London.(International)(review of Werther)(Opera Review)

It is a curious fact that in the various performances of Massenet's Werther given at Covent Garden since 1894, the title role has never been sung by a native French tenor. The latest to take on the star challenge of the doomed poet was Argentinian Marcelo Alvarez (September 20), in a staging by French film director Benoit Jacquot, who collaborated on a movie version of Tosca with the Royal Opera's music director, Antonio Pappano, back in 2001.

Given the stereotyping that ascribes to Latin tenors limitless ebullience but not much sensitivity, the introverted, almost neurotic side of Massenet's hero might be thought out of range. Not for Alvarez, whose voice has developed in size, and at the grander climaxes it filled the theater with a bright and ardent tone that elsewhere he shaded down to every, dynamic level required, including the most subtle pianissimo. His acting skills, too, were much in evidence in an interpretation that clarified Werther's increasing volatility and desperation. This was a complete traversal of the role.

Partnering him as Charlotte was Romanian mezzo Ruxandra Donose, a slight, luminously attractive figure who suggested the character's essential vulnerability as well as her conflicted conformity to the marriage expected of her. Donose's is not a large voice, but she used it with great skill and a ready supply of coloristic and textual nuances.

To Ludovic Tezier (the only French singer in a leading role) fell the somewhat ungrateful ...