lucky to hear and see these singers and this conductor! For me personally it was all too much to take in, which is why I think what currently predominates in my mind is the singing and only then the score and the images.

I’ve never heard anything like it ever and I still can’t believe all things considering that I was sitting yesterday listening to this Werther.

By the way I didn’t find the Bastille that big! Big yes, but not as exaggerated reports recount it. My decent priced seat had good acoustics and good view, what can’t be said about other places. Yes balconies are high up, but who said at the top of the amphi in ROH people don’t look like ants?

And yes, I had full on panda eyes at the exit, I started crying out the mascara in the 2nd act and cried again and again. I would have happily wept on with no interruption had it not been for pesky intervals ( I could have done with just one, because it is horrible to interrupt that beautiful atmosphere!) and the absolutely horrendous, neighbours from hell I had!( exception nice familiar face next to my right, she suffered them too!. Behind us a couple who thought when singers don’t sing it is time to chat, even if music is on..and they just kept on and on and on, louder and louder. No amount of stinky eye was able to stop them until about 3 of us turned round and shushed exasperated at the same time.. and then they held their breath for about 30 min and continued… The one to my left had an invitation, showed up after act 1, and as soon as she sat started yawning until her jaw cracked, extending herself, leaning back, leaning forward, rubbing her ears, her forehead and nose, scratching her head and repeating the routine with occasional elbows stuck into my ribs, with no apologies. When applause started she jumped up, she had to be somewhere urgently. To my right next to my friend the coughing couple, she almost coughed her insides out and he was the useless bit next to her. She sounded unwell so she must have known she was making these unearthly sounds… not a bottle of water or any coughing sweets or anything in sight. She was literally less than 2 meters from the door, next to the isle but she never made a move for it until the break, she just kept on coughing and coughing. They don’t seem to have cough sweets there either because she repeated the program all throughout. So whenever I was finally into it, silently crying my heart out, the ones at the back whispered, the one next to me fidgeted and the cougher shared her germs…. It’s not a small wonder I actually was so impressed by the show and got so much out of it… although who knows .. maybe I was just crying in frustration of not being able to kill them and by the end of it kill myself and get it over with. By the way Jonas Kaufmann coughed discretely 2-3 times and sang uninterrupted , why is it too much to ask of dear members of the public to keep still and with their mouths shut???

In case you still have any doubts the applause and Bravo shouts where like a hurricane that came crashing down on all singers and the conductor and many of the people present left the Bastille singing the tunes! No more proof needed that everyone else loved it to bits as well :-)

By the way, I turned to the one singing the Werther aria through the exit door and said in French “it was amazing, wasn’t it?” And he turned to me smilingly and replied: “yes, and he is yours!!” Took me 1 second to process that and I started laughing saying that I wasn’t German, but he is brilliant indeed :-) He had obviously heard me speaking German to someone and meant to congratulate me and tell me I should really be proud to have such an amazing compatriot :-)))