A specialist in original projects, the Palazzetto Bru Zane continues its Massenet collection by focusing on Werther. The singularity here is the presentation of a version in which the title role goes not to a tenor, but to a baritone. This idea of Massenet’s came to fruition after the creation, when the great baritone Mattia Battistini approached the composer to adapt his masterpiece, an adaptation that Battistini made triumphant in 1901. Thomas Hampson (in Paris) or Ludovic Tézier (in Vienna) were interested in it, but here, in particular, the operatic brilliance gives way to a more “conversational” opera, very French, all the more endearing because the pronunciation of the protagonists (we add Hélène Carpentier as Sophie, Thomas Dolié as Albert and Matthieu Lécroart as Bailli) is an undeniable asset. The transparent discretion and subtlety of the Hungarian National Orchestra fits magnificently with this golden tone, where a disturbing atmosphere hovers from the beginning, carried by the conductor and the Christoyannis-Gens duo.
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