Therese

Nora Gubisch (Thérèse), Charles Castronovo (Armand de Clerval), Étienne Dupuis (André Thorel), François Lis (Morel), Yves Saelens (Un Officier), Patrick Bolleire (Un Officier / Un Officier municipal), Gaspard Ferret (Une Voix) & Choeur et Orchestre Opéra national Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, Alain
Altinoglu

The composer Jules Massenet constantly renewed his style. Towards the end of his life he turned to experimental forms of expression that are astonishing even today. Combining a marked taste for the late eighteenth century (already found in Manon and Werther) with a very modern use of naturalism, Thérèse shows both immediacy in its dramatic discourse and lyricism in its emotional expression, thus greatly deepening the strength and poignancy of the subject.

Massenet:
 Thérèse

"[Gubisch brings] a keen dramatic and psychological edge to her character. Her moment of madness when she betrays herself at the end is spine-tingling stuff...Dupuis almost takes centre-stage...with his beautifully projected big-lyric baritone and eloquent declamation...French music seems to suit [Castronovo] perfectly"
International Record Review - September 2013

"The scale is small, the plot thin, but the opera has its moments: one of them is the flowing 'O Therese, regarde', sensitively phrased by Etienne Dupuis. Nora Gubisch and Charles Castronovo are splendid"
Gramophone Magazine - October 2013