L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI:Rossini
OAD: 02/17/2001
Campanella; Larmore, Polenzani, Ramey, Corbelli
MOD Audio SID.191907
This is Ramey’s only Mustafa broadcast, and early appearances by Polenzani and Kwiecien who are Met regulars in star parts these days. My own favorite Isabella is Borodina whose performance with Florez and Furlanetto is also on MOoD.
MANON:Massenet
OAD: 12/15/1951
Cleva; Albanese, Di Stefano, Singher
MOD Audio SID.191907
If Singher is the only one to really be a master of the French style, Albanese and Di Stefano are not without interest.
DER ROSENKAVALIER:Strauss
OAD: 02/23/1974 SID.191907
Böhm; Fassbaender, Lear, Jungwirth, Mathis, Dooley
Evelyn Lear is a solid Marschallin, even if she is somewhat eclipsed by Fassbaender and Mathis, among the two best performers to ever do these roles. Bohm is in the pit, and Jungwirth is an excellent Ochs (as he is on the Solti Crespin commercial.)
MADAMA BUTTERFLY:Puccini
OAD: 03/18/1967 SID.191907
Molinari-Pradelli; Scotto, Shirley, Casei, Bottcher, Velis
Scotto’s 38 Met Butterflys are exceeded only by Farrar (139!!!!), Albanese (72), and Kirsten (68). This performance features the very solid conducting of Molinari-Pradelli. She also has two studio recordings, the first with Bergonzi under Barbirolli being particularly notable. The Met’s continuing omissions of Antonietta Stella (1958) and Gabriella Tucci (1962 with Bergonzi) from their Sirius rebroadcasts are regrettable.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
OAD: 12/06/1941 SID.191907
Leinsdorf; Traubel, Schorr, Varnay, Melchior, Thorborg, Kipnis
This really is a broadcast of giants, and marks Varnay’s debut on an an operatic stage. Traubel has been recently discussed on Opera-L, and count me very much in the Traubel camp. Hearing the Todesverkundigung with her and Melchior is one of the absolute best, and the Walkure Brunnhilde is one of her best roles. The remainder of the cast is just as exceptional– esp. since i much prefer Kipnis’ voice to List. Paul Jackson notes with sadness this is Schorr’s final Wagner broadcast, and it finds him far from his two decade mastery of Wagner.
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO:Verdi
OAD: 11/29/1952 SID.191907
Stiedry; Milanov, Tucker, Warren, Hines, Miller, Pechner
MOD Audio
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.
DIE FLEDERMAUS:Strauss Jr.
OAD: 01/23/1954 SID.191907
Kozma; Steber, Kullman, Munsel, Hayward, Novotná, Brownlee
Steber lets the end of the Czardas get away from her, and John Brownlee is never a voice I want to hear, but Munsel is quite a trouper in this role; Novotna is a stylish Orlofsky. Why is the Fledermaus translation not a problem for the Met, but their Arabella is? This is Steber’s only broadcast Rosalinde, and she makes a meal of it. This is getting toward the end of Munsel’s reign at the Met with mostly Perichole and some Depinas ahead of her. My problem is with Brownlee, one of the driest voices ever .
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN:Offenbach
Original Air Date: 02/13/1993
Levine; Domingo, Vaness, Held, Mentzer
MOD Audio SID.19200101
One of the best performances I ever saw from Domingo was a NYCO in Philadelphia 1965 Hoffmann with Sills and Treigle. He premieres not one but two Met productions (1973 with Sutherland and Bacquier, and 1982 under Chailly with Morris). This 1993 broadcast follows opening the season in Hoffmann which had Ramey as the villains. The 1982 (which has been on Sirius but not on MOoD, is much better on all counts.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/24/1955
Stiedry; Sullivan, Steber, Harshaw, Uhde, Edelmann
SID.19200317
This performance is also available on MOoD, and is the second of Steber’s two Elsa broadcasts from the Met. The only singer not much to my taste on this broadcast is Edelmann, Pape and Giaoitti have spoiled us for how good this part can sound. Steber after her season in Bayreuth is in her element especially the second and third acts . The AM sound cannot disguise the fact that the orchestra is on much stronger footing in Wagner now than in the 1950s. It’s always grand to experience Steber in one of her best roles. I generally prefer Steber in the Bayreuth performance, but this is a solid cast and Uhde is a strong Telramund as well.
THE RAKES PROGRESS:Stravinsky
Original Air Date: 02/14/1953
Reiner; Conley, Güden, Harrell, Thebom
SID.19200318
This is the American premiere with the composer in attendance. Worth noting is the director for this production is George Balanchine. It’s still a chilly work for me Not my cup of tea, but a distinguished afternoon, and the U.S. premiere occurs with this broadcast. Reiner is major in every way.
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/09/1967
Rosenstock; Siepi, Freni, Della Casa, Krause, Stratas
SID.19200319
This broadcast has estimable servants of Siepi and Freni with Stratas a fine Cherubino, but it is burdened with Rosenstock’s conducting and Della Casa makes her final Met appearance. Earlier in the season the Countess was taken by Lorengar and Berganza was the Cherubino, alas still with Rosenstock. You can hear Della Casa coughing audibly on this broadcast. Miraculously, Mme Della Casa was still with us until Dec. 2012, living into her 90s.
WOZZECK:Berg
Original Air Date: 01/06/1990
Levine; Hornik, Behrens, Clark, McIntyre, King
SID.19200320
Behrens had done Marie in 1985 with Christian Boesch also under Levine. King is luxury casting as the Drum Major, but I think Cassilly’s rougher voice in 1985 is more appropriate. Still well worth a listen.
HÄNSEL UND GRETEL:Humperdinck
Original Air Date: 12/29/2001
Mackerras; Larmore, Upshaw, Forst, Blythe, Josephson
MOD Audio SID.19200321
This performance is indeed in German and yet is performed by a 100% Anglophone cast. Irony indeed. Mackerras is the most distinctive contributor to a work whose orchestral passages are among its most interesting. Also worth noting is there is a separate listing in MOoD for the English language versions and the German version. But though the language was German it was the same production as premiered in English in 1967-1968 by O’Hearn and Merrill and concluded with these performances in 2001-2. Hansel returned in a new also English language production by Richard Jones in 2007-2008.
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Original Air Date: 03/30/1957
Kozma; Kirsten, Tucker, Hurley, Bastianini, Siepi
SID.19200422
Last on Sirius: Before 2011 (I searched my archives 3 ways, and though the Met says it has been rebroadcast on Sirius, my answer is not recently; the Tucker Columbia recording with Sayao was on in December 2012, and his Sirius rebroadcast Boheme with Tebaldi was in November 2012) The special pleasure are Bastianini and Siepi who only did one other Met performance together in Boheme (not broadcast) a year earlier.
BILLY BUDD:Britten
Original Air Date: 03/31/1979
Leppard; Stilwell, Pears, Morris, Glossop, Ward
MOD Audio SID.19200423
Pears created the role of Captain Vere three decades earlier, and James Morris’ Claggart is one of the great post-war assumptions. Luckily the Met has recently added the video of the 1997 telecast with the late Phillip Langridge as Vere, Dwayne Croft, and Morris once again being the evil anchor as Claggart. This 1979 performance is the first broadcast of the Met’s Budd production, and is Pears’ final Met appearance Much of this attention is surely coming because of the Britten centenary. One of the Met’s most distinguished productions.
THAÏS:Massenet
Original Air Date: 12/20/2008
López-Cobos; Fleming, Hampson, Schade
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19200424
Although the video has been available almost continuously on MOoD, I find this performance preferable to the Sills Milnes, which was massively overplayed in the first years of Sirius Radio. I rather like Thais as a break from other titles in the repertory.Although the video has been available almost continuously on MOoD, I find this performance preferable to the Sills Milnes, which was massively overplayed in the first years of Sirius Radio. I rather like Thais as a break from other titles in the repertory.
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/11/1936
Bodanzky; Lawrence, Melchior, Hofmann, Schorr, Manski, Meisle
MOD Audio SID.19200425
This is one of the earliest Met broadcasts to appear on Sirius, and it’s great to have Lawrence and Melchior in respectably decent sound for the period. It’s regrettable that Flagstad never broadcast Gotterdammerung (Prologue only during World’s Fair Year) from the Met, but Melchior is top tier and we simply have not heard a singer like him since. This also appears in the Met Wagner bicentennial CD box.
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/11/1936
Bodanzky; Lawrence, Melchior, Hofmann, Schorr, Manski, Meisle
MOD Audio SID.19200426
This is one of the earliest Met broadcasts to appear on Sirius, and it’s great to have Lawrence and Melchior in respectably decent sound for the period. It’s regrettable that Flagstad never broadcast Gotterdammerung (Prologue only during World’s Fair Year) from the Met, but Melchior is top tier and we simply have not heard a singer like him since. This also appears in the Met Wagner bicentennial CD box.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/15/1964
Santi; McCracken, Rysanek, Colzani, Alexander
SID.19200427
I would much prefer us hearing several other McCracken Otellos which have not been broadcast, especially the 1963 with Tucci at her considerable best under Solti or McCracken’s last in 1972 under Bohm which is marked as having been on Sirius, but not very often. McCracken holds the Met record at 59 followed by Domingo at 40, and Vickers and Leo Slezak at 31. Rysanek bids farewell to Verdi at the Met with a whimper. (she has a Don Carlo broadcast a month later that at least has a few high points, but some poor sections there as well). In more than 20 years after these performances, she is not heard in Italian opera except for an occasional Tosca (the last in 1979).
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 02/23/1985
Järvi; Nucci, Griffel, Raitzin, Jones, Plishka
SID.19200428
Jarvi has a better cast 6 years earlier– the magnificent Mazurok as Onegin, and Shicoff in one of his best parts. I also prefer Kashrashvili. The 1979 performance is regularly on Sirius . That’s worth your time. The 1979 Onegin really deserves to be in MOoD. With so many Russian singers and audience members, Onegin seems almost as regular as Rigoletto. I am more impressed by Mazurok’s two broadcast outings, one with Jarvi conducting as well.
AIDA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/03/1962
Schick; Tucci, Corelli, Dalis, MacNeil, Tozzi
MOD Audio SID.19200529
I much enjoy the energy and passion of all the singers. Tucci is definitely a lyric Aida, but she knows the idiom well and is very solid. George Schick who was a staff conductor at the Met for some years, knows how to keep the forces under control without stifling any of the artists’ expressive impulses. The men definitely ate their Wheaties before the performance. Enjoy.
Berg
Original Air Date: 01/06/1990
Levine; Hornik, Behrens, Clark, McIntyre, King
SID.19200530
Behrens had done Marie in 1985 with Christian Boesch also under Levine. King is luxury casting as the Drum Major, but I think Cassilly’s rougher voice in 1985 is more appropriate. Still well worth a listen.
FIDELIO:Beethoven
Original Air Date: 02/13/1960
Böhm; Nilsson, Vickers, Uhde, Czerwenka, Hurley, Anthony
MOD Audio SID.19200531
This performance was issued also on Sony’s Met Historic CD series, as well as being in MOoD. Bohm, Nilsson, and Vickers bring all the exaltation and passion one could want to this opera. Vickers still continues to leave most other Florestans in the dust. What a privilege to have seen him from beginning (1958 in Dallas) to end great performances well into the 1980s. He’s not for everyone, but in his core roles– Grimes, Otello, Siegmund, Florestan, Samson, Parsifal, Tristan, Enee he never left audiences wanting. One of the very greatest singers ever to appear on ANY stage, and it was my privilege to have shared so many evenings with him. Czerwenka is not my idea of Rocco, but Bohm, Nilsson and Vickers are pretty unbeatable, and no one plays the Leonore No. 3 like Bohm.
LA GIOCONDA:Ponchielli
Original Air Date: 02/03/1990
Santi; Dimitrova, Beccaria, Fondary, Toczyska, Plishka
SID.19200532
The distaff side was definitely an Iron Curtain special, with both Dimitrova and Milcheva from Bulgaria and Toczyska from Poland. Beccaria replaced Pavarotti (who ended up never doing the part at the Met). I had seen DImitrova in Chicago not long before and was disappointed with her there, and she was the same at the Met. Fondary is an interesting singer, but not at the level of Manuguerra who has many of the same sensibilities. — This revival was originally scheduled for Pavarotti (he never did Enzo at the Met after all), and Beccaria is very short ration for a part that often featured Corelli or Tucker. I saw Dimitrova in both Chicago and the Met, and she was no more than B+. She had the right size voice, but not the right personality to make Gioconda memorable. Marton was much better. Toczyska, by contrast with Dimitrova, is not so gifted vocally, but she is a strong musician and dramatic presence and makes the most of what she has. An excellent second level Amneris in many venues in the 1980s and 1990s. Santi lets the work sprawl too much– Patane and Cleva (I had previously listed Molinari-Pradelli who does not have the opera at the Met or as far as I can see anywhere else ) are much more to the task at hand. Toscanini, Serafin, and Panizza all have double digit Met Gioconda totals. — This is a Pavarotti cancellation, and I had seen Dimitrova in Chicago the year before. In neither NYC nor Chicago did it count as one of her best roles. With the possible exceptions of Dimitrova and Toczyska no one else is much above replacement level. I love Gioconda, but this is not the cast. And a mini-Gioconda cast is one can well do without.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/24/1955
Stiedry; Sullivan, Steber, Harshaw, Uhde, Edelmann
SID.19200533
This performance is also available on MOoD, and is the second of Steber’s two Elsa broadcasts from the Met. The only singer not much to my taste on this broadcast is Edelmann, Pape and Giaoitti have spoiled us for how good this part can sound. Steber after her season in Bayreuth is in her element especially the second and third acts . The AM sound cannot disguise the fact that the orchestra is on much stronger footing in Wagner now than in the 1950s. It’s always grand to experience Steber in one of her best roles. I generally prefer Steber in the Bayreuth performance, but this is a solid cast and Uhde is a strong Telramund as well.
THE RAKES PROGRESS:Stravinsky
Original Air Date: 02/14/1953
Reiner; Conley, Güden, Harrell, Thebom
SID.19200636
This is the American premiere with the composer in attendance. Worth noting is the director for this production is George Balanchine. It’s still a chilly work for me Not my cup of tea, but a distinguished afternoon, and the U.S. premiere occurs with this broadcast. Reiner is major in every way.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/15/1964
Santi; McCracken, Rysanek, Colzani, Alexander
SID.19200637
I would much prefer us hearing several other McCracken Otellos which have not been broadcast, especially the 1963 with Tucci at her considerable best under Solti or McCracken’s last in 1972 under Bohm which is marked as having been on Sirius, but not very often. McCracken holds the Met record at 59 followed by Domingo at 40, and Vickers and Leo Slezak at 31. Rysanek bids farewell to Verdi at the Met with a whimper. (she has a Don Carlo broadcast a month later that at least has a few high points, but some poor sections there as well). In more than 20 years after these performances, she is not heard in Italian opera except for an occasional Tosca (the last in 1979).
HÄNSEL UND GRETEL:Humperdinck
Original Air Date: 12/29/2001
Mackerras; Larmore, Upshaw, Forst, Blythe, Josephson
MOD Audio SID.19200638
This performance is indeed in German and yet is performed by a 100% Anglophone cast. Irony indeed. Mackerras is the most distinctive contributor to a work whose orchestral passages are among its most interesting. Also worth noting is there is a separate listing in MOoD for the English language versions and the German version. But though the language was German it was the same production as premiered in English in 1967-1968 by O’Hearn and Merrill and concluded with these performances in 2001-2. Hansel returned in a new also English language production by Richard Jones in 2007-2008.
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Original Air Date: 03/30/1957
Kozma; Kirsten, Tucker, Hurley, Bastianini, Siepi
SID.19200639
Last on Sirius: Before 2011 (I searched my archives 3 ways, and though the Met says it has been rebroadcast on Sirius, my answer is not recently; the Tucker Columbia recording with Sayao was on in December 2012, and his Sirius rebroadcast Boheme with Tebaldi was in November 2012) The special pleasure are Bastianini and Siepi who only did one other Met performance together in Boheme (not broadcast) a year earlier.
THAÏS:Massenet
Original Air Date: 12/20/2008
López-Cobos; Fleming, Hampson, Schade
Live in HDMOD Video SID.19200640
Although the video has been available almost continuously on MOoD, I find this performance preferable to the Sills Milnes, which was massively overplayed in the first years of Sirius Radio. I rather like Thais as a break from other titles in the repertory.Although the video has been available almost continuously on MOoD, I find this performance preferable to the Sills Milnes, which was massively overplayed in the first years of Sirius Radio. I rather like Thais as a break from other titles in the repertory.