DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER:Wagner
Schippers; London, Rysanek, Liebl, Tozzi
Original Air Date: 03/05/1960
SID.20050425
This is the first of Rysanek’s five Senta broadcasts and she is paired with her longtime Dutchman partner, George London. Most of this cast re-assembled in London for a studio recording under Dorati, but the sound was never quite right, and the electricity of a live performance definitely not there. Rysanek’s two greatest roles were Senta and Empress in Frau. Both this and two later Dutchman broadcasts with her are available in MOoD. This performance follows by less than 24 hours Leonard Warren’s onstage death in Forza. Warren had been Rysanek’s husband in her Met debut in Macbeth two years earlier. The fourth performance of the matchless combination of London and Rysanek. Three years later there is another broadcast under Bohm, which is on Met Player. Best broadcast of the week by far.
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS:Strauss
Levine; Voigt, Schmidt, Dahl, Stratas, Prey, Oswald
Original Air Date: 04/23/1994
SID.20050426
Voigt is in very fresh voice here, but Schmidt and Dahl are not to my taste, and I think Stratas over sings the part of Composer. Better to hear the 1979 performance with one of Gruberova’s only 2 Met broadcasts with Kollo, Troyanos, and Johanna Meier in the title role.
MESSA DA REQUIEM:Verdi
Levine; Price, Quivar, Domingo, Cheek
Original Air Date: 02/20/1982
MOD Audio
SID.20050428
This broadcast is in memory of long-time Met Assistant Manager and Press representative, Francis Robinson. This is getting to be pretty late Price, and Domingo is not the best choice of tenor soloists for the Requiem. Quivar is a very solid mezzo soloist, and preferred to many commercially recorded mezzos. Cheek is OK, but if you are a Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) you can listen to a 1964 Requiem (in memory of John F. Kennedy) under Solti with Price,Elias, Bergonzi, and Siepi. Sound is not digital, but the performance is splendid and marks Solti’s final appearance with the Met
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN:Offenbach
Baudo; Gedda, Bacquier, Boky, Crespin, Amara, von Stade
Original Air Date: 04/10/1971
MOD Audio
SID.20050530
The fall performances went unbroadcast. This 1970/71 Hoffmann was divided between a fall group with Grist, Elias, and Lorengar in the three ladies and the spring offering was Boky, Crespin, and Amara. The excellent Gedda and Bacquier were in both parts of the revival. In the fall performances Grist and Lorengar were excellent. The broadcast does not come until spring, Crespin’s Giulietta while visually dazzling was one rocky ride on the Venetian canal. Amara sang a solid Antonia, but her tone never had the luster of a Lorengar. Boky is similarly lacking compared to Grist. Baudo is no Julius Rudel (among the best conductors I’ve ever heard for Hoffmann) or Chailly, let alone Monteux who originated the production in 1955. What should be mentioned is the strong supporting cast including von Stade as Nicklausse , Velis in the four comic tenor parts, and Paul Franke as an inimitable Spalanzani.
MESSA DA REQUIEM:Verdi
Levine; Price, Quivar, Domingo, Cheek
Original Air Date: 02/20/1982
MOD Audio
SID.20050531
This broadcast is in memory of long-time Met Assistant Manager and Press representative, Francis Robinson. This is getting to be pretty late Price, and Domingo is not the best choice of tenor soloists for the Requiem. Quivar is a very solid mezzo soloist, and preferred to many commercially recorded mezzos. Cheek is OK, but if you are a Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) you can listen to a 1964 Requiem (in memory of John F. Kennedy) under Solti with Price,Elias, Bergonzi, and Siepi. Sound is not digital, but the performance is splendid and marks Solti’s final appearance with the Met
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975
SID.20050532
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. She only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has two Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series. But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975
SID.20050533
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. She only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has two Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series. But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.
Puccini
Armiliato; Gallardo-Domâs, Vargas, Arteta, Caproni, Relyea
Original Air Date: 02/16/2002
SID.20050534
In 2002 Gallardo-Domas was one of the most sensitive performers of the Italian repertory before the public, and she is well partnered by Vargas. This is a very solid performance, not likely to have it replace your historical favorite (try the studio effort of Bjorling and De Los Angeles under Beecham, or Tebaldi and Bergonzi under Serafin. Amazingly, Mirella Freni, never broadcast it in her 22 Met appearances; She did one with Pavarotti and Kleiber and a Philadelphia Lyric performance partnered with Flaviano Labo. She has a fine DVD from San Francisco (with Pavarotti) and several good audio airchecks .
CAPRICCIO:Strauss
Davis; Te Kanawa, Rootering, Kuebler, Keenlyside, Brendel, Harries
Original Air Date: 01/31/1998
MOD Audio
SID.20050535
The Met has only had two matinee broadcasts for Strauss’ final work: this one with Te Kanawa and Fleming in 2012. Andrew Davis conducted both revivals. Clairon was a famous role for Troyanos and luckily it is captured on a San Francisco telecast with Te Kanawa, but she died in 1993, which I guess is one reason for the more lightweight casting. Te Kanawa is definitely worth hearing.
FALSTAFF:Verdi
Levine; Taddei, Neblett, Monk, Cossotto, Blegen, Ahlstedt
Original Air Date: 03/08/1986
MOD Audio
SID.20050636
Its particularly good to have this performance back on the radio. Taddei and Cossotto make a most interesting pair, and I’m sorry she did not do more of the part. I don’t have strong memories of Neblett and Monk. Taddei who came very late to the Met did this run of Falstaff followed by a run in L’elisir which was broadcast and has been on Sirius. If they run that performance again I will check it out. Taddei’s actual Met farewell is as Dulcamara in Met in the Pennsauken Cooper River Park in New Jersey with Hong as his Adina. Taddei appeared as both Scarpia and Rigoletto in Philadelphia (both with Tucker) and I also saw his Leporello in Dallas (with Sutherland and the EMI gang), Germont (with Callas) and much later Leporello again in San Francisco with Siepi. The Met was not starving for good baritones in those days, so we got too little of him and very late. He has a nice non-Met legacy of studio and live performances. He died at 93 June 2, 2010.
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO:Verdi
Walter; Roman, Jagel, Tibbett, Pinza, Petina, Baccaloni
Original Air Date: 01/23/1943
SID.20050637
Roman is particularly impressive, and we don’t have so many surviving Bruno Walter broadcasts that this one is particularly welcome. This is a bit late for Tibbett, but Pinza is wonderful in one of Verdi’s greatest bass roles.
This performance is available in MOoD. The previous fall Pavarotti had Levine at the help and Dara as the Dulcamara for the video which is also available in MOoD and commercial DVD.
Various:Various
Various Artists
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050639
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER:Wagner
Schippers; London, Rysanek, Liebl, Tozzi
Original Air Date: 03/05/1960
SID.20050641
This is the first of Rysanek’s five Senta broadcasts and she is paired with her longtime Dutchman partner, George London. Most of this cast re-assembled in London for a studio recording under Dorati, but the sound was never quite right, and the electricity of a live performance definitely not there. Rysanek’s two greatest roles were Senta and Empress in Frau. Both this and two later Dutchman broadcasts with her are available in MOoD. This performance follows by less than 24 hours Leonard Warren’s onstage death in Forza. Warren had been Rysanek’s husband in her Met debut in Macbeth two years earlier. The fourth performance of the matchless combination of London and Rysanek. Three years later there is another broadcast under Bohm, which is on Met Player. Best broadcast of the week by far.
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS:Strauss
Levine; Voigt, Schmidt, Dahl, Stratas, Prey, Oswald
Original Air Date: 04/23/1994
SID.20050642
Voigt is in very fresh voice here, but Schmidt and Dahl are not to my taste, and I think Stratas over sings the part of Composer. Better to hear the 1979 performance with one of Gruberova’s only 2 Met broadcasts with Kollo, Troyanos, and Johanna Meier in the title role.
TBA:TBA
TBA
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050743
TBA:TBA
TBA
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050744
TBA:TBA
TBA
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050745
TBA:TBA
TBA
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050746
TBA:TBA
TBA
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050747
TBA:TBA
TBA
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050748
TBA:TBA
TBA
Original Air Date: 01/01/9999
SID.20050749
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN:Offenbach
Baudo; Gedda, Bacquier, Boky, Crespin, Amara, von Stade
Original Air Date: 04/10/1971
MOD Audio
SID.20060101
The fall performances went unbroadcast. This 1970/71 Hoffmann was divided between a fall group with Grist, Elias, and Lorengar in the three ladies and the spring offering was Boky, Crespin, and Amara. The excellent Gedda and Bacquier were in both parts of the revival. In the fall performances Grist and Lorengar were excellent. The broadcast does not come until spring, Crespin’s Giulietta while visually dazzling was one rocky ride on the Venetian canal. Amara sang a solid Antonia, but her tone never had the luster of a Lorengar. Boky is similarly lacking compared to Grist. Baudo is no Julius Rudel (among the best conductors I’ve ever heard for Hoffmann) or Chailly, let alone Monteux who originated the production in 1955. What should be mentioned is the strong supporting cast including von Stade as Nicklausse , Velis in the four comic tenor parts, and Paul Franke as an inimitable Spalanzani.
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN:Offenbach
Baudo; Gedda, Bacquier, Boky, Crespin, Amara, von Stade
Original Air Date: 04/10/1971
MOD Audio
SID.20060102
The fall performances went unbroadcast. This 1970/71 Hoffmann was divided between a fall group with Grist, Elias, and Lorengar in the three ladies and the spring offering was Boky, Crespin, and Amara. The excellent Gedda and Bacquier were in both parts of the revival. In the fall performances Grist and Lorengar were excellent. The broadcast does not come until spring, Crespin’s Giulietta while visually dazzling was one rocky ride on the Venetian canal. Amara sang a solid Antonia, but her tone never had the luster of a Lorengar. Boky is similarly lacking compared to Grist. Baudo is no Julius Rudel (among the best conductors I’ve ever heard for Hoffmann) or Chailly, let alone Monteux who originated the production in 1955. What should be mentioned is the strong supporting cast including von Stade as Nicklausse , Velis in the four comic tenor parts, and Paul Franke as an inimitable Spalanzani.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Jones, Morris, Gessendorf, Lakes, Ludwig, Salminen
Original Air Date: 04/03/1993
SID.20060103
This is Gwyneth Jones’ second Walkure Brunnhilde broadcast, her earlier one in 1983 was with Behrens as Sieglinde. This broadcast marks Christa Ludwig’s farewell to the Met in one of her signature roles. Mechthild Gessendorf sings one of the very best broadcast Sieglindes with gleaming tone at the top and a solid rich middle and lower voice. This broadcast is definitely worthy of your attention.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Jones, Morris, Gessendorf, Lakes, Ludwig, Salminen
Original Air Date: 04/03/1993
SID.20060104
This is Gwyneth Jones’ second Walkure Brunnhilde broadcast, her earlier one in 1983 was with Behrens as Sieglinde. This broadcast marks Christa Ludwig’s farewell to the Met in one of her signature roles. Mechthild Gessendorf sings one of the very best broadcast Sieglindes with gleaming tone at the top and a solid rich middle and lower voice. This broadcast is definitely worthy of your attention.
CARMEN:Bizet
Patanè; Crespin, Chauvet, Mitchell, Devlin
Original Air Date: 12/09/1978
SID.20060105
Crespin’s earlier broadcast Carmen is on Met Player with William Lewis replacing the scheduled Domingo, and Henry Lewis conducting. My affection moves more strongly to this performance because it’s a great thrill to have Carmen and Jose sung by two Francophones, and Patane is a very fine conductor we lost much too soon. I am such a partisan of Crespin– she can be a very uneven singer, that I always suggest that you sample and see if this Gallic tang is to your taste. For me, just about always. A highly recommended Carmen.
TOSCA:Puccini
Oren; Holleque, Pavarotti, Pons
Original Air Date: 04/01/1995
SID.20060106
If I’m going to see/hear Pavarotti in Cavaradossi, I prefer the Verrett/MacNeil performance of 17 years earlier which is also in MOoD. 7/18/11 – This is 17 years after Pavarotti’s first Cavaradossi broadcast with Verrett, and he would do it again 4 years after this with Carol Vaness. This performance is on Met Player and the the Verrett telecast is also on MetPlayer.