THE MAKROPULOS CASE:Janácek
Original Air Date: 01/20/1996
Robertson; Norman, Clark, Hagegård, McIntyre
SID.19310213
This was the cursed production which premiered the opera at the Met a few weeks earlier, and was stopped in minutes due to the death of Richard Versalle. The English version is by Moshinsky (the director), Robertson When the opera is revived two years later, it is in Czech with Malfitano and Mackerras conducting. Norman is sui generis, and so is her performance of this part. This is the premiere season for Makropulos with Norman filling out the Janacek lines (in an English translation partially attributed to her). She sings gloriously, even if it misses some of the angularity inherent in the score. This is one broadcast in a translation that regularly makes it to the airwaves if not MOoD.
IDOMENEO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 02/25/1989
Stivender; Jerusalem, Martin, Griffel, Quittmeyer, Lewis
SID.19310214
This broadcast finds Siegfried Jerusalem in unfamiliar repertoire, and less stellar than usual casting surrounding him. Of greater interest in my view is the 1991 broadcast with Heppner partnered by Upshaw, Mentzer, and especially Vaness as Elettra in one of Levine’s signature operas. This 1991 performance is on MOoD. Not nearly as strong as the original production under Levine. Stivender is a lamented former chorus master. Marvis Martin now sings in the Met Chorus after spending a decade or more as a lyric soprano soloist at the Met. Stivender was a much beloved chorus master and sometime conductor., who died in 1990. Jerusalem, a marquee name in Wagner roles, is tested by the Idomeneo, and has hefty competition from Pavarotti, Domingo, and Heppner among others.
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 01/15/1977
Woitach; Sills, Gedda, Edwards, Flagello
SID.19310315
This broadcast captures Sills mid-way in her four year Met career. Would be nice to hear Gedda eight years earlier (2/1/1969) with Moffo and Bruson and Giaiotti which is one of the strongest male contingents for Lucia (Charles Anthony is the Arturo). but glad to be able to hear Sills for a change instead of the overplayed Sutherland/Tucker 1966 performance. still prefer to hear Gedda nine years earlier with Moffo from Feb. 1, 1969, which alas is also not on MOoD nor been rebroadcast by Sirius.
LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS / LE ROSSIGNOL / OEDIPUS REX:Stravinsky
Original Air Date: 02/21/2004
Gergiev; Trifonova, Banks, Zifchak / Forbis, Blythe, Nikitin
SID.19310316
The Stravinsky evening as originally done by Levine with Hockney designs and Dexter direction was not as big a hit as the French evening, Parade, from Dexter and Hockney, but I prefer this to Rake’s Progress. Gergiev has a distinctive take on Stravinsky and always worth a listen in the Russian repertoire.
IOLANTA / BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE:Tchaikovsky/Bartók
Original Air Date: 02/09/2019
Nanasi; Yoncheva, Polenzani, Markov, Azizov, Kowaljow, Denoke, Finley
SID.19310535
Mariusz Treliński’s haunting production of the pairing of Tchaikovsky’s and Bartók’s one-act operas makes its first return to the stage since its Met premiere in the 2014–15 season. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva—following her triumphant 2017–18 performances as Tosca—is the blind princess, Iolanta, who discovers love for the first time, opposite tenor Matthew Polenzani as the dashing knight Vaudémont. In Bartók’s chilling Bluebeard’s Castle, baritone Gerald Finley is the menacing Bluebeard, and soprano Angela Denoke is his initially unsuspecting new wife. Henrik Nánási conducts. Co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera Production a gift of Ambassador and Mrs. Nicholas F. Taubman; Additional funding from Mrs. Veronica Atkins; Dr. Magdalena Berenyi, in memory of Dr. Kalman Berenyi; and the National Endowment for the Arts
LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 03/02/2019
Mazzola; Yende, Blythe, Camarena, Corbelli, Muraro
Live in HD SID.19359996
Tenor Javier Camarena and soprano Pretty Yende team up for a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks—including the show-stopping tenor aria “Ah! Mes amis … Pour mon âme,” with its nine high Cs. Alessandro Corbelli and Maurizio Muraro trade off as the comic Sergeant Sulpice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield. And in an exciting piece of casting, stage and screen icon Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut in the speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp. Enrique Mazzola conducts. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; and the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna
LES TROYENS:Berlioz
Original Air Date: 02/18/1984
Levine; Norman, Sooter, Monk, Taillon, Plishka, Ahlstedt
MOD Audio SID.19330102
Norman repeated Verrett’s double assumption on this broadcast (Verrett’s was for the opening of the production in 1973 when Ludwig was indisposed–I was there, quite an evening). I rather prefer Norman’s Didon to her Cassandre, but this broadcast now takes its place in MOoD. Enee is close to an impossible part, but Sooter is no worse than Ronald Dowd was in Boston for Caldwell.
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/20/1993
Marin; Norman, Moser, Swenson, Mentzer, Stewart, Oswald
MOD Audio SID.19330104
For my money Jessye Norman is much better in her two earlier broadcasts (the first with Andrew Davis conducting, the second with Levine and subsequently telecast). Moser is not my preferred Bacchus, but Swenson featuring more of a lyric Zerbinetta (a la Guden) is very fine. This is Norman’s last Ariadne broadcast and in the new production for her. See the 1988 video (which is on DVD from DG) with Troyanos and Battle under Levine. Norman five years earlier under Levine has a sterling broadcast and telecast with King, Troyanos, and Battle.
DAS RHEINGOLD:Wagner
Original Air Date: 02/22/1969
von Karajan; Adam, Reynolds, Stolze, Kelemen, Talvela, Ridderbusch
MOD Audio SID.19330105
One of Karajan’s only 2 broadcasts. This performance is available in MOoD, and if Adam is far from my favorite Wotan, Reynolds, Kelemen and Stolze are wonderful as Fricka, Alberich, and Loge respectively. Reynolds replaced Veasey who was will, and also sing Flosshilde (her originally scheduled role) with Shirley Love picking up the Rhinemaiden in the final scene. Milnes is an excellent Donner. I was in the theatre for this very special performance and still have wonderful memories of it. Karajan’s Met farewell is the following Saturday with the Walkure broadcast.
CARMEN:Bizet
Original Air Date: 03/23/1996
Levine; Graves, Margison, Vallarroel, Leiferkus
SID.19330106
While Levine had done the fall series of performances (which includes Graves’ debut), Fiore did the whole spring series culminating in this broadcast. I double checked against the Archives. Graves was an especially attractive Carmen visually, but musically I felt she played too many of her trumps in the early acts. This is not the cast I would create were I the casting director despite Graves’ considerable physical appeal. I don’t understand the appeal of this performance. Levine is not my favorite Carmen conductor, and this cast does not have much to recommend it.
ORFEO ED EURIDICE:Gluck
Original Air Date: 01/09/1971
Bonynge; Bumbry, Tucci, Peters
SID.19330107
Bumbry premiered this final Rolf Gerard designed production complete in Courreges boots. She is in luscious voice for this, but how Gluckian one finds it might leave some of the more scholarly oriented very disappointed. When Mackerras arrived for a revival with Marilyn Horne we were in a different, but not necessarily more successful one. For the record, Gerard was the designer for the Webster Don Carlo, the Alfred Lunt Cosi Fan Tutte, the Peter Brook Faust, the Tyrone Guthrie Carmen, and the Garson Kanin Fledermaus among 20 productions over a 20 year period (only 2 in the 2 house– Romeo and this Orfeo). These productions rank among the great successes of the Bing regime. This is the premiere cast in a Rolf Gerard production (so out of ideas), but Bumbry is in luscious voice, if not your standard issue Orfeo. Why oh why is her effort not in MOoD?
somewhat better performance which is available on MOoD and on Sony Historical CD. [1/6/14]
COSÌ FAN TUTTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 01/20/1990
Levine; Mims, Hadley, Troyanos, Hampson, Hong, Van Allan
MOD Audio SID.19330209
This performance is notable as Troyanos’ only Met season as Dorabella, and the same holds true for Hampson’s Guglielmo. She has a well regarded RCA recording from 1968 (!!!) very early in her career. I find Levine at his most inspired in Mozart, and especially so in Cosi. It will be his return opera to the Met next season and is scheduled for Live in HD. The ensemble is well drilled. Worth a listen. Updated note : Sirius subscribers have heard Levine’s return in Cosi already with the matinee broadcast and Live in HD to come in March 2014. I thought Levine lived up to his considerable reputation in the fall Cosis.
SIMON BOCCANEGRA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/30/1965
Cleva; Colzani, Tebaldi, Shirley, Hines, Díaz
SID.19330210
This is Tebaldi’s final Met Amelia, but the Met still has not broadcast her 1961 effort nor the 1974 performance with Wixell as the Doge along with Tucker, Maliponte, Tozzi under Ehrling. For her final outing in this role Tebaldi still brings a lot of her vocal sheen.
MADAMA BUTTERFLY:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/15/1956
Mitropoulos; Albanese, Barioni, Elias, Brownlee, De Paolis
SID.19330211
No one surpasses Farrar’s 139 Cio Cio Sans (!!!!!!), and Dorothy Kirsten makes for a close third behind Albanese with 68, but Licia’s 72 firmly puts her at number 2. Generally I like her Butterfly more than her Violetta, and Mitropoulos gives excellent direction from the pit. Her last Butterfly broadcast is 2 years later under Leinsdorf.
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN:Strauss
Original Air Date: 04/01/1978
Böhm; Rysanek, King, Schröder-Feinen, Berry, Dunn
MOD Audio SID.19330212
This is the last of the 4 Bohm broadcasts starting in 1966 all with Rysanek and Berry; 3 of the 4 are with King, but the first three feature Ludwig and Dalis in their parts; Schroder-Feinen and Dunn are first rate presences as well. It is a shame that the 1966 premiere season and 1971 performances which have been on Sirius with some regularity have not made their way to MOoD. The 1969 broadcast is reported in the MetDatabase as having been on Sirius, but according to my records it has not been broadcast in the last four years. as has the 1971 Unfortunately Bohm never came close to the near completeness of his 1955 Decca recording at the Met, and a steady increase of cuts came with each revival. NEVERTHELESS, one could do much worse than hear one of the great Straussian ensembles he held together for over 2 decades in New York. Frau’s best moments are right up there with Ariadne, Elektra, and Rosenkavalier, and the weaker stuff is better than the weaker Rosenkavalier pages.
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 01/23/1960
Leinsdorf; Siepi, Söderström, Della Casa, Borg, Miller
MOD Audio SID.19330213
This performance has been on before, and chiefly notable for Siepi’s Figaro and Soderstroem’s Susanna. Soderstroem and Borg had made their debuts when this production premiered a few months before the broadcast with largely the same cast. Leinsdorf is second only to Levine in number of Figaro performances, Della Casa at 47 second only to Steber’s 55 Countesses and of course Siepi’s 79 Figaros, almost twice Pinza’s number and Mildred Miller at 61 holds the Met record for Cherubino. So solid performances all around, not least from relative newcomer Soderstrom as Susanna. There are many fine Figaros today, but I do miss Siepi’s combination of elegance and rich dark sound.
LA JUIVE:Halévy
Original Air Date: 12/13/2003
Viotti; Isokoski, Shicoff, Futral, Cutler, Furlanetto
MOD Audio SID.19330214
Viotti died only a year or so after premiering the Juive. He was a real talent, and Shicoff, Isokoski and Furlanetto all bring their considerable talents in a production transferred from Vienna. This is the Met’s first season since the mid 1930s and its only broadcast to date. Some early 1930s operas were broadcast but don’t exist. La Juive was never broadcast until 2003.
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN:Offenbach
Original Air Date: 02/05/1983
Rudel; Riegel, Devlin, Bradley, Cortez, Malfitano, Catania, Atherton
SID.19330315
This is not an ideal cast, but I have appended James Atherton who does the comic tenor quartet of roles. He was a fine singer lost much too early. This performance catches Malfitano as Antonia early in her career. She went on to do all the heroines. Julius Rudel probably has conducted Hoffmann as much as anyone and he conducted my first Hoffmann with NYCO based cast of Sills, Domingo, Treigle in Philadelphia in 1965. Rudel is second only to Hasselmans (from the 1920s) with 37 Met appearances as conductor. This is not my first choice cast, but Malfitano (Antonia only), Devlin, and Atherton with Troyanos, Morris,and Velis no longer around for the broadcast.
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / PAGLIACCI:Mascagni / Leoncavallo
Original Air Date: 02/01/1941
Calusio; Roman, Jagel, Warren / Martinelli, Greco, Tibbett
MOD Audio SID.19330316
The star performers on this Cav/Pag are Martinelli and Tibbett, but the remarkable performance is from Stella Roman as Santuzza. She has many excellent broadcasts from the Met in the 1940s, but the only two which have made it to Sirius and MOoD are this Cav/Pag, and a Forza with many of the same singers under Bruno Walter in 1943. There is also a Bjorling Trovatore which has made the rounds of the private market. She’s not a perfect singer, but severely underrated.
FALSTAFF:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/16/2019
Farnes; Schultz, Pérez, Lemieux, Johnson Cano, Demuro, Maestri, Rodríguez
SID.19330535
Baritone Ambrogio Maestri brings his larger-than-life portrayal of the title role back for the first time since his Met role debut in the 2013–14 season. Robert Carsen’s insightful production—which moves the action to postwar England in the 1950s—features an exceptional cast that includes soprano Ailyn Pérez as Alice Ford and soprano Golda Schultz as Nannetta.
I PURITANI:Bellini
Original Air Date: 03/13/1976
Bonynge; Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, Morris
MOD Audio SID.19340102
Bing delivered a lovely production, and the four principals all were well suited to their roles. This was a big break-out part for Morris and the Suoni la tromba duet with Milnes almost stole the show from Pavarotti and Sutherland. Sutherland is 50 for this performance, and amazingly is back ten years later for another Puritani broadcast. This 1976 is the preferred broadcast and deservingly is on Met Player. It’s just a shame it wasn’t videod as well (the first video of the modern series comes a year later). It is a fitting document to one of the strongest Puritani quartets ever. There is no arguing that Met casting was top tier, and this certainly lifted Morris up from being promising to being major.
KÁT’A KABANOVÁ:Janácek
Original Air Date: 12/25/2004
Belohlávek; Mattila, Forst, Silvasti, Ognovenko, Very, Kozená
SID.19340103
An excellent cast, but I just don’t warm as much to this work as to Jenufa. For these infrequent works, it is important they make their way to MOoD.
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 01/22/1977
Conlon; Valente, Burrows, Uppman, Shane, Plishka
SID.19340104
This Zauberfloete features old and new performers in a well-balanced performance. The conductor, James Conlon, was in his debut engagement; and the Sarastro, Paul Plishka, was doing his only series in the role (one of his first major roles). The talented Benita Valente was especially noted for her Mozart roles. On the lesser known and underappreciated front, we have a sparkling Rita Shane as the Queen of the Night. Finally, on the veteran front, we have Theodore Uppman, doing the last of his 60 Papagenos at the Met. Maybe most notable for a future Broadway composer Adam Guettel (RRodgers’ grandson) as one of the Genie. All in all, an enjoyable Mozart outing.
LA GIOCONDA:Ponchielli
Original Air Date: 03/16/1946
Cooper; Milanov, Tucker, Warren, Stevens, Vaghi
SID.19340105
The Met doesn’t reach back into the 1940s often, but La Gioconda is a good opera to do that. This is from Tucker’s debut broadcast (his house debut is in the same role the previous season). Milanov, Tucker, and Warren really show the type of voices necessary for this work. The MOoD from 1953 substitutes Baum for Tucker, but you pick up Barbieri and Siepi. A major Gioconda omission from rebroadcast is the 1959 the only other Gioconda broadcast with Milanov and Tucker together. It also features Merrill and Siepi which is about as potent a male lineup as can be imagined. Sirius, Met, how about a look at 1959, and the addition of this 1946 performance to MOoD.
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NORMA:Bellini
Original Air Date: 02/17/1973
Cillario; Caballé, Cossotto, Cossutta, Tozzi
MOD Audio SID.19340106
This is from Caballe’s first run at Norma with the reliable Cossotto; they are certainly a team. Cossutta missed the premiere, and this is his debut; he would go on to do 12 more Polliones with Caballe, Galvany, and Verrett and that is his Met career. Tozzi would not be my choice for Oroveso. Norma is one of Caballe’s best roles.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/09/1963
Strasfogel; Guarrera, D’Angelo, Shirley, Corena, Tozzi
SID.19340107
The only known I will vouch for in advance is Corena, one of his very best roles. Tozzi becomes more variable in this period, so I don’t want to praise a performance I have not recently heard. This performance could be anything from a train wreck to a secret gem. What I am sure about is that it is not the Zedda critical edition (not yet published).
LULU:Berg
Original Air Date: 04/13/1985
Levine; Migenes, Mazura, Lear, Lewis, Foldi
SID.19340208
This performance was also issued in Sony’s Historical series on CD, but strikingly not in the Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) which features a performance from the season before with the same conductor, Figaro, Count, and Cherubino. Della Casa is swapped with Amara and Soderstrom (as Susanna) is swapped with Peters. Siepi is the chief attraction here. His Figaro is represented by 3 other Nozze performances, but strangely his Mephisto only has one streaming representation, but neither Bjorling (1950, 1959) nor a strong cast for his last turn at the microhones in 1969.
THE GAMBLER:Prokofiev
Original Air Date: 03/31/2001
Gergiev; Galouzine, Guryakova, Alexashkin, Obraztsova
SID.19340209
This is the Met broadcast premiere of this work. Seven years later Galouzine and Gergiev are together again for another broadcast at the Met, but with Diadkova in for Obraztsova. Galouzine has been through a lot of heavy singing in the seven years, so this is overall the best bet for experiencing the Prokofiev. Unfortunately, the MOoD only has the 2008 broadcast. In the theatre with lot of intense visuals, this was a most enjoyable production. Even with audio only Gergiev and Galouzine are still powerhouses.
I VESPRI SICILIANI:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/09/1974
Levine; Caballé, Gedda, Milnes, Díaz
MOD Audio SID.19340210
This is a performance where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If Caballe does not have every note in place, she is still very near the top of her considerable form, and the ensemble reflects the new production intensity and first appearance of a major Verdi opera in the Met repertory. Gedda has the most performances of Arrigo, the challenging tenor role. Tucker was scheduled for a run (including broadcast) the year he died, but none of the hearty tenors of the past had the right timing– no Corelli, Bergonzi, and only five for Domingo, and he was gone. This performance is available in Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) and is a strong performance.
