Search - Werther (Royal Opera House) on DVD

Simply incredible.

Abel | Hong Kong | 11/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Incredibly touching performance that must be seen to be believed.

I had a very very fine version on CD of this in original French by Carreras and von Stade, but it isn't a video.

This one is a film, immaculately shot and performed in the mid-1950's (black and white), but the singers are ALL in top form. The language is Italian, but you would not loss a bit of the drama in the original score.

Juan Oncina might not be as even-voiced and silky as Carreras in that ultra-fine performance on CD, but he WAS a very fine actor both vocally and visually, and his Werther really makes you cry. Very believable performance of a love-sick young man who chose to kill himself when losing his beloved.

Leyla Gencer, though a soprano, has the right timbre for this opera's heroine as any other mezzo-soprano. Her acting is also ultra-fine, and vocally very moving and extremely convincing as the character's emotional involvement develops.

The other supporting roles were equally well portrayed and sung.

If the quality of the recording isn't first rate, it is nonetheless very acceptable in the 1950's fashion: the quality would not bother you."