Werther (complete opera recorded in 2011)

"Pappano keeps authoritative control over the temperature gauge throughout and never lets the emotions boil over into abject melodrama... in the last act [Villazon's] singing is coloured by a desperate sincerity which would melt the hardest heart." The Telegraph, 16th March 2012 ****

"Villazón dies spectacularly well, navigating the arc from infatuation to despair to determination. Sophie Koch excels as the remorseful Charlotte...Not a dry eye in the house." The Independent, 15th March 2012 ****

"Tingling with nervous intensity, Villazon's Werther is alive at every moment in the mind's eye...Aside from Villazon, the strongest personality in the cast is Antonio Pappano, who gets detailed playing from the orchestra. This is Massenet with an Italianate cut but his sense of drama is second to none, rising to white heat at the climax of that fateful Christmas Eve meeting."
(Gramophone Award Nomination 2012)

"[Villazon's] performance here - impassioned, poetic, both thrillingly extrovert and poignantly introverted - banishes most of the demons that have plagued him ...Pappano lets the Wagnerian orchestration rip in the interludes." Sunday Times, 18th March 2012

In May 2011, Rolando Villazón made his acclaimed return to Covent Garden singing the title role in Massenet's Werther - "a perfect fit for him" as The Independent glowed. Captured on CD, Werther showcases every facet of our tenor's prodigious talent in this signature role.

The Telegraph lauded conductor Antonio Pappano for his"uninhibited affection for the score".