Few musical directors would choose to conduct three such different operas as Verdi’s Il trovatore, Berg’s Wozzeck and now Massenet’s Werther side by side in the space of a month, but that’s how Antonio Pappano is wrapping up his penultimate season in charge of the Royal Opera – and his orchestra, after 21 years in his care, is on fabulous form. In Werther his players are indeed busy, tirelessly painting the scene under the vocal lines in music of golden-age Hollywood lushness: Massenet was not of the opinion that less is more.
Benoît Jacquot’s production is nearly 20 years old, but in its first act you might think you’d gone back 80. Lit in sunset tones by Charles Edwards, it is a comfortable, big-scale, traditional staging that occasionally sparks to life dramatically but exists mainly as a vehicle for a star tenor – this time, Jonas Kaufmann.
