ROMÉO ET JULIETTE:Gounod
Lewis; Corelli, Blegen, Gill, Munzer, Carlson
Original Air Date: 12/07/1974
SID.20170535
This performance does not catch Corelli at his best. This is his final season and he completes his Met broadcast career 2 weeks later with a Turandot (and Bjoner’s final met appearance). For a man with almost 400 Met performances, he is richly represented in the broadcast archives. Better to listen to the Trovatore or Turandot in 1961 (a month apart!!!) or the AIda or Tosca from 1962 (also a month apart) or many others. Blegen is OK, but would be better paired with a different Romeo. This performance is on MOoD as well, and Blegen is very good. This is towards the end of the Corelli era (his next to last broadcast) and a close examination of his work is not always satisfying. This is Corelli’s penultimate Met broadcast, with Turandot occurring three weeks later (also Bjoner’s farewell to the Met in that performance). Corelli is second only to de Rezke in Romeo totals at the Met with his 36 performances. When paired with Freni as they were for the production’s premiere in 1967, one does not worry quite so much about the mostly absent French style. Freni had Gedda as her partner for the first broadcast of this production, then Corelli comes back for the next with Pilou as his partner and Lombard in the pit. Corelli has a second broadcast with Boky that finds neither of them in best voice. Blegen is a fine Juliette with him on the third, but the weak link for me this time is the conductor, Henry Lewis, who is no better than the weaker members of the Met’s Asst. Conductor staff. You can hear for yourself on MOoD.