WERTHER

WERTHER:Massenet
Original Air Date: 01/10/2004
Lacombe; Alagna, Kasarova, Petrova, Schaldenbrand
MOD Audio SID.18440211
Alagna has had steady employment at the Met in the last decade and his Werther is a solid accomplishment. Kasarova was not to my taste in the theater and even less so in audio only.
8/11/2013 – Alagna made a hasty exit around the time of 9/11 and with the new Faust production (with Isokowski and Pape under Levine) in 2003. The following year this Werther showed him on good behavior, but I find Kasarova’s voice totally wrong for Massenet, and she didn’t make for much electricity with Alagna. Werther is more popular than Manon these days– a good bit shorter, and the Manon leads harder to cast well. In light of the mercurial (and new papa to be) Alagna, it will be interesting to hear this again.
2/24/2012 – Kasarova took multiple attempts before finally showing up at the Met, and I felt her unusual timbre was not a good fit for Charlotte, nor an especially congenial match for Alagna. In many ways I feel as if Alagna sings better today. Let’s see if I feel the same way listening to this broadcast.
4/21/2011 – When I saw this in the house in 2004 with this cast I was pretty disappointed. This was when Alagna’s singing was not really appealing at all. He had the style down, but I wish he would return to Werther with the kind of singing he has been doing the last two seasons. Both of Kraus’ fine performances (one with Crespin, the other with von Stade) are on Met Player.