Massenet: Werther (complete opera recorded in 1980)

"the pacing of each tableau vivant is handled so superbly by Sir Colin that there is not a single moment of longueur...The casting polarizes this Werther and this Charlotte. Jose Carreras is very much a Werther of action rather than of dream, of impetuous self-destruction rather than of brooding lyricism...von Stade's performance can hardly be faulted. Her voice is the very incarnation of Charlotte's essential simplicity of character" (Gramophone)