The positive virtues of this new Werther are the approach taken by Jean-Claude Casadesus – well-judged, never overdoing the melodrama – and the natural diction of everyone involved. Werther has fared pretty well on disc, but there are only two other bargain versions available, both historic issues. One of these is also on Naxos, the classic 1931 Opéra-Comique set, conducted by Elie Cohen, with Georges Thill and Ninon Vallin. The other is from Warner Fonit-Cetra, an Italian radio broadcast from the early 1950s in surprisingly good sound, with Ferruccio Tagliavini and Pia Tassinari; it is in French. The Naxos remastering of the 1931 set has a good deal more surface noise than some of its previous reissues (on EMI Références, for instance).

Here, Marcus Haddock has a good stab at the title-role. His singing is clean, displaying little of the sob effects beloved of some interpreters. Yet he doesn’t have the range of expressive tone to manage some of the moments in the score where Massenet demands those melting soft notes that so many famous Werthers (Thill, Gedda, Kraus, Domingo) provide. As it is a live event, naturally he is holding back a bit in Act 1 for the challenges to come. Although it is the big arias from the Third Act that are most celebrated, Acts 1 and 2 have many key moments, none more important than Werther’s solo about the Prodigal Son, ‘Lorsque l’enfant’, which Haddock negotiates very well. ‘Pourquoi me réveiller?’ exposes the voice more, but altogether this is an impressive performance.

Béatrice Uria-Monzon is the first French-speaking singer to record the role complete since Rita Gorr, back in 1960 (on Ades, 1/62 – nla). Charlottes are divided more or less into those who are also natural Manons (Vallin, De Los Angeles, Gheorghiu) and those who are real mezzos (Troyanos, Kasarova, Fassbaender). Uria-Monzon is definitely of the second group. She has quite an imperial manner when she tells Werther ‘Albert m’aime, et je suis sa femme!’ – in other words, keep your distance. Her three great solos, the reading of the letters, the ‘Air des larmes’ and the outburst before Werther’s return, are all well managed.

As a bargain version, this will do nicely; the sound quality is somewhat restricted, though the voices are well caught. For a little more outlay, though, you can have the first-rate, also live, 1977 Munich performance under López-Cobos, with Domingo and Fassbaender, or the 1979 Plasson recording with Kraus and Troyanos.