ADRIANA LECOUVREUR:Cilea
Original Air Date: 04/19/1969
Cleva; Tebaldi, Corelli, Dalis, Colzani
SID.19380316
Tebaldi loved the part of Adriana, but this broadcast finds her in rather frayed voice (after more than 30 Giocondas the previous two seasons). Corelli, Dalis, and Colzani are strong support.
DAS RHEINGOLD:Wagner
Original Air Date: 03/14/2019
Jordan; Harmer, Barton, Cargill, Ernst, Siegel, Grimsley, Konieczny, Groissböck, Belosselskiy
SID.19380428
Wagner’s visionary initial installment of the Ring Cycle depicts the original sin of the theft of the sacred golden treasure, the vanity of the gods, the greed of the Nibelungen, the fratricide of the giants, and the building of Valhalla. Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley and baritone Michael Volle share the role of Wotan, the conflicted lord of the gods. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton sings her first Wagner role at the Met as Wotan’s embattled wife, Fricka. In collaboration with Ex Machina
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 03/30/2019
Jordan; Goerke, Westbroek, Barton, Skelton, Grimsley, Groissböck
Live in HD SID.19380534
In what is expected to be a Wagnerian event for the ages, soprano Christine Goerke, in her MET role debut, plays Brünnhilde, Wotan’s willful warrior daughter, who loses her immortality in opera’s most famous act of filial defiance. Tenor Stuart Skelton and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek play the incestuous twins Siegmund and Sieglinde. Greer Grimsley sings Wotan. Philippe Jordan conducts.
SIEGFRIED:Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/13/2019
Jordan; Goerke, Morley, Cargill, Vinke, Siegel, Volle, Konieczny, Belosselskiy
SID.19380640
Review: In the Met’s ‘Siegfried,’ Singers Transcend the Staging – By Joshua Barone April 14, 2019
Pity the opera directors who decide to stage Wagner’s “Ring” — for in doing so they have to figure out what to do with “Siegfried.” The third installment of Wagner’s epic, which returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Robert Lepage’s tech-happy production on Saturday, has tripped up even the smartest of “Ring” directors. Blame the source material: a title role both tedious and impractically difficult; a repetitive libretto sitting somewhere between coming-of-age adventure and dark comedy; a singing dragon. Mr. Lepage’s staging doesn’t do much to help the problems baked into “Siegfried,” a weak spot of the “Ring” that lacks the breakneck pace of “Das Rheingold,” the heart-rending humanity of “Die Walküre” or the textbook-perfect tragedy of “Götterdämmerung.” What it does help, however, is the problem of the 45-ton machine so central to his production as its primary set piece. Instead of relying on the unreliable behemoth to be as kinetic as in the earlier “Ring” operas, Mr. Lepage here treats the machine as more of a canvas for Pedro Pires’s impressive projections. Three-dimensional, interactive videos create the illusion of leaves rustling beneath Siegfried’s feet, of a pond’s surface being truly reflective.
***
But good singers can lift a subpar staging. In this “Siegfried,” they transcend it. Stefan Vinke is making his Met debut in the titular heldentenor role, armed with insouciant high notes and a bright smile. His heroism occasionally veers into howling, and the strain in his voice doesn’t always befit a boyish naïf who knows no fear. (He shares the run with Andreas Schager, who is capable of breezing through the role’s most challenging passages with the shocking ease of Siegfried wrangling a bear.) But Mr. Vinke is a pleasure to watch; he leans into the opera’s comedy — and his character’s ignorance, which often comes off as idiocy. As the scheming Mime, who takes in the orphaned Siegfried in the hope of using the boy’s strength to gain the ring, Gerhard Siegel infused his tenor with venom. Mime’s brother, Alberich, who in “Das Rheingold” commits the original sin of the “Ring,” only returns in “Siegfried” for brief moments in Act II. But those scenes were among the most memorable on Saturday. That’s because Alberich is sung by Tomasz Konieczny, who is also making his Met debut and continues to stand out even among extraordinary colleagues. His resonant bass ricochets off the planks of the machine as he imbues Alberich with dignified authority. His confrontation with Wotan — presented in “Siegfried” as the Wanderer, dressed like a Gandalf of the Wild West and performed by Michael Volle — is a high point of the opera. Or, rather, low: They are both booming basses, equally mighty in a way that illustrates, with only music, how alike these antipodal characters may be.
If women seem absent, it’s because there are so few: the whistle-high Erin Morley as the Woodbird; the solemn Karen Cargill as Erda; and, of course, the fiery soprano Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde. It’s remarkable that anyone in this cast was singing so well in a matinee that began at 11:30 a.m. But Ms. Goerke also had to feign sleep onstage for nearly 20 minutes before letting out a resounding “Heil dir, Sonne!” that penetrated through swelling fortes in the orchestra, crisp and controlled under the baton of Philippe Jordan. Ms. Goerke’s vigor only grew in a crescendo toward all-out majesty in the final scene, a courtship with Mr. Vinke that ended with their leaping into love and matching high C’s. For this climax of old-fashioned operatic thrills, they weren’t even standing on the machine — as if they existed outside Mr. Lepage’s production entirely. @NYTimes
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Jordan; Goerke, Haller, Schuster, Schager, Nikitin, Konieczny, Owens
Original Air Date: 04/27/2019 SID.19380746
PROGRAM
The opening night performance in the conclusion of the 2019 revival of the LePage RING CYCLE.
NYTimes Review (Tommasini) – In a role that can easily make Siegfried seem like some rowdy, clueless, clunky youth, he conveyed genuine romantic longing for Brünnhilde (the soprano Christine Goerke at her best). And during the long stretch of the story at the hall of powerful Gibichung family, when Siegfried — under the spell of a potion that makes him forget Brünnhilde and fall for Gutrune (the gleaming soprano Edith Haller, in her Met debut) — Mr. Schager’s vulnerable Siegfried often seems poignantly confused, with flashes of memory when he appears to know something is not right. Until a dream-come-true Siegfried arrives, Mr. Schager will do just fine. Jacqueline Woodson Transformed Children’s Literature. Now She’s Writing for Herself. The bass-baritone Eric Owens made a prideful, calculating and vocally formidable Hagen. And, once again, the conductor Philippe Jordan is proving the hero of the Met’s “Ring.” He led an inexorably unfolding and incisive account of the score, drawing velvety string sound and blazing yet never blaring crescendos from the Met Orchestra, which has seldom sounded finer. Ms. Goerke was magnificent. With unfailing energy, fearless abandon and gleaming sound, she was a mesmerizing Brünnhilde. She caught all the mood shifts of this volatile character, one moment coming across like a smitten young lover, the next a betrayed and embittered woman, a former Valkyrie warrior who by the end, in a self-immolating act of transcendence, brings down the entire edifice of the gods.
NABUCCO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/26/2005
Levine; Putilin, Guleghina, Buchuladze, Hughes Jones
SID.19390102
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/11/1999
Müller; Swenson, Vargas, Nucci, Pertusi
SID.19390103
Vargas did some very nice early Edgardos at the Met (I remember one with Futral) and Nucci should also be a strong Enrico. This is the second season for Swenson in a Nicholas Joel production she premiered which replaced the disastrous Zambello production. Solid support from the male contingent for her. If they’re going to put Anderson in MOoD (with Leech and Fu), Swenson should be as well, and this is a stronger male cast.
THE QUEEN OF SPADES:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 02/14/2004
Jurowski; Domingo, Dalayman, Palmer, Chernov, Zaremba, Putilin
SID.19390104
This is Domingo’s last round out as Gherman, which seemed like yesterday but is now over a decade gone. Jurowski is an interesting conductor as is Dalayman’s Lisa. Chernov does not have the finish of Hvorostovsky, but it all depends on one’s reaction to Domingo’s Gherman. This is Domingo’s second Gherman, much prefer Palmer to Soderstrom and Dalayman to Gorchakova. This is late Chernov. Jurowski is a top drawer conductor in my view. Not a short work, but a lot of thrilling music. Jurowski is conductor, and the cast is not without interest. It’s a shame the first year of the production with Mattila and Heppner at their peak and the final role at the Met for Rysanek, that no broadcast exists.
SIMON BOCCANEGRA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/06/2010
Levine; Domingo, Pieczonka, Giordani, Morris, Gaertner
SID.19390105
This is the broadcast that was paired with the Live in HD transmission. I actually prefer the following year’s Boccanegra when Hvorostovsky moves into the title role, and Frittoli and Furlanetto have more to offer.
PORGY AND BESS
George Gershwin Dubose and Dorothy Heyward, Ira Gershwin
Robertson; Blue, Schultz, Moore, Graves, Ballentine, Owens, Walker, Speedo Green
OAD 9/23/2019 – Season Premiere, 2019-2020 Opening Night
SID.19390106
One of America’s favorite operas returns to the Met for the first time in nearly 30 years. James Robinson’s stylish production transports audiences to Catfish Row on the Charleston waterfront, vibrant with the music, dancing, emotion, and heartbreak of its inhabitants. “If you’re going to stage Gershwin’s opera, this is how,” raved the Guardian when the new production premiered in London in 2018. David Robertson conducts a dynamic cast, featuring the sympathetic duo of Eric Owens and Angel Blue in the title roles
The worldwide copyrights in the works of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for this presentation are licensed by the Gershwin family. GERSHWIN is a registered trademark of Gershwin Enterprises. Porgy and Bess is a registered trademark of Porgy and Bess Enterprises. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam; and English National Opera Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund and Douglas Dockery Thomas
LA CENERENTOLA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 01/24/1998
Levine; Larmore, Vargas, Alaimo, Corbelli
MOD Audio SID.19390107
The 2000 broadcast with Larmore features Campanella and Gimenez. This 1998 broadcast is the original cast from the fall 1997 premiere except with Larmore for Bartoli. The Bartoli performance is preserved on video on MOoD. New York has seen a lot of Cenerentola in the 17 years since it premiered– Bartoli, Larmore,Borodina, Ganassi, Garanca, DiDonato. Neither Borodina nor Ganassi were broadcast– I liked Borodina very much and the Ganassi performances featured Florez’ first NYC Ramiros.
SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Original Air Date: 04/12/1958
Cleva; Del Monaco, Stevens, Singher
MOD Audio SID.19390208
Del Monaco never did a studio version of Samson so this performance is welcome. Singher came in 1943 to the Met and makes his farewell eight months after this Samson broadcast doing the two performances of the four Hoffmann villains. He’s an important part of the Met’s French wing with both Pelleas and Golaud in two different revivals. He went on to be a major teacher at the Curtis Institute, with James King his most notable student. This performance is available on MOoD, and good to have it since Del Monaco never did a studio version
RIGOLETTO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/05/1957
Cleva; Merrill, Güden, Peerce, Tozzi, Roggero
SID.19390209
This exact same cast broadcast Rigoletto four years earlier– Bing could be very much a creature of habit. Also the exact same trio of leads as the 1953 performance except Erede was in the pit. This is Merrill probably at his vocal peak (the Rigoletto broadcasts would mostly alternate between Warren (often with Tucker) and Merrill, with Tucker’s brother-in law. Luxury indeed. Let me put in a word here for the 1960 Rigoletto which has MacNeil’s first broadcast jester, Giaiotti as Monterone and Tozzi in the third of his three broadcast Sparafuciles. 1957 like so many years was an extraordinary year for Merrill’s instrument. Take a listen. A note on representation in MOoD for Rigoletto. There is no performance represented there between 1945 and 1973. The 1945 shows Warren at close to his vocal best, but no representation of Tucker’s Duke– four broadcasts from 1951-1972, nor Peerce’s, the 1960 for MacNeil, and no Merrill Rigoletto at all, and the same for Peters’ Gilda. Considering some of the mediocre Rigolettos that ARE included, this is one of the worst gaps in terms of match of Sirius/ MOoD to actual Met performance and broadcast history.
SIEGFRIED:Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/15/2000
Levine; Eaglen, Svendén, Andersen, Clark, Morris, Wlaschiha
SID.19390210 [Scheduled but not Aired]
This is Andersen’s Met debut and the first of Eaglen’s two broadcast Siegfried Brunnhildes. To me, the treat in Siegfried is always Morris, and especially the 3rd act scenes with Erda and Siegfried.
THE QUEEN OF SPADES:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 02/14/2004
Jurowski; Domingo, Dalayman, Palmer, Chernov, Zaremba, Putilin
SID.19390204 (not scheduled but aired)
This is Domingo’s last round out as Gherman, which seemed like yesterday but is now over a decade gone. Jurowski is an interesting conductor as is Dalayman’s Lisa. Chernov does not have the finish of Hvorostovsky, but it all depends on one’s reaction to Domingo’s Gherman. This is Domingo’s second Gherman, much prefer Palmer to Soderstrom and Dalayman to Gorchakova. This is late Chernov. Jurowski is a top drawer conductor in my view. Not a short work, but a lot of thrilling music. Jurowski is conductor, and the cast is not without interest. It’s a shame the first year of the production with Mattila and Heppner at their peak and the final role at the Met for Rysanek, that no broadcast exists.
SIMON BOCCANEGRA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/06/2010
Levine; Domingo, Pieczonka, Giordani, Morris, Gaertner
SID.19390205 (not scheduled but aired)
This is the broadcast that was paired with the Live in HD transmission. I actually prefer the following year’s Boccanegra when Hvorostovsky moves into the title role, and Frittoli and Furlanetto have more to offer.
MANON Massenet
Benini: Oropesa, Fabiano, Bosi, Rucinski, Polegato, Youn
OAD 9/24/2019 Season Premiere SID.19390212
Program
Exhilarating soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as the irresistible title character, the tragic beauty who yearns for the finer things in life, in Laurent Pelly’s revealing production. Tenor Michael Fabiano is the besotted Chevalier des Grieux, whose desperate love for Manon proves their undoing. Maurizio Benini conducts Massenet’s sensual score.
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; and Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund
VICTORY LAP Interview with Lisette Oropesa from metopera.org
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Original Air Date: 01/25/1969
Adler; Tucci, Labò, Fenn, Walker, Díaz
SID.19390213
Not a gala Boheme, but it’s nice to have two Italians in the leads. Tucci was a first rate lyric soprano, and Labo sounds very major compared to some of the second tier guys who have been doing Puccini leads. February 1 is Labo’s birthday which he shares with a far more famous Mimi, Renata Tebaldi.
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 03/04/1967
Krips; Raskin, Shirley, Uppman, Peters, Macurdy
MOD Audio SID.19390315
First year in the new house, the Chagall production premiered with the Europeans (Lorengar, Popp, Gedda, Prey) plus Hines, but the Americans in the cast above got the broadcast. I liked Krips conducting very much. Popp did broadcast her Queen 3 years later, but this performance has not been on Sirius. Skrowacewski is the conductor, Zylis-Gara is the Pamina, but Popp, Gedda, Prey are all picked up from the premiere cast, and it’s the only German broadcasts of their roles. Sirius should definitely fill in this gap. In 1967 Macurdy was actually fresher of voice than Hines, but mostly this cast was definitely second class.
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/30/1971
Cleva; Domingo, Arroyo, Merrill, Peters, Dunn
SID.19390316
This is a solid Ballo with early Domingo (he only arrived in 1968) and late Merrill (well Merrill had one more broadcast and 5 more seasons actually concluding his Met tenure in Detroit in May 1976. On the broadcast airwaves, Merrill totally dominated with 8 of the 9 broadcasts between 1955 and 1975. Arroyo has several impressive moments in the role, but while the top is very secure, the flow in the lower register is not her natural strength. Still, this is an afternoon with little to wince at from anyone.
IDOMENEO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 03/25/1995
Levine; Domingo, Upshaw, Vaness, von Otter, Davies
MOD Audio SID.19390317
Levine is an excellent Idomeneo conductor, and Vaness is the best of the Met Elettras. Upshaw is a bit light
MACBETH Verdi
Armiliato; Netrebko, Pirozzi, Polenzani, Lucic, Abdrazakov
OAD 9/25/2019 Season Premiere
SID.19390319 PROGRAM
Soprano Anna Netrebko created a sensation when she made her Met role debut as Lady Macbeth in 2014. Tonight, she returns to Verdi’s gripping Shakespeare adaptation. Baritone Željko Lučić, who starred in the 2007 premiere of Adrian Noble’s evocative production, sings the title role. Marco Armiliato conducts a cast that also features tenor Matthew Polenzani as Macduff and bass Ildar Abdrazakov as Banquo.
Production a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone Additional funding from Mr. and Mrs. William R. Miller; Hermione Foundation, Laura Sloate, Trustee; and The Gilbert S. Kahn & John J. Noffo Kahn Endowment Fund Revival a gift of Rolex
[Note: Placido Domingo was scheduled to sing MacBeth but withdrew from his appearances in this opera and at the MET on 9-24-19]
Photos: MET OPERA
HAMLET:Thomas
Original Air Date: 03/27/2010
Langrée; Keenlyside, Petersen, Larmore, Morris, Spence
MOD Video SID.19390320
This is the only Met broadcast of the Thomas work. Keenlyside has a commercial DVD in the same production with Dessay from Barcelona 2004. Petersen was a late substitute for Dessay for the whole run. Larmoreis especially vivid as Gertrude, part of her movement into dramatic mezzo/soprano parts.
BILLY BUDD:Britten
Original Air Date: 04/14/1984
Atherton; Duesing, Cassilly, Morris, Glossop, Clark
SID.19390321
The Dexter/Dudley Billy Budd is a Met classic, and Morris is at the top of his considerable form as Claggart in this third broadcast of a production premiered in 1978.
MANON LESCAUT:Puccini
Levine; Scotto, Domingo, Elvira, Capecchi
Original Air Date: 03/29/1980
SID.19400102
This performance is also available on video in MOoD. As an audio only performance, it ranks behind the two Bjorling broadcasts (1949 with Kirsten and 1956 with Albanese– the latter one of the great Met broadcasts thanks to the additional force of Mitropoulos in the pit). Though Tebaldi and Tucker were both great exponents of these roles, their 1959 broadcast together still seems to elude the Sirius programmers. Great shame, especially for her, as it’s one of her great afternoons. This 1980 broadcast is well worth listening to, but recent reactions to Scotto’s 1967 Butterfly and her 1982 Lady Macbeth found her tone even harder than remembered. Her style is impeccable, but her 45 year old Manon is pretty hard-edged.
LUISA MILLER:Verdi
Levine; Scotto, Domingo, Milnes, Giaiotti, Morris, Kraft
Original Air Date: 01/27/1979
SID.19400103
MOoD also features the telecast from a week before with the same cast (and was issued on DVD as well.) Scotto and Domingo understand the style very well, and if every note is not ideal, they rise to great heights in the final act (which is among Verdi’s greatest music for any of his operas).
DON GIOVANNI:Mozart
Hager; Morris, Sweet, Perry, Schuman, Olsen, Hong
Original Air Date: 12/24/1994
SID.19400104
Morris has four broadcast performances of the title role going back to 1974 (all post Siepi of course, who is very much my standard). In a house the size of of the Met I prefer a bass-baritone Don. Hager is a solid conductor and D’Arcangelo is caught at the beginning of his Met career. I like this overall cast better than the two surrounding broadcasts which feature Hampson. We need to hear the 1967 Don Giovanni with Siepi, Sutherland, Lorengar, Gedda, Flagello, Giaiotti under Bohm and also the 1957 Don with Steber and Della Casa at their peak under Bohm, and on MOoD, the video of Sutherland with Morris from 1978 which features Varady on camera for her only Met role.
DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG:Wagner
Schippers; Adam, Lorengar, King, Kusche, Flagello, Driscoll
Original Air Date: 01/15/1972
MOD Audio
SID.19400105
This performance is on Sony’s Met historical CD series Lorengar and King, who do not have commercials of their portrayals are fine exponents of their roles, and Kusche is a long respected Beckmesser. Adam split the Sachs with Tozzi, and at this point Adam was probably the better choice.
ELEKTRA:Strauss
Nezet-Seguin; Goerke, van den heever, Schuster, Morris, Petrenlo
Original Air Date: 03/18/2018
SID.19400106
Christine Goerke sings her first Elektra at the Met in Patrice Chéreau’s landmark production, a sensation at its Met premiere last spring, which the Wall Street Journal called “revolutionary … a triumph on all fronts.” Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Strauss’s shattering score, a tour de force for the singers and the orchestra alike. Opening night (3-1-2018) is dedicated to the memory of Patrice Chéreau.
AIDA:Verdi
Fiore; Sweet, Sylvester, Zajick, Pons, Plishka
Original Air Date: 02/05/1994
SID.19400107
This is a pretty standard house casting for Aida in the 90s. Sweet and Zajick appear in Aida together 14 times over five seasons from 1994-1999. The male contingent holds less interest than in earlier times, Pons has a huge Met career, but not one of much interest to me.