WOZZECK Berg
Levine; Hornik, Behrens, Clark, McIntyre, King
Original Air Date: 01/06/1990
SID.20070209
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.
Opera News Tribute
OTELLO:Verdi
Levine; Vickers, Ricciarelli, MacNeil, Little
Original Air Date: 02/04/1978
SID.20070210
This is the third of Vickers’ 4 Otello Met broadcasts. Ricciarelli is a semi-rare commodity, but she does not have enough profile to efface memories of Steber, Tebaldi, DeLosAngeles, Tucci (the Solti 1963 broadcast should be on Sirius ), Te Kanawa, Scotto, Millo, or Fleming. Missing from the Sirius and MOoD ranks are the Steber and Tebaldi performances of 1955 and 1958 in addition to the Tucci/Solti. Steber finally made it to the Sirius airwaves in June 2014, but Tucci, Steber, and Tebaldi all deserve to have their Desdemonas in MOoD.
ELEKTRA:Strauss
Leinsdorf; Mastilovic, Marton, Cornell, Anthony, Ulfung. Bailey, Ghazai, Cheek
Original Air Date: 12/30/1978
SID.20070212
This broadcast marks Leinsdorf’s only season of Elektra since his debut and sophomore seasons in the late 1930s. Mastilovic is a solid if not especially memorable Elektra, and Eva Marton who never brought her outstanding Elektra to the Met (I saw one of her early ones in 1990 at Covent Garden) but IS a memorable Chrysothemis as well.. Gwynn Cornell who had made quite a splash in New Jersey as Laura to Bumbry and Tucker in Gioconda debuts (I think as a replacement for Dunn) as Klytemnestra. Though quite a vocal talent, this is a big dramatic role and her inexperience shows. Norman Bailey who only has four Met broadcasts is not yet represented by his Wotan which has an interesting cast (also with Leinsdorf) in Rita Hunter, James King (his only Met airwaves outing as Siegmund) and Janis Martin.
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO:Mozart
Meister; Hartig, Müller, Crebassa, McCormick, Kwiecien, Plachetka, Muraro
Original Air Date: 02/11/2020
SID.20070214
DON GIOVANNI:Mozart
Levine; Harteros, Hong, Goerke, Turay, Hampson, Pape, Ens, Abdrazakov
Original Air Date: 03/13/2004
SID.20070315
This is a relatively recent broadcast from the previous new production (the Met has had mostly bad luck with all productions after Berman in 1957. ) The casting here is very strong with Harteros a fine Anna (she hardly appears in North America anymore), Pape singing Leporello to a fare thee well and one of the early appearances of Abdrazakov. This is also good exposure for Christine Goerke, who returned to the Met last season as the Dyer’s Wife in Frau ohne Schatten.
TANNHÄUSER:Wagner
Elder; Seiffert, Voigt, DeYoung, Hampson, Moll
Original Air Date: 12/18/2004
MOD Audio
SID.20070317
Seiffert was a more effective Tannhauser than I expected, but my memories of this broadcast from all participants is more solid than memorable.
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA:Verdi
Guadagno; Neblett, Peters, Berini, Anthony, Bergonzi, Franke, Nucci, Darrenkamp, Robbins, Vernon
Original Air Date: 02/19/1983
SID.20070424
This is Bergonzi’s signature role and his final Met broadcast of a complete opera, but he is better enjoyed on either the the 1962 or 1966 Ballos. His 1981 is also with Berini and Peters, but Milnes for Nucci. More importantly Cruz-Romo is a stronger Amelia than Neblett, but she is heard to even better advantage in 1973 with Tucker, a younger Milnes, and Dalis. Guadagno was a familar figure in Philadelphia and Miami as well as the Verona arena. This is his only Met season. Not sure of the circumstances but guess he just didn’t fit in. He’s on a number of airchecks from opera houses around the world with the top echelon of singers, Corelli, Tebaldi, etc.
MANON Massenet
Benini: Oropesa, Fabiano, Bosi, Rucinski, Polegato, Youn
OAD 9/24/2019 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
First Intermission
Backstage Pass #1 – Mary Jo Heath interviews Lisette Oropesa
Agrippina Feature with Maestro Harry Bicket
Second Intermission
Backstage Pass #2 – Mary Jo Heath interviews Michael Fabiano
TANNHÄUSER:Wagner
Elder; Seiffert, Voigt, DeYoung, Hampson, Moll
Original Air Date: 12/18/2004
MOD Audio
SID.20080101
Seiffert was a more effective Tannhauser than expected, but memories of this broadcast from all participants is more solid than memorable.
ROMÉO ET JULIETTE:Gounod
Molinari-Pradelli; Gedda, Freni, Macurdy, Baldwin, Reardon
Original Air Date: 04/13/1968
MOD Audio
SID.20080102
Molinari-Pradelli is an improvement on Domingo in the pit, but others are still much better. Gedda and Freni are not ideal, but it’s a wonderful memory of her youthful singing at the Met, and she is more alive on the broadcast than in the studio (and many performances) with Corelli.
PARSIFAL:Wagner
Levine; Vickers, Ludwig, Weikl, Talvela, Shinall
Original Air Date: 04/14/1979
MOD Audio
SID.20080103
There is another Vickers Parsifal broadcast from 1985 which features Rysanek, Estes, Moll, and Mazura. This performance was issued on CD as a Guild special but has not been rebroadcast in any other form. At the minimum, it should appear on Sirius, since the restoration work has already been done. How did Shinall and Talvela, whose voice does not have the roundness of a Moll or Siepi or Pape end up in these roles.
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN:Strauss
Böhm; Rysanek, King, Ludwig, Berry, Dalis
Original Air Date: 12/17/1966
MOD Audio
SID.20080105
This is the Met broadcast premiere of one of Strauss’ greatest works. Hearing the performance almost five decades later it still holds up as one of the great ensemble and individual performance efforts in Met history. All of the singers are excellent, and for radio only, the voice that makes the best effect is Walter Berry. His work may be less well known to newer opera-goers, but he is favorite Barak on disc or in the theatre. FiDi was by all accounts quite memorable in the theatre. This performance is now on the Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) series as well as part of the Met at Lincoln Center 50th anniversary CD box.
MADAMA BUTTERFLY:Puccini
Patanè; Scotto, Aragall, Love, Edwards, Atherton
Original Air Date: 12/17/1977
SID.20080106
Aragall only has 38 Met performances in his nine season tenure. His two broadcasts are Esclarmonde with Sutherland and this Butterfly with Scotto in close to her very best voice. Few tenor voices had such unforced beauty. His Met farewell comes in Boheme two days after this broadcast Aragall suffered from severe nervousness which could affect his pitch. Luckily his two Met broadcasts capture mostly just the remarkable voice, one much respected by his peers– Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti. Patane lamentably died much too young at 54 while conducting at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. He was an excellent maestro in the Met’s Italian wing, and is the conductor for Pavarotti and Ricciarelli’s Ballo in Maschera telecast/DVD. He also is number four in Gioconda performances at 25 (Cleva at 65 (Milanov and Tebaldi); Serafin at 55, Toscanini at 29 surpass him).
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA:Barber
Schippers; Díaz, Price, Thomas, Flagello, Elias
Original Air Date: 09/16/1966
MOD Audio
SID.20080107
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. 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.
ADRIANA LECOUVREUR:Cilea
Abbado; Freni, Lima, Toczyska, Milnes
Original Air Date: 03/19/1994
SID.20080208
Fedora turned out to be a much more congenial role for her late period. Tocyzyska is always an alert performer.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Klobucar; Kónya, Arroyo, Dvoráková, Cassel, Macurdy, Milnes
Original Air Date: 02/10/1968
SID.20080209
Milnes’s one of the solid pluses, as are Konya and Arroyo. The last of this run the following week featured James King in the title role. Dvorakova did Isolde at the Met and Senta in Philadelphia.
AIDA:Verdi
Levine; Voigt, Pavarotti, Borodina, Delavan, Bezzubenkov
Original Air Date: 01/27/2001
MOD Audio
SID.20080210
This performance commemorates the centenary of Verdi’s death, and except for the plush offered by Borodina, there is not much here. You can start to hear real stylistic limitations in Voigt’s performances (well before the surgery), but it is really quite remarkable that Pavarotti is out there at the age of 66 (!!!) as Radames. The visual was supposedly very compromised, but from the radio was OK, not more, but Giovanni Martinelli (KING of Radames with 123 Met performances from 1915-1943!!!!!! was only 58 at his last Met effort) Give Pavarotti another listen.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Levine; Hynninen, Freni, Hadley, Walker, Sotin
Original Air Date: 03/25/1989
MOD Audio
SID.20080211
This is a solid cast, but not a native Russian anywhere around. Sotin is especially odd casting, unlike a full out bass as Gremin.
ERNANI:Verdi
Schippers; Corelli, Price, Sereni, Siepi
Original Air Date: 04/10/1965
MOD Audio
SID.20080212
The Met has two outstanding Ernani broadcasts from the mid 1960s, both with Schippers and Leontyne Price. The first is with Bergonzi and MacNeil, and the second features the special contributions of Corelli and Siepi. Luckily both are on MOoD, with the first also issued on Sony Historical CD. Both these performances belong in every Verdi lover’s playlist. Ernani was back later with Domingo in the baritone role; his only Met appearance in the title role was in 1971 (not broadcast).
COSÌ FAN TUTTE:Mozart
Bicket; Car, Malfi, Stober, Bliss, Pisaroni, Finley
Original Air Date: 02/18/2020
SID.20080214
Coney Island once again comes to the stage of the Met with the first revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular staging inspired by the side shows of the boardwalk. The pairs of young lovers are a casting dream: soprano Nicole Car, mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi, tenor Ben Bliss, and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, with the glorious bass-baritone Gerald Finley as the cynical Don Alfonso and the charming soprano Heidi Stober as the mischievous maid Despina. Harry Bicket conducts. Co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera In collaboration with Improbable
DER ROSENKAVALIER:Strauss
Levine; von Otter, Gessendorf, Hawlata, Grant Murphy, Hornik, Elias, Senechal, Olsen
Original Air Date: 03/04/1995
SID.20080315
Murphy is the main drag on this performance, but Gessendorf who has almost no commercial recording career is a creditable vocal Marschallin. Because Rosenkavalier seems to still be hobbled on rights, we still don’t have Steber with Reiner, Ludwig as Oktavian in 1959, and Tomowa-Sintow or Gwyneth Jones as Marschallin.
THE MERRY WIDOW:Lehár
Fisch; von Stade, Hagegård, Welch-Babidge, Groves
Original Air Date: 12/23/2000
SID.20080316
This is the second year of the production originally mounted for Von Stade with Domingo. The production is by Tim Albery who was also responsible for Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Britten centenary. It’s not often that anything in English translation is on Sirius, but this is. Now if only they could have some of much worthier English translation evenings like Arabella and Cosi fan tutte with Steber and some of the great Boris Godunovs of the 1950s and 60s.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Benini; Mattei, DiDonato, Flórez, Del Carlo, Relyea
Original Air Date: 03/24/2007
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.20080317
This is a simulcast of the first season Live in HD videocast. It’s the only matinee broadcast appearance of Mattei, DiDonato and Florez together, and they are a splendid trio.
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO:Mozart
Meister; Woodbury, Müller, Crebassa, McCormick, Dupuis, Plachetka, Muraro
Original Air Date: 02/22/2020
SID.20080640
Two outstanding casts—including sopranos Nadine Sierra, Anita Hartig, Susanna Phillips, and Hanna-Elisabeth Müller; mezzo-sopranos Gaëlle Arquez and Marianne Crebassa; baritone Mariusz Kwiecien; and bass-baritones Luca Pisaroni and Adam Plachetka—come together for Mozart’s scintillating class comedy. Antonello Manacorda and Cornelius Meister conduct Sir Richard Eyre’s fast-paced production. Production a gift of Mercedes T. Bass, and Jerry and Jane del Missier Revival a gift of the Metropolitan Opera Club
Intermission
Backstage Pass – Loren Toolajian interviews Amanda Woodbury, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Etienne Dupuis, Adam Plachetka
Mary Jo Hearth interviews General Manager Peter Gelb about the 2020-2021 Season
SIMON BOCCANEGRA:Verdi
Molinari-Pradelli; MacNeil, Tucci, Shirley, Hines, Milnes
Original Air Date: 12/14/1968
SID.20090102
This is MacNeil’s only broadcast Doge, and is almost as notable for Milnes’ turn as Paolo emulating Leonard Warren who had debuted as Paolo in 1939 and premiered a new Met production less than a week before his untimely death onstage. Hines lacks the profile if not the voice for one of the most interesting of Verdi’s bass roles. Tucci and Shirley are decent if not as megawatt as Tebaldi and Tucker or Milanov and Bergonzi in past times, and Te Kanawa and Domingo in more recent times (though even that is more than 25 years ago now). It should be in MOoD. In two complete misses on Boccanegra, the 1974 revival had two outstanding portrayals under Eherling: Ingvar Wixell in the title role, and Maliponte as Amelia. Tucker is on exceptional late form as well. Historically there are only two broadcasts 1935 and 1939 with Lawrence Tibbett and Ezio Pinza under Panizza should be added to the MOoD archive.
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR:Donizetti
Cleva; Callas, Votipka, McCracken, Sordello, Campora, Franke, Moscona
Original Air Date: 12/08/1956
MOD Audio
SID.20090103
The matinée of Lucia di Lammermoor on December 8, 1956, represents the sole Met broadcast of Maria Callas (1923-77). Callas’s Met career was frustratingly meager: in three seasons, she sang just twenty-one performances. Her company debut, in Norma, on October 29, 1956, was preceded by artistic triumphs in Europe and Chicago and an avalanche of pre-opening publicity; in his memoirs, Met general manager Rudolf Bing called Callas’s debut – undoubtedly the most exciting of all such in my time at the Metropolitan. The soprano’s first two Met seasons were colored by her dissatisfaction with some of the aging stagings in which the company presented her: the Lucia, for example, dated from 1942, although the soprano wore costumes designed by Ebe Colciaghi for a 1954 La Scala production. A disagreement with Bing over proposed repertory for 1958-59 ended with the diva’s well-publicized ‘firing’; Callas did not return to the Met until 1965, when she sang two Toscas, her final opera performances in the U.S. Callas’s Lucia conductor was Fausto Cleva (1902-71), the Trieste-born maestro who led seventeen of her Met appearances. The afternoon’s Edgardo was Italian lyric tenor Giuseppe Campora (1923-2004), who had joined the Met roster in 1955, as Rodolfo. Enzo Sordello (b. 1927), Callas’s Enrico, was the focus of the soprano’s wrath when she claimed that the Italian baritone held the final note of the ‘Se tradirmi’ duet too long; heard today, Sordello’s action seems the result of confusion rather than malice. Nevertheless, in his memoirs, Bing claims that he canceled the balance of the baritone’s contract after the Lucia matinée contretemps. Greek bass Nicola Moscona (1907-75) sang fifty-seven Lucia Raimondos during his twenty-five seasons with the company; the first of his more than 700 Met performances was as Ramfis in 1937. An even more impressive Lucia record-holder was Ohio-born soprano Thelma Votipka (1906-72), whose more than 1,400 Met performances during her twenty-nine seasons with the company included 116 Alisas. Another American, tenor James McCracken (1926-88), shone as the afternoon’s Normanno; then in his fourth season of singing comprimario parts at the Met, McCracken would leave the company to build his resumé in Europe in the late 1950s. McCracken returned to the Met in triumph in 1963 as the Moor in a new production of Otello and remained one of the company’s best-loved stars until his death.
CARMEN:Bizet
Abel; Dunleavy, Knoop Very, Graves, Perez, Shicoff, Stevenson, Tézier, Josephson, Boutros, Wells
Original Air Date: 01/18/2003
SID.20090104
Shicoff is not a bad Jose, but this is not the most exciting Carmen. In the house, Graves could be quite an attractive Carmen.
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO:Verdi
Schippers; Tebaldi, Tucker, Sereni, Hines, Dunn, Baccaloni
Original Air Date: 03/12/1960
MOD Audio
SID.20090105
Tebaldi and Tucker are famous for their roles in FORZA, but except for two performances in 1956, and the FORZA preceding this broadcast which was halted because of the onstage death of Leonard Warren, these are their only appearances together in it. Tebaldi is not at the vocal peak of her 1958 Naples video (with Corelli and Bastianini) or her Florence performances with Mitropoulos and Del Monaco, but there is still much to enjoy. Leonora is one of Verdi’s greatest challenges, and most performers just don’t have the stuff.
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Schippers; Albanese, Hurley, Bergonzi, Sereni, Scott
Original Air Date: 02/15/1958
MOD Audio
SID.20090106
This classic performance has been issued on Sony Classical Historical Met CD series as well as MOoD. Albanese goes back more than two decades for her recorded Mimi with Gigli, the classic Toscanini set with Peerce, and this solid performance from Bergonzi. Sereni was the first choice Marcello most evenings, though there are a few appearances by Bastianini and Merrill, but after Scotti’s 146 Marcellos, Sereni is next with 76 and Frank Guarrera third at 71. MacNeil had four park concert Marcellos with the Met, but never in the house onstage. The August 2014 rebroadcast was part of the extensive memorial the Met and Sirius broadcast that week on the occasion of Bergonzi’s passing. A Met singer most beloved. Worth tracking down that 2014 citation for the whole week as many of his broadcasts are on MOoD.
LULU:Berg
Levine; Malfitano, Mazura, Troyanos, Hamilton, Foldi
Original Air Date: 04/02/1988
SID.20090107
Lulu is not a regular item for many, but Mazura and Troyanos were specialists, and Leighton Kerner, the late Village Voice critic found her the most satisfying of 11 Lulus he had encountered. It’s sad that the Dexter production which was telecast with Migenes (replacing Stratas) has not made its way to Met OperaonDemand, but is on a Met issued DVD in the Levine 40th anniversary DVD box.