GREAT RECORDINGS phase 11

MASSENET: WERTHER
Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda Roger Soyer, Jean-Christophe Benoit Christos Grigoriou, André Mallabrera
& Mady Mesplé
Chœurs et Orchestre du Théâtre
National de l'Opéra de Paris
Georges Prêtre

5 62627 2 (2CDs)

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'This is as good a performance as we are likely to get of this persuasive work. Victoria de los Angeles as Charlotte is adorable, both in character and in the sheer beauty of sound, Gedda's Werther is finely sung with a natural French elegance, and Prêtre is a very committed conductor. Highly recommendable.' (Gramophone)

Massenet's lyric drama of 1887 is based on Goethe's novel and tells a familiar story of a triangular relationship. Tragic consequences stem from the love of the romantic dreamer Werther for Charlotte, betrothed and subsequently married to the down-to-earth and practical Albert.

This famous recording of the opera was made in Paris in 1968-9 and boasts a perfect cast in Victoria de los Angeles as the love-torn Charlotte, Nicolai Gedda as the romantic hero, and Roger Soyer as Albert.

The smaller roles of Charlotte's father and his two drinking companions are splendidly characterised, and the conducting of Georges Prêtre, experienced and expert in this repertoire, is idiomatic and convincing.