“LA CENERENTOLA : Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/11/2000
Cast: Campanella; Larmore, Giménez, Alaimo, Corbelli
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180318 Tags: Archive; 2018
This is Larmore’s second Angelina broadcast (the first was 1998 with Levine conducting). Corbelli is the Dandini, and Alaimo the Magnifico. 8 years later Corbelli moves down to Magnifico. A little of this opera goes a long way with me.This is Larmore’s second Angelina broadcast (the first was 1998 with Levine conducting). Corbelli is the Dandini, and Alaimo the Magnifico. 8 years later Corbelli moves down to Magnifico. A little of this opera goes a long way with me,”
“LA TRAVIATA : Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/21/1962
Cast: Strasfogel; Moffo, Morell, Sereni
Media: SID.18180422 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
I’m sure I heard this performance while I was still living in Texas, but despite the visual glamor of Moffo, I find her appeal in this part limited. Along with Albanese (not one of my favorites) with 87, Moffo with her 80 Violettas totally dominate the chronology. Sembrich and Bori are the next two down and by more than two and half dozen. Most Violetta totals at the Met hover between 15 and 25. This is Moffo’s first Violetta
broadcast, so probably her best. Her other two (in different seasons) come in 1967, and I know those performances well.
Although Moffo had a high selling Traviata for RCA, this is the first of her three broadcasts, and the only one that has been on Sirius. I like her commercial, but as early as 1967, vocally I found her compromised (but always with huge E flat). Morell and Sereni are OK, no more.
This is the first of Moffo’s three Violetta broadcasts; the other two are in 1967 (in different seasons). Moffo was a gorgeous Violetta, and very successful. I’m not sure how well it bears up in live performance in an audio only mode, but I’ll give this a try.
As for the other Met broadcast Traviatas, I wish the Met would reach back to the 1935 Ponselle/Tibbett Traviata under Panizza. This has been on private labels for years and exists in good enough sound. Ponselle will not be to everyone’s taste, but I find the duet with Tibbett with Panizza’s masterly support to be of the highest quality. Albanese is the dominant Violetta (with several broadcasts from Sayao none on Sirius), but her only appearance on Sirius is her last Violetta broadcast in 1959. It’s a little late, but since I don’t much care for her Violetta (see Paul Jackson’s analysis of Met broadcasts– he worships Albanese), she is partnered by Valletti, and they make a winning pair.
Two performances which have been on Sirius and are both on Met Player are the Steber with DiStefano and Merrill from 1949 (she’s replacing Sayao and practically doing a lesson in vocal technique and exquisite vocalism) and Tebaldi from 1957, where first act transpositions are mostly irrelevant to one of the most celebrated performances ever. Tebaldi did 21 performances in a single season, and Bing sent her everywhere. If not quite the perfection of the Tosca, this Violetta is quite memorable. Almost worth a Met Player subscription on its own.
Surprisingly, the 1964 Sutherland Violetta has not been on Sirius. This omission should be corrected as part of the Guild’s upcoming memorial to her. I saw her Violetta at least 3 times, and it was one of her most memorable roles. Sutherland is not the only omission that should make its way to Sirius.
I remember Cruz-Romo’s fine 1973 broadcast (very much in the Tebaldi tradition), Rita Shane replacing Sills in 1976 (Wixell’s only Germont broadcast), Maria Chiara in 1977, Malfitano in 1982 (I think the first to do two verses of Addio del passato), Maliponte in 1984 (I don’t remember this performance but she’s a favorite of many on this list including me) 1987 with Tomowa Sintow (again I have no memory, but she’s a singer I remember fondly) and the 2000 broadcast with Gallardo-Domas. While I thought Butterfly too heavy for her, her Violetta is one of the very best,
and this has not made it to Sirius. Sirius has some heavy lifting to do for
Traviata!”
“LA FORZA DEL DESTINO : Verdi
Original Air Date: 11/29/1952
Cast: Stiedry; Milanov, Tucker, Warren, Hines, Miller, Pechner
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180424 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
Here’s Milanov, Tucker, and Warren again and very well cast. This performance is available on Met Player and despite the odd (Bruno Walter) arrangement and cuts brings you a Forza you simply can’t hear today. two Leontyne Price Forzas (one from 1968 with Corelli, and the other from 1972 with Bergonzi whould be rebroadcast. She is very well represented in Sirius but the 1977 with Domingo and the 1984 video
do not show her as well as the earlier broadcasts.
This performance is available in MOoD, and with good reason. At pretty much close to their best, one of the strongest Forza casts in the postwar period.
All four of Milanov’s Forza broadcasts (all with Sitedry conducting)
have been on Sirius, and this, the earliest has also appeared in
MOoD. Despite the cuts and re-arrangement, when this performance
concludes you know you’ve heard Forza. Tucker and Warren make very
challenging parts sound almost easy. Hines is not as impressive as
Siepi, but he toweres over what passes for most bass singing today.”
“DAS RHEINGOLD : Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/27/1951
Cast: Stiedry; Hotter, Harshaw, Svanholm, Davidson, Hines, Ernster
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180425 Tags: Archive; 2018, Wagner
Hans Hotter’s MET debut season This performance is taken from the Wagner at the Met CD box set.
I have not heard this broadcast, but the chief vocal interest lies in
Hotter’s broadcast of Wotan one of only two Ring performances he broadcast from the Met; the other was Hunding (not Wotan) in Walkure in 1954. Branzell returns to the Met after a 7 year absence and moves down from Fricka to Erda, appearing in 2 Rheingolds and 3 Siegfrieds in 1951. Her Met career spans 27 years from 1924 to 1951 and 412 performances.
Paul Jackson in his survey of Met broadcasts is not enamored of Stiedry’s conducting. I still hope this means we will hear the rest of the 1951 Ring on Sirius soon (which includes Traubel’s Siegfried & Gotterdammerung Brunnhildes; Jackson is especially fond of her Siegfried even though she omits the few Bs and Cs of the role..*”
“LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT : Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/28/1940
Cast: Papi; Pons, Jobin, Petina, Baccaloni
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180426 Tags: Archive; 2018
This performance has also been issued in the Sony Historical CD series from the Met. The surprise was that this was Pons’ only Met broadcast of Marie– she has 13 Lucia broadcasts!!!!! This broadcast is her first time in the part at the Met (Broadcast production premieres were not common prior to Gelb) She was a huge Met star. She was my 3d Lucia (Callas and Sutherland first); that Fort Worth Lucia was not the way to remember her. Generally I don’t find Fille as strong a work as either Don Pasquale or L’Elisir d’Amore.
***
This is not only the incomparable Lily Pons’s first performance in Donizetti’s comic opera at the Met; it is her only broadcast as Marie. Equal parts dazzling singer and romping tomboy, she is totally charming. No wonder Time magazine put her on its cover. Salvatore Baccaloni is Sergeant Sulpice and Raoul Jobin is the man who steals Pons’s heart. In this famous World War II-era broadcast Pons interpolates “La Marseillaise” at the end—bringing a cheering Met audience to its feet.”
“ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA : Barber
Original Air Date: 09/16/1966
Cast: Schippers; Díaz, Price, Thomas, Flagello, Elias
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180427 Tags: Archive; 2018
From MOD: Expectations were high when the Metropolitan Opera announced that the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra would christen its new house at Lincoln Center in the fall of 1966—a suitably grand work based on Shakespeare’s tragedy and written specifically for Leontyne Price as Cleopatra. A singer himself, the composer knew Price’s voice and what it could do, shaping his conception of the opera’s heroine around this iconic American diva.
The 26-year-old Puerto Rican–born bass Justino Díaz starred alongside Price as Antony while Ezio Flagello portrayed Antony’s friend Enobarbus. Tenor Jess Thomas brought his heroic presence to the role of Octavius Caesar, and the beloved mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, already a Met veteran in her 30s, sang the role of Cleopatra’s attendant Charmian.
Thanks to a Texaco–Metropolitan Opera Radio Network broadcast from the opera’s world premiere, this indelible piece of Met history has been preserved for generations.
***
This is the opening of the new Met at Lincoln Center and the world premiere of the opera. Leontyne never sang better than this night, and luckily it is well preserved for all to hear. Lady Bird Johnson and Imelda Marcos were among the dignitaries that night”
“DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN : Strauss
Original Air Date: 12/09/1989
Cast: Perick; Meier, Schunk, Martin, Courtney, Dernesch
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180428 Tags: Archive; 2018, Strauss
The big gap is Courtney being a late fill-in for Weikl as Barak. Dernesch finds some tough sledding in a lot of the Nurse’s part. I love the work, and Perick works hard. Though Johanna Meier is no Rysanek or Marton, she still has her moments. Listening to the COMPLETE performance under Jurowski from last season finds the Met and Frau particularly congenial partners. Maybe this is a minor hommage to Janis Martin who recently passed away, and so far as I can tell got no paid obituary from the Met in the NYTimes [rechecked this afternoon and still so]”
“BILLY BUDD : Britten
Original Air Date: 04/04/1992
Cast: Mackerras; Hampson, Clark, Morris, Held, Courtney
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180529 Tags: Archive; 2018
Morris has sung almost every Claggart in the production and it is one of his best parts. Hampson isn’t always ideal as an innocent, but he’s a fine musician and the cast under Mackerras is top drawer. There is also an excellent Met video of the production with Dwayne Croft on MOoD.”
“OTELLO : Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/11/1967
Cast: Mehta; Caballé, McCracken, Gobbi, Lorenzi
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180532 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
This is the first Otello broadcast from the new house at Lincoln
Center, and I attended an earlier performance in the run. Caballe is very fine in the fourth act, but earlier acts do not find her fully engaged. McCracken and Gobbi are fully engaged from first note, and Mehta is a solid participant. Sirius continues to deprive us of Tebaldi’s 1955 and 1958 Desdemonas which capture her (especially 1955) in remarkable voice. This performance is available in Met Opera on Demand (MOoD)
and definitely worth your time.
1/16/12 – I remember this revival well, but in the house and on the airwaves, it was certainly strongly performed by all. This is Caballe’s first broadcast from the Met, and McCracken, Gobbi and Mehta are wonderful partners. Compared to some other Desdemonas, I found her a little short until Act Four, but in the final act she was on all eight cylinders. I love the chemistry of McCracken and Gobbi. This fine performance is available on MetPlayer also.
There never was a tenor quite like James McCracken—a veritable force of nature vocally, he fought his way to an international career that would come to be dominated by his seething portrayal of the title role of Verdi’s Otello. In this March 11, 1967, broadcast conducted by Zubin Mehta, McCracken’s finely sung Otello rages with a raw-nerve fury but also brings heroic tenderness to the love duet and his final moments. Montserrat Caballé’s singing, regal in its beauty throughout, gives way to towering passion in Desdemona’s clash with Otello in Act III. Tito Gobbi is utter, impeccable evil as Iago, heard in the savage glee he finally takes in hurling Cassio’s name, like a knife, at Otello at the end of Act II.”
“LA BOHÈME : Puccini
Original Air Date: 03/17/1951
Cast: Cleva; Sayão, Di Stefano, Hunt, Valdengo, Siepi
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180534 Tags: Archive; 2018, Puccini
The oldest BOHEME in the MOD catalog, it’s Siepi’s debut MET season.
Although Sayao is Brazilian, she is certainly at one with the idiom and the luxury of Di Stefano, Valdengo, and Siepi among the Bohemians is pleasure indeed. Paul Jackson in his survey of Met broadcasts isn’t thrilled with Cleva, but listening to the MOoD is quite a dose of sunshine, and the sound for a 65 year old broadcast is quite clear. I haven’t heard a better Boheme in quite some time, yet Sirius gave it a 2 year rest. Welcome back.”
“LA CENERENTOLA : Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/11/2000
Cast: Campanella; Larmore, Giménez, Alaimo, Corbelli
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180535 Tags: Archive; 2018
This is Larmore’s second Angelina broadcast (the first was 1998 with Levine conducting). Corbelli is the Dandini, and Alaimo the Magnifico. 8 years later Corbelli moves down to Magnifico. A little of this opera goes a long way with me.This is Larmore’s second Angelina broadcast (the first was 1998 with Levine conducting). Corbelli is the Dandini, and Alaimo the Magnifico. 8 years later Corbelli moves down to Magnifico. A little of this opera goes a long way with me,”
“DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN : Strauss
Original Air Date: 12/09/1989
Cast: Perick; Meier, Schunk, Martin, Courtney, Dernesch
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180637 Tags: Archive; 2018, Strauss
The big gap is Courtney being a late fill-in for Weikl as Barak. Dernesch finds some tough sledding in a lot of the Nurse’s part. I love the work, and Perick works hard. Though Johanna Meier is no Rysanek or Marton, she still has her moments. Listening to the COMPLETE performance under Jurowski from last season finds the Met and Frau particularly congenial partners. Maybe this is a minor hommage to Janis Martin who recently passed away, and so far as I can tell got no paid obituary from the Met in the NYTimes [rechecked this afternoon and still so]”
“ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA : Barber
Original Air Date: 09/16/1966
Cast: Schippers; Díaz, Price, Thomas, Flagello, Elias
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180743 Tags: Archive; 2018
From MOD: Expectations were high when the Metropolitan Opera announced that the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra would christen its new house at Lincoln Center in the fall of 1966—a suitably grand work based on Shakespeare’s tragedy and written specifically for Leontyne Price as Cleopatra. A singer himself, the composer knew Price’s voice and what it could do, shaping his conception of the opera’s heroine around this iconic American diva.
The 26-year-old Puerto Rican–born bass Justino Díaz starred alongside Price as Antony while Ezio Flagello portrayed Antony’s friend Enobarbus. Tenor Jess Thomas brought his heroic presence to the role of Octavius Caesar, and the beloved mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, already a Met veteran in her 30s, sang the role of Cleopatra’s attendant Charmian.
Thanks to a Texaco–Metropolitan Opera Radio Network broadcast from the opera’s world premiere, this indelible piece of Met history has been preserved for generations.
***
This is the opening of the new Met at Lincoln Center and the world premiere of the opera. Leontyne never sang better than this night, and luckily it is well preserved for all to hear. Lady Bird Johnson and Imelda Marcos were among the dignitaries that night”
“BILLY BUDD : Britten
Original Air Date: 04/04/1992
Cast: Mackerras; Hampson, Clark, Morris, Held, Courtney
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180744 Tags: Archive; 2018
Morris has sung almost every Claggart in the production and it is one of his best parts. Hampson isn’t always ideal as an innocent, but he’s a fine musician and the cast under Mackerras is top drawer. There is also an excellent Met video of the production with Dwayne Croft on MOoD.”
“LA CENERENTOLA : Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/11/2000
Cast: Campanella; Larmore, Giménez, Alaimo, Corbelli
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180745 Tags: Archive; 2018
This is Larmore’s second Angelina broadcast (the first was 1998 with Levine conducting). Corbelli is the Dandini, and Alaimo the Magnifico. 8 years later Corbelli moves down to Magnifico. A little of this opera goes a long way with me.This is Larmore’s second Angelina broadcast (the first was 1998 with Levine conducting). Corbelli is the Dandini, and Alaimo the Magnifico. 8 years later Corbelli moves down to Magnifico. A little of this opera goes a long way with me,”
“OTELLO : Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/11/1967
Cast: Mehta; Caballé, McCracken, Gobbi, Lorenzi
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180748 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
This is the first Otello broadcast from the new house at Lincoln
Center, and I attended an earlier performance in the run. Caballe is very fine in the fourth act, but earlier acts do not find her fully engaged. McCracken and Gobbi are fully engaged from first note, and Mehta is a solid participant. Sirius continues to deprive us of Tebaldi’s 1955 and 1958 Desdemonas which capture her (especially 1955) in remarkable voice. This performance is available in Met Opera on Demand (MOoD)
and definitely worth your time.
1/16/12 – I remember this revival well, but in the house and on the airwaves, it was certainly strongly performed by all. This is Caballe’s first broadcast from the Met, and McCracken, Gobbi and Mehta are wonderful partners. Compared to some other Desdemonas, I found her a little short until Act Four, but in the final act she was on all eight cylinders. I love the chemistry of McCracken and Gobbi. This fine performance is available on MetPlayer also.
There never was a tenor quite like James McCracken—a veritable force of nature vocally, he fought his way to an international career that would come to be dominated by his seething portrayal of the title role of Verdi’s Otello. In this March 11, 1967, broadcast conducted by Zubin Mehta, McCracken’s finely sung Otello rages with a raw-nerve fury but also brings heroic tenderness to the love duet and his final moments. Montserrat Caballé’s singing, regal in its beauty throughout, gives way to towering passion in Desdemona’s clash with Otello in Act III. Tito Gobbi is utter, impeccable evil as Iago, heard in the savage glee he finally takes in hurling Cassio’s name, like a knife, at Otello at the end of Act II.”
“LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT : Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/28/1940
Cast: Papi; Pons, Jobin, Petina, Baccaloni
Media: MOD Audio SID.18180749 Tags: Archive; 2018
This performance has also been issued in the Sony Historical CD series from the Met. The surprise was that this was Pons’ only Met broadcast of Marie– she has 13 Lucia broadcasts!!!!! This broadcast is her first time in the part at the Met (Broadcast production premieres were not common prior to Gelb) She was a huge Met star. She was my 3d Lucia (Callas and Sutherland first); that Fort Worth Lucia was not the way to remember her. Generally I don’t find Fille as strong a work as either Don Pasquale or L’Elisir d’Amore.
***
This is not only the incomparable Lily Pons’s first performance in Donizetti’s comic opera at the Met; it is her only broadcast as Marie. Equal parts dazzling singer and romping tomboy, she is totally charming. No wonder Time magazine put her on its cover. Salvatore Baccaloni is Sergeant Sulpice and Raoul Jobin is the man who steals Pons’s heart. In this famous World War II-era broadcast Pons interpolates “La Marseillaise” at the end—bringing a cheering Met audience to its feet.”
“FAUST : Gounod
Original Air Date: 01/04/1964
Cast: Cleva; Morell, Moffo, Siepi, Ruzdak, Martin
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190209 Tags: Archive; 2018
Siepi is the outstanding contribution here. He has 6 Mephisto broadcasts, but still missing from the Sirius/MOoD roster are the 2 Bjorlings from 1950 and 1959, and 1969 with Lorengar, Gedda, and Merrill. The recently deceased (fall 2013) Janis Martin is featured in this 1964 performance before her move to Europe and starring roles.”
“LE NOZZE DI FIGARO : Mozart
Original Air Date: 04/22/2006
Cast: Wigglesworth; Relyea, Rost, Isokoski, Mattei, Coote
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190210 Tags: Archive; 2018, Mozart
Interesting casting for Nozze di Figaro and Isokoski’s last week at the Met. I thought her a very fine singer, but she’s no spring chicken. Mattei is an excellent Count.”
“RIGOLETTO : Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/08/1967
Cast: Gardelli; MacNeil, Gedda, Peters, Giaiotti, Amparan
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190211 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
MacNeil made his Met debut as Rigoletto in 1959, his overwhelming performance an instant sensation. With a silvery, pinpoint voice, Peters had become virtually the Met’s resident lyric soprano and would go on to sing 88 performances of Gilda with the company, more than any other artist. This was one of only five performances Gedda gave as the Duke at the Met.
Review of Fred Kirby in Billboard – MacNeil Is Outstanding In the Met’s Rigoletto
Cornell MacNeil, cast in the title role of Rigoletto, definitely is the outstanding singer in this season’s performances of the Verdi warhorse at the Metropolitan Opera. MacNeil’s rich baritone made up for some spotty singing by other principals last Saturday (19). An exception was Bonaldi Giaiotti’s Sparafucile, which was a tower of strength. Giaiotti clearly is one of the company’s most dependable artists.
Roberta Peters, as sweet a Gilda as ever, sang prettily, but sounded thin in spots, especially the Caro nome ending, while John Alexander, the possessor of a rich lyric tenor voice, seemed more interested in demonstrating it than in portraying the Duke. This was really evident at the ending of La donna e mobile, when he lost Lamberto Gardelli, an experienced operatic conductor leading the opera for the first time at the Met this season.
The opera house’s wealth of basses again was apparent in the fine job by Raymond Michalski in the small, but important role of Monterone. Nedda Cassei again was a competent Maddalena. The serviceable production seemed at home in the new house, but, MacNeil, in his two arias and in duets, was the afternoon’s star. What a voice!The Metropolitan Opera recently lost one of its most cherished artists, soprano Roberta Peters, who passed away in January at the age of 86. Peters graced the Met stage for 515 performances over 35 years, specializing in lyric coloratura roles to which her silvery voice brought a special radiance. Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM celebrates her remarkable contribution to the company with a pair of special broadcasts that feature Peters in two of her signature roles. The first, a newly remastered 1967 performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte from the Met’s inaugural season at its new home in Lincoln Center, captures her dazzling interpretation of the Queen of the Night. The second, the Sirius premiere of a broadcast recorded just a month later, offers a glimpse of Peters as Gilda in Rigoletto, a role she sang more times at the Met than any other artist in the company’s history.”
“NABUCCO : Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/03/1960
Cast: Schippers; MacNeil, Rysanek, Siepi, Fernandi
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190315 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
MacNeil and Siepi are both excellent in the Met’s first Nabucco production. Rysanek gives her all, but really not the right match of voice and role for her.
One does not hear the lead male roles sung like this anymore.
This performance has also been reissued in the Met’s Verdi bicentennial CD box. In fact, this broadcast from a single season was Nabucco’s only presence in the Met repertoire until early 2000.”
“RUSALKA : Dvorák
Original Air Date: 12/11/1993
Cast: Fiore; Benacková, Heppner, Martin, Toczyska, Koptchak
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190321 Tags: Archive; 2018
This is from the first Met season for Rusalka and Benackova is a worthy heroine. For the broadcast a young Ben Heppner is the Prince replacing Neil Rosenshein. There is a later broadcast with Fleming and Antonenko which I don’t remember so well and would love to hear again. Zajick did the Jezibaba premiere but ceded the broadcast to Toczyska who is a very fine artist. I love the work, and never miss a chance to hear.
8/25/14 – This is from the first Met season for Rusalka and Benackova is a worthy heroine. For the broadcast a young Ben Heppner is the Prince
replacing Neil Rosenshein. There is a later broadcast with Fleming and Antonenko which I don’t remember so well and would love to hear again. Zajick did the Jezibaba premiere but ceded the broadcast to Toczyska who is very fine artist. I love the work, and never miss a chance to hear.
3/4/14 – This is quite a wonderful performance with Benackova, Heppner, and Koptchak especially strong. I love Rusalka and this premiere Met season of it, the ensemble is of high quality. This is a performance that belongs in MOoD.
9/11/12 – I love Rusalka, and this is its only broadcast until Fleming’s 2009 run where three performances were on Sirius, and one of them was in the matinee series on the Met International network. Belohlavek is an authentic conductor, but I think Fiore does just fine with his excellently prepared cast.
11/22/11 – I love the music in Rusalka and this is the Met’s first season with it. Martin is the only one less than excellent, but the Foreign Princess is a very awkwardly written role, so not all the blame goes to her. Even if some of the names are unknown to you, they are well up to the considerable vocal demands.
7/5/11 – Benackova was the first broadcast Rusalka at the Met, and this performance captures her very well. Heppner early in his Met career is on fine form as is the lesser known Koptchak as the Water Sprite. Martin is a bit tested as the Foreign Princess– a very difficult part, no one makes it sound easy. Still, a lovely opera in a fine performance, and this is well deserving being added to the Met Player repertory besides its visibility on Sirius.
1/17/11 – Benackova to the manner born, and early Heppner. Toczyska and Koptchak really on top of things as well. Love this work.”
“FAUST : Gounod
Original Air Date: 01/04/1964
Cast: Cleva; Morell, Moffo, Siepi, Ruzdak, Martin
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190425 Tags: Archive; 2018
Siepi is the outstanding contribution here. He has 6 Mephisto broadcasts, but still missing from the Sirius/MOoD roster are the 2 Bjorlings from 1950 and 1959, and 1969 with Lorengar, Gedda, and Merrill. The recently deceased (fall 2013) Janis Martin is featured in this 1964 performance before her move to Europe and starring roles.”
“LE NOZZE DI FIGARO : Mozart
Original Air Date: 04/22/2006
Cast: Wigglesworth; Relyea, Rost, Isokoski, Mattei, Coote
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190426 Tags: Archive; 2018, Mozart
Interesting casting for Nozze di Figaro and Isokoski’s last week at the Met. I thought her a very fine singer, but she’s no spring chicken. Mattei is an excellent Count.”
“RIGOLETTO : Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/08/1967
Cast: Gardelli; MacNeil, Gedda, Peters, Giaiotti, Amparan
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190427 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
MacNeil made his Met debut as Rigoletto in 1959, his overwhelming performance an instant sensation. With a silvery, pinpoint voice, Peters had become virtually the Met’s resident lyric soprano and would go on to sing 88 performances of Gilda with the company, more than any other artist. This was one of only five performances Gedda gave as the Duke at the Met.
Review of Fred Kirby in Billboard – MacNeil Is Outstanding In the Met’s Rigoletto
Cornell MacNeil, cast in the title role of Rigoletto, definitely is the outstanding singer in this season’s performances of the Verdi warhorse at the Metropolitan Opera. MacNeil’s rich baritone made up for some spotty singing by other principals last Saturday (19). An exception was Bonaldi Giaiotti’s Sparafucile, which was a tower of strength. Giaiotti clearly is one of the company’s most dependable artists.
Roberta Peters, as sweet a Gilda as ever, sang prettily, but sounded thin in spots, especially the Caro nome ending, while John Alexander, the possessor of a rich lyric tenor voice, seemed more interested in demonstrating it than in portraying the Duke. This was really evident at the ending of La donna e mobile, when he lost Lamberto Gardelli, an experienced operatic conductor leading the opera for the first time at the Met this season.
The opera house’s wealth of basses again was apparent in the fine job by Raymond Michalski in the small, but important role of Monterone. Nedda Cassei again was a competent Maddalena. The serviceable production seemed at home in the new house, but, MacNeil, in his two arias and in duets, was the afternoon’s star. What a voice!The Metropolitan Opera recently lost one of its most cherished artists, soprano Roberta Peters, who passed away in January at the age of 86. Peters graced the Met stage for 515 performances over 35 years, specializing in lyric coloratura roles to which her silvery voice brought a special radiance. Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM celebrates her remarkable contribution to the company with a pair of special broadcasts that feature Peters in two of her signature roles. The first, a newly remastered 1967 performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte from the Met’s inaugural season at its new home in Lincoln Center, captures her dazzling interpretation of the Queen of the Night. The second, the Sirius premiere of a broadcast recorded just a month later, offers a glimpse of Peters as Gilda in Rigoletto, a role she sang more times at the Met than any other artist in the company’s history.”
“CARMEN : Bizet
Original Air Date: 03/15/1941
Cast: Pelletier; Swarthout, Kullman, Albanese, Warren
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190530 Tags: Archive; 2018
This performance is on MOoD. Swarthout was certainly a media creation of the 30s and 40s and lasted into the 50s as an occasional panelist on What’s my line? When I was first listening to older generation singers, I kept hearing from friends that she had a glamorous reputation (she’s in 5 Paramount films). Whatever the appeal then, my ears never heard much.
Albanese and Warren are heard in less familiar roles. Warren does not do Escamillo after 1944, and Albanese has no Met Micaelas after 1949. There are many Met performances from the 40s more deserving than this one, but it has its curiosities.”
“NABUCCO : Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/03/1960
Cast: Schippers; MacNeil, Rysanek, Siepi, Fernandi
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190531 Tags: Archive; 2018, Verdi
MacNeil and Siepi are both excellent in the Met’s first Nabucco production. Rysanek gives her all, but really not the right match of voice and role for her.
One does not hear the lead male roles sung like this anymore.
This performance has also been reissued in the Met’s Verdi bicentennial CD box. In fact, this broadcast from a single season was Nabucco’s only presence in the Met repertoire until early 2000.”
“RUSALKA : Dvorák
Original Air Date: 12/11/1993
Cast: Fiore; Benacková, Heppner, Martin, Toczyska, Koptchak
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190638 Tags: Archive; 2018
This is from the first Met season for Rusalka and Benackova is a worthy heroine. For the broadcast a young Ben Heppner is the Prince replacing Neil Rosenshein. There is a later broadcast with Fleming and Antonenko which I don’t remember so well and would love to hear again. Zajick did the Jezibaba premiere but ceded the broadcast to Toczyska who is a very fine artist. I love the work, and never miss a chance to hear.
8/25/14 – This is from the first Met season for Rusalka and Benackova is a worthy heroine. For the broadcast a young Ben Heppner is the Prince
replacing Neil Rosenshein. There is a later broadcast with Fleming and Antonenko which I don’t remember so well and would love to hear again. Zajick did the Jezibaba premiere but ceded the broadcast to Toczyska who is very fine artist. I love the work, and never miss a chance to hear.
3/4/14 – This is quite a wonderful performance with Benackova, Heppner, and Koptchak especially strong. I love Rusalka and this premiere Met season of it, the ensemble is of high quality. This is a performance that belongs in MOoD.
9/11/12 – I love Rusalka, and this is its only broadcast until Fleming’s 2009 run where three performances were on Sirius, and one of them was in the matinee series on the Met International network. Belohlavek is an authentic conductor, but I think Fiore does just fine with his excellently prepared cast.
11/22/11 – I love the music in Rusalka and this is the Met’s first season with it. Martin is the only one less than excellent, but the Foreign Princess is a very awkwardly written role, so not all the blame goes to her. Even if some of the names are unknown to you, they are well up to the considerable vocal demands.
7/5/11 – Benackova was the first broadcast Rusalka at the Met, and this performance captures her very well. Heppner early in his Met career is on fine form as is the lesser known Koptchak as the Water Sprite. Martin is a bit tested as the Foreign Princess– a very difficult part, no one makes it sound easy. Still, a lovely opera in a fine performance, and this is well deserving being added to the Met Player repertory besides its visibility on Sirius.
1/17/11 – Benackova to the manner born, and early Heppner. Toczyska and Koptchak really on top of things as well. Love this work.”
“FAUST : Gounod
Original Air Date: 01/04/1964
Cast: Cleva; Morell, Moffo, Siepi, Ruzdak, Martin
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190641 Tags: Archive; 2018
Siepi is the outstanding contribution here. He has 6 Mephisto broadcasts, but still missing from the Sirius/MOoD roster are the 2 Bjorlings from 1950 and 1959, and 1969 with Lorengar, Gedda, and Merrill. The recently deceased (fall 2013) Janis Martin is featured in this 1964 performance before her move to Europe and starring roles.”
“LE NOZZE DI FIGARO : Mozart
Original Air Date: 04/22/2006
Cast: Wigglesworth; Relyea, Rost, Isokoski, Mattei, Coote
Media: MOD Audio SID.18190642 Tags: Archive; 2018, Mozart
Interesting casting for Nozze di Figaro and Isokoski’s last week at the Met. I thought her a very fine singer, but she’s no spring chicken. Mattei is an excellent Count.”