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List Price: $37.98 | | Label: Decca
Salesrank: 82098
Released: March 8, 2005 |
| Our Price: $16.58 |
| Used Price: $6.30 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Editorial Review:
This newest foray into the world of complete operas (rather than arias) by tenor superstar Andrea Bocelli will delight his loyal fans. The voice remains quite beautiful, and he inhabits the role of the self-pitying, sensitive poet Werther with passion and excellent attention to the text, singing with a fine plangency. But those who have heard Carreras, Kraus, Alagna or Georges Thill and understand just how heroically much of the role should be sung will find Bocelli's thin tone and notable strain above the staff a definite drawback. Despite some harsh tones, Russian mezzo Julia Gertseva as Charlotte has the makings of an important singer, but Frederica von Stade, Angela Gheorghiu, Victoria de los Angeles, and others sing rings around her. Natale de Carolis's Albert is authoritative, and the rest of the cast is quite good. Yves Abel's leasdership is sympathetic and warm and the recording, unlike Bocelli's previous operatic ones, does not seem to boost the tenor's sound. Buy the Carreras/von Stade recording--it's magnificent. All-encompassing Bocelli fans can stop here and be pleased. --Robert Levine
If You Enjoy This, Here Are Some More Suggestions To Try
La Boheme |
La Traviata |
Tosca |
Gounod and Massenet Arias |
Bach Cantatas |
Handel Arias |
Massenet: Werther Reviews:
Werther - Bocelli 
2009-04-11 - I bought this for one reason, Bocelli. You cannot get better than that. I enjoy this CD very much. I own about every recording Bocelli recorded and it is my most valued collection. This version of WERTHER by Massenet is very good. I do not think you would be dissappointed.
Saw this LIVE
2006-08-19 - I saw this opera live in Bologna, Italy and have to say that these reviews are WRONG when it comes to Andrea Bocelli. He was fabulous as was the cast. Bocelli is a fabulous singer as well as person since we met him at our hotel. I belive if you were a true opera fan you could appreciate his talent even if you don't find him as your favorite singer. Watching this opera live in one of the oldest opera house's in Europe makes you appreciate the talent of everyone in this opera!!
Alas, poor Werther 
2005-11-23 - I have had a revelation. After hearing this recording, I find that I no longer entirely despise Andrea Bocelli as an opera singer! Oh, his voice remains small, effortful, strained--even strangulated in some passages, remarkably free of legato and generally unpleasant, but, by heaven, he is much improved. It is actually gratifying to note his steady upward climb toward the third-rate.
The other two sides of this musical romantic triangle, Charlotte and Albert, her self-effacing but well-armed husband, are fairly good, although Charlotte is a bit over-whiny for my taste. Charlotte, it seems to me, should be a perfectly ordinary young German hausfrau (yes, even though she is singing in French), married to a perfectly ordinary husband, who has had the misfortune to become entangled with a self-dramatizing, suicidally-inclined, Romantic drip.
In general, the production is satisfactory but there are a few leaden spots. For example, the story is bookended by children singing, "Noel, noel!" This is a motif of sheer joy, and should be in stark contrast to Werther's inky gloom. It doesn't quite work here.
The previous Amazon reviews are revelatory, too. One reviewer says she has "collected over 20 complete performance CDs of this title, finding something of value in each." And I thought that I was an opera fan! I stand humbled and abashed before this mighty collector . . . although I do find it astonishing to be informed that there have been nineteen subsequent recordings since George Thill recorded the first complete "Werther" over seventy years ago. Speaking as the owner of four "Werthers," I can only wonder why anyone would want TWENTY of them? (Or, come to think of it, why FOUR?)
It is also gratifying to discover that the appreciation of the art of music drama is being enhanced. One reviewer wrote, "Andrea Bocelli single-handedly inspired a love of opera in masses of fans (like me) who previously couldn't tell the difference between a Werther opera and a Werther's candy!"
Three stars and a hearty cheer for a Bocelli recording that has actually risen to the status of mediocrity.
(For those other reviewers who assigned five stars to this production, I hasten to point out that the Werther's candy is the one you eat.)
Kind of like having a debate between evolution and "intelligent design" 
2005-07-19 - This is one of those situations that the sides are so polarized and in such different worlds, the wildly emotional debate regarding Bocelli as an opera singer probably won't change any minds. Its just the difference between art and marketing.
That said, I do need to balance the previous reviews with my own.
As I said, its just two different worlds. Opera is an acoustical vocal art where the artist has nothing but his physical attributes (his "instrument"), his skill development ("technique") and his artistry. No help (except from good training to bring out his gifts).
Bocelli is sorely lacking in all areas, at least in terms of opera (he doesn't both me in the other genres, although he isn't really to my taste). He can't sing without artificial amplification or the adding of "reverb" to make up for the amplification. And his "artistry"--well, I don't even know where to begin. Art can't even begin to happen if the foundations of expression are cheated as they are here. Look at his live performances--the true mark of a vocal artist--they've been disasterous.
But then, he will continue to sell millions and millions of records--contrived abominations of real opera. Those who don't "get it"--well, nothing I or any number of others will say will help.
Mr. Levine, You Just Don't Get It!
2005-03-27 - Mr. Levine, it appears impossible for you to write an unbiased review of any operatic album by Andrea Bocelli. As one of those "all-encompassing Bocelli fans" that you disdainfully refer to in your review, I take offense at your blatent attempt to market another tenor's Werther album, while summarily dismissing Andrea's performance as less than superior. Andrea Bocelli single-handedly inspired a love of opera in masses of fans (like me) who previously couldn't tell the difference between a Werther opera and a Werther's candy!
Thanks to Andrea, I can (and do) appreciate other tenors' performances, but I don't buy their albums...I buy ONLY Bocelli, because it is his voice that makes the opera magic for me. And to my fellow Bocelli fans -- I know that with or without my recommendation, you will buy this album and enjoy it! Why? Because unlike Mr. Levine, WE GET IT!
