Charming, passionate, totally irresponsible young novelist Werther is sent to the city on an errand by his mother. By chance, he meets lovely Charlotte, whose allure and commitment to her impressive, stable fiancé Albert will turn Werther’s life upside down. Werther and Charlotte embark on an emotional affair, while Werther and Albert start an awkward friendship. The more entwined this trio becomes, the harder it is to navigate the complexities of lust, affinity, and love.

The three main soloists have voices on a scale that can compete with these flashy production values – White and Kasarova, in particular, sing at a level of intensity that would swamp anything less; the climactic seduction trio has rarely been sung so well or with such an overpoweringly polymorphous eroticism. Cambreling marshals his forces effectively, giving full rein to the work's showstoppers like the "Hungarian March" but not neglecting the subtler less kinetic Gluckian side of Berlioz's vocal writing. Recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele, 1999.