I’m too tired to think, much less blog, but I just wanted to say we are home from San Francisco Opera’s Werther. So just a couple ‘o things:
- I don’t completely enjoy Werther, no matter the production. It’s pretty much how I feel about most French opera, for some reason. I’m not sure what that’s about. Maybe I’ll have to figure that out someday!
- I loved what the director did with most of it. I think it worked quite well. Now I couldn’t see what Opera San José did with it when we performed it last, but in the past I had seen it and it was done more with Charlotte truly falling for Werther. In this production much of that is in his imagination. She reads his letter right in front of her husband, Albert. He is obviously frustrated or annoyed, but it’s not like she is hiding anything from him and she seems more concerned about Werther than in love with the guy. I thought the set design was also very nice.
- AND … of course I thought the orchestra was great! Oboist Mingjia Liu, sounded fabulous, just as he did for Aida. What a warm rich sound! The rest of the orchestra sounded great s well. I’m always so impressed with the opera orchestra!
- I loved the voices. I’m especially taken with Alice Coote. There’s something about the timbre of her voice that really moves me. But they were all so strong, and it was wonderful to finally get to hear Ramón Vargas!
So now off to bed with me. I need some rest before Anna Karenina jumps in front of a train again. (Gee, a Werther suicide tonight and a Karenina suicide tomorrow? It’s a rough time in opera land.)
