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Werther - Royal Opera House

JohnS

By JohnS
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JohnS

JohnS

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I was very pleased to see yesterday’s General Rehearsal. With engineering works on Saturday, I’d travelled down on the Friday and saw Il Trovatore. Astonishing that Tony Pappano was conducting Friday evening and then Saturday morning and it’s only a few days since the end of his Wozzeck run. He conjures such wonderful music making from singers and the orchestra - he’ll be hugely missed when he steps down.
 

The auditorium announcement rightly emphasises the working nature of General Rehearsals and that singers may mark their parts and I’m sure that Jonas Kaufmann was at times holding much in reserve. But there was a fair amount of disgruntlement from some audience members sitting near me during the intervals. The rest of the cast were fully throated and I was very impressed by Aigul Akhmetshina (Charlotte), Gordon Bintner (Albert), Sarah Gilford (Sophie) and Alastair Miles (The Bailli). I thought Act 4, Werther’s death, incredibly moving: Jonas Kaufmann and Aigul Akhmetshina certainly had me in tears. I’ll be very interested to see first night reviews and I may well be Friday rushing. 

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Lizbie1

Lizbie1

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If memory serves it's quite a dull production? And with a somewhat distracting water feature (though indeed not a urinal!) in one of the acts.

 

It's not my favourite opera - or my favourite Massenet opera - so my memory may not be reliable.

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JohnS

JohnS

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Blue skies dominate Acts 1 and 2. There’s a major change of scenery for Act 3 which in the General Rehearsal overran the second 25 minute interval by several minutes - hopefully the scene change will be smoother for opening night. Acts 3 and 4 are internal. As others say it’s a pretty traditional production in period costume which supports the singers. I don’t think I’d seen Werther since 1980 with Jose Carreras and Frederica Von Stade, Colin Davis conducting a John Copley production, so I hadn’t seen this Paris co-production.

 

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Emeralds

Emeralds

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Posted (edited)
On 18/06/2023 at 12:18, Mary said:

Thanks John - any thoughts on the production? I have been pondering whether to go to this but don't feel in the mood for urinals etc.

It’s a nice production- they wear period dress but some of the coats, dresses etc could fit the 20th century. Nothing outlandish (sets or costumes) or designed to shock. I saw it on its previous run; it’s lovely. The outfits for the leads Werther, Charlotte, Albert, and Sophie, are attractive.

 

The water feature is a little village fountain that Werther stands near for a short while -far quieter than the pretty but noisy fountain that the Mariinsky Ballet used to bring over and use for Sleeping Beaity and Le Corsaire! (To this day I still half expect to hear a fountain clicking on just before Aurora’s coda in Act 1, moments before Carabosse appears, or prior to Medora’s balances in the Jardin Anime scene where the women pass her roses. 😂 )

 

Edited by Emeralds
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Emeralds

Emeralds

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On 18/06/2023 at 10:27, JohnS said:

I was very pleased to see yesterday’s General Rehearsal. With engineering works on Saturday, I’d travelled down on the Friday and saw Il Trovatore. Astonishing that Tony Pappano was conducting Friday evening and then Saturday morning and it’s only a few days since the end of his Wozzeck run. He conjures such wonderful music making from singers and the orchestra - he’ll be hugely missed when he steps down.
 

The auditorium announcement rightly emphasises the working nature of General Rehearsals and that singers may mark their parts and I’m sure that Jonas Kaufmann was at times holding much in reserve. But there was a fair amount of disgruntlement from some audience members sitting near me during the intervals. The rest of the cast were fully throated and I was very impressed by Aigul Akhmetshina (Charlotte), Gordon Bintner (Albert), Sarah Gilford (Sophie) and Alastair Miles (The Bailli). I thought Act 4, Werther’s death, incredibly moving: Jonas Kaufmann and Aigul Akhmetshina certainly had me in tears. I’ll be very interested to see first night reviews and I may well be Friday rushing. 

JohnS, I was wondering if Jonas has a clause in his contract that Tony Pappano has to conduct every recent production he appears in at ROH! (For the last 6 years at least). Every opera I’ve seen JK billed to appear in, it’s always TP conducting, like a double act. I don’t mind at all; it’s just something I’ve observed. 😂

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Geoff

Geoff

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1 hour ago, Bluebird said:

Email just arrived to inform ticket holders that, due to illness,  Jonas Kaufmann will not be singing tomorrow and will be replaced by..................Juan Diego Flórez.  What a replacement!


Blimey! Shame I can’t go…

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Sebastian

Sebastian

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9 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

If anyone is interested in one of the cheap £18 seats in row W of the amphi, let me know as I may be able to oblige since the person due to come with me will most likely not be able to make it, although I won’t know for certain until tomorrow. 

 

Just sent you a private message on behalf of a friend, in case this comes free. 

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JohnS

JohnS

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Having seen the various reviews and recognising that Jonas Kaufman was probably not marking his part during the General Rehearsal, I haven’t as yet booked for a full performance. I’ll keep an eye on casting and may try Friday rush for the final performance.

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Dawnstar

Dawnstar

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In case anyone's interested, a few curtain call photos from tonight's Werther with Florez. He must have a picture in the attic because he barely looks any older than when I first saw him at the ROH 16 years ago! I thought he was visually ideal as Werther. Unfortunately not quite vocally ideal, as he did get drowned out by the orchestra at their louder moments. Whether it would have helped if the orchestra had turned it down a bit, as presumably they had rehearsed for Kauffmann-volume levels rather than Florez-volume levels, or whether his voice is inherently too small for the role I'm not sure. I'd still rather see him than Kaufmann though, as I can overlook moments of less than ideal vocals more easily than an entire evening of less than ideal visuals. Now if you could have Kauffmann's voice of a decade ago in Florez's body that might be the idea Werther!

 

P1620762.jpg

 

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P1620779.jpg

 

P1620828.jpg

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MAB

MAB

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4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

he did get drowned out by the orchestra at their louder moments. Whether it would have helped if the orchestra had turned it down a bit

That is a frequent complaint when Pappano is conducring.

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Scheherezade

Scheherezade

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6 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Unfortunately not quite vocally ideal, as he did get drowned out by the orchestra at their louder moments.


So true, Dawnstar, particularly at the back of the amphitheatre where the struggle to hear him at those moments was akin to sitting at the top of the Albert Hall. I do think he has a small voice and the production was, necessarily, slow to gather momentum, but what a dramatic punch he and Akhmetshina - who was a revelation - brought to the last two acts. And great performances from the rest of the cast too. 

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Dawnstar

Dawnstar

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5 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

So true, Dawnstar, particularly at the back of the amphitheatre where the struggle to hear him at those moments was akin to sitting at the top of the Albert Hall. I do think he has a small voice and the production was, necessarily, slow to gather momentum, but what a dramatic punch he and Akhmetshina - who was a revelation - brought to the last two acts. And great performances from the rest of the cast too. 

 

I was at the side of the stalls circle, which I know isn't the best place accoustically for voices but everyone else seemed to come over the orchestra alright so I don't think it was just the accoustics there.

 

I do rather wish Werther didn't have such a big gap between the uses of what I think if by far the loveliest melody. It first appears towards the end of Act I & then not again until Act IV. (Admittedly it's a shorter wait than in the Ring cycle, where my favourite Leitmotif appears in Walkure Act III & then not again until the very end of Gotterdammerung!) Its reappearance in Act IV brought tears to my eyes, having prior to that been feeling a bit unmoved by the situation playing out.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Emeralds

Emeralds

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On 30/06/2023 at 13:24, Dawnstar said:

Quite the revolving door of Werthers! Could the ROH not find any tenors who were available for more than one date?

 

Werther.png

Looks like they left it too late to book SeokJeong Baek, last summer’s go-to-sub among tenors! (If anyone here hasn’t heard Baek, you absolutely must - he’s quite a discovery, just like Freddie di Tommaso has been in the last couple of years).

 

Saw Francesco Demuro in the 1 July cast as I’d already seen Juan Diego Florez in this role and production a few years ago (where he was excellent, with time to prepare and rehearse instead of doing a last minute jump in like this year) Demuro seems to have a more dramatic voice rather than a lyric one in this role, but for a last minute sub he did extremely well- no a single missed note, cue or stage direction (and if he had at all, it was covered up very seamlessly!). Impressive production debut. He did need the volume of a dramatic tenor as the orchestra were too loud at some moments and he often sounded like he was forced to sing louder over them in order not to be drowned out. He has sung at ROH before, but not Werther. Speaking of debuts,the other impressive debut was Sarah Gilford’s performance as Sophie, which marks her ROH debut after appearing in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition 2 years ago.

 

I agree with @MAB and @Dawnstar, Pappano did seem to be getting the orchestra to play overly loudly in some sections, something that also happened with his Turandot in April this year (but never used to be). Edward Gardner’s conducting was more controlled and less “every forte becomes fortissimo”  in the last run of this production. I hope AP is ok- the excessive loudness could be a problem when he takes over as chief conductor from Simon Rattle. Less easily tolerated if he were to drown out a soloist in a violin or piano concerto!

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