Aigul Akhmetshina as Charlotte and Jonas Kaufmann as Werther | Photo: Bill Cooper

***

He came, he saw, he didn’t really conquer. Jonas Kaufmann atoned for past cancelations at the Royal Opera by appearing in Benoît Jacquot’s production of Massenet’s opera, now revived by Geneviève Dufour.  In many ways it was a success. The staging is traditional and handsome, particularly Act III’s drawing room, a nod to Danish artist Hammershøi’s atmospheric interiors.

The Christmas carol-warbling Munchkins are the right side of cute, the drunks don’t overdo their schtick, young sister Sophie is sweet not saccharine, though I could do with less pointless skirt-twirling. But the main event, Kaufmann, left a large hole at the centre of the evening.

His soft singing is still delicious and the odd scoop can be excused, but the core of the voice seems greatly diminished. At first I assumed he was either pacing himself or aiming for exciting contrast when he did let rip, but that moment never really arrived. His demeanour is serious, but I thought of this production’s Werther in 2016, Vittorio Grigolo, who really did convey the young man’s mental disintegration through both voice and carriage, and found Kaufmann wanting: a sentence I never anticipated writing.

The Children's Chorus | Photo: Bill Cooper

There was no real pain, just generalised anguish. Maybe his voice is losing thrust or his recent assumption of Tannhäuser is taking its vocal toll; perhaps he was just having an off night. But the thrills were left to his Charlotte, Aigul Akhmetshina, whose mezzo rings excitingly in this auditorium and who poured out rich tone and paced her intense performance with skill. Some cloudy diction aside, she was pretty perfect and the audience duly responded. Sophie was charming debutante Sarah Gilford, whose lyric soprano fitted the role like a glove – more from her, please.

Gordon Bintner was a solid Albert, younger than often portrayed, and Alastair Miles’s Bailli was also strong. Tony Pappano led a large-boned reading of the score, accentuating Massenet’s Wagnerian overtones and especially relishing the woodwind writing. In the first two acts he sometimes covered his singers, but Kaufmann didn’t put up much of a struggle.

Until 4 July www.roh.org.uk