MASSENET: Werther.(Review)

MASSENET:Werther

[] Scotto, A. Peters; Kraus, Sardinero; Liceu Opera Orchestra, Guingal, 1987. Bel Canto Society VHS BCS-0457

After many years as one of the leading producers of opera-themed videotapes, Bel Canto Society remains a frustrating, often infuriating contradiction. Bel Canto scours collections and archives for some of the rarest performances ever committed to film or video, providing an invaluable service to opera buffs. But the aural and visual quality of Bel Canto's product can range from excellent to utterly unacceptable. Three recent releases bear this out.

Bel Canto's Pique Dame is a Seiji Ozawa-led 1992 Wiener Staatsoper performance with an all-star cast: Vladimir Atlantov, Mirella Freni, Vladimir Chernov, Martha Modl and Vesselina Kasarova. Modl, an incredible eighty years old at the time, is absolutely chilling as the Old Countess, barking and spitting her lines in a harsh, vibratoless wreck of a voice. Freni is lovely as Lisa, a role that perfectly suited her lush voice and winning stage presence at that point in her career. Kasarova's luxurious, plummy sound as Pauline makes one regret the fact that the pastorale sequence was dropped in this production. Atlantov, who has never sung enough in America, projects his strong, firmly-supported tenor beautifully and, for the most part, avoids the overacting that tends to infect portrayals of Gherman. As often happens in staged opera, however, credibility is compromised: the spurned baritone -- in this case an elegant Vladimir Chernov -- cuts a far more romantic figure than the tenor. For all his lovely singing, Atlantov bears an unfortunate resemblance to Jackie Gleason.

The Staatsoper production, mostly in dark, grayish tones, is well-matched to the opera's gloomy mood, although the scene at the ball is inexplicably set outdoors. Image quality on the tape is clear, but the colors are reproduced pallidly. More disturbing in this tape is an inexcusable flaw. Sound synchronization is off by a split-second through most of the performance, and it's enough to be jarring. But what's worse is the fact that the entirety of Act III, Scene 2 -- Lisa's aria, her duet with Gherman and her leap into the river -- is a full fifteen seconds out of sync. One of the most thrilling scenes in opera, therefore, is rendered impossible to watch. (Requests for a replacement tape were refused at first, leading one to surmise that all copies available had the same defect, yet there was no warning on the packaging. There was a sticker that read "Synopsis Inside" -- but no synopsis to be found, just a Bel Canto Society catalogue. Three weeks later, Bel Canto suddenly sent a new copy of the tape with the third-act synchronization corrected and a synopsis included.)

[Editor's note: Bel Canto subsequently announced that this Pique Dame was being deleted from the catalogue, effective April 27, 2001; however, the initial defective pressings may still be for sale in stores.]

Werther is from a 1987 Barcelona performance starring Alfredo Kraus and Renata Scotto. You won't hear a single syllable of good French from this cast -- Kraus's French was always bad, despite his affinity for French roles, and Scotto definitely needed to put in some more time at Berlitz -- but these two veterans sing with warmth, elegance and style. Kraus's ...