THE RAKE’S PROGRESS:Stravinsky
Original Air Date: 04/19/2003
Levine; Upshaw, Blythe, Groves, Ramey
MOD Audio SID.18440210
Rake’s Progress had its American premiere under Fritz Reiner on a Met broadcast. I saw this Jonathan Miller production when it was new in 1998 with the same cast as above except Jerry Hadley was the Tom Rakewell. I find the work cold, and though very well prepared, the Miller production did not make it one whit more interesting.
WERTHER:Massenet
Original Air Date: 01/10/2004
Lacombe; Alagna, Kasarova, Petrova, Schaldenbrand
MOD Audio SID.18440211
Alagna has had steady employment at the Met in the last decade and his Werther is a solid accomplishment. Kasarova was not to my taste in the theater and even less so in audio only.
8/11/2013 – Alagna made a hasty exit around the time of 9/11 and with the new Faust production (with Isokowski and Pape under Levine) in 2003. The following year this Werther showed him on good behavior, but I find Kasarova’s voice totally wrong for Massenet, and she didn’t make for much electricity with Alagna. Werther is more popular than Manon these days– a good bit shorter, and the Manon leads harder to cast well. In light of the mercurial (and new papa to be) Alagna, it will be interesting to hear this again.
2/24/2012 – Kasarova took multiple attempts before finally showing up at the Met, and I felt her unusual timbre was not a good fit for Charlotte, nor an especially congenial match for Alagna. In many ways I feel as if Alagna sings better today. Let’s see if I feel the same way listening to this broadcast.
4/21/2011 – When I saw this in the house in 2004 with this cast I was pretty disappointed. This was when Alagna’s singing was not really appealing at all. He had the style down, but I wish he would return to Werther with the kind of singing he has been doing the last two seasons. Both of Kraus’ fine performances (one with Crespin, the other with von Stade) are on Met Player.
FAUST:Gounod
Original Air Date: 12/10/2011
Nézet-Séguin; Kaufmann, Poplavskaya, Pape, Braun, Losier
Live in HDMOD Video SID.18440212
Nezet-Seguin’s conducting was one of the best things he’s done at the Met, and both Kaufmann and Pape were excellent if not exactly erasing aural memories of Bjorling and Siepi (1950 and 1959). The two blots for me were Poplavskaya as Marguerite and the misconceived production by Des McAnuff which will not disturb listening.
CARMEN:Bizet
Original Air Date: 10/30/2018
Wellber; Yu, Margaine, Lee, Ketelsen
SID.18440214
Live Broadcast * PROGRAM
Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine reprises her remarkable portrayal of opera’s ultimate seductress, a triumph in her 2017 debut performances, with impassioned tenors Yonghoon Lee and Roberto Alagna as her lover, Don José. Omer Meir Wellber and Louis Langrée share conducting duties for Sir Richard Eyre’s powerful production, a Met favorite since its 2009 premiere.
Production a gift of Mrs. Paul Desmarais Sr.
MACBETH:Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/18/1982
Levine; Milnes, Scotto, Plishka, Jenkins
MOD Audio SID.18440315
“This is the first year of the new production by Peter Hall, which was heavily booed (deservedly– i was there) on its opening night. There is a second year of the production with the cast repeating except with Ciannella for Jenkins. Scotto never had the right voice for the part, and though Deutekom was a very successful Lady Macbeth (not at the Met) she had a knife edge upper register which was not Scotto’s.
Milnes is almost two decades into his Met career, and he is better heard earlier with Arroyo (one of the most securely vocalized of Lady Macbeths in Met history; she was not especially memorable dramatically, but Verdi’s notes are well honored.)
Met Macbeths with Netrebko , Rysanek (first season especially), and Dalis (despite a very wayward D flat) are all to be preferred to Scotto’s effort.”This is the first year of the new production by Peter Hall, which was heavily booed (deservedly– i was there) on its opening night. There is a second year of the production with the cast repeating except with Ciannella for Jenkins. Scotto never had the right voice for the part, and though Deutekom was a very successful Lady Macbeth (not at the Met) she had a knife edge upper register which was not Scotto’s.
Milnes is almost two decades into his Met career, and he is better heard earlier with Arroyo (one of the most securely vocalized of Lady Macbeths in Met history; she was not especially memorable dramatically, but Verdi’s notes are well honored.)
Met Macbeths with Netrebko , Rysanek (first season especially), and Dalis (despite a very wayward D flat) are all to be preferred to Scotto’s effort.
ARABELLA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/05/1983
Leinsdorf; Te Kanawa, Weikl, Battle, Rendall, Dunn, Gramm
MOD Audio SID.18440316
This new production was the first time in German at the Met. Te Kanawa sings beautifully but for anyone who has heard the prior broadcasts from Steber and Della Casa, it’s just not in the same league. Battle and Weikl are strong vocal support.
THE GREAT GATSBY:Harbison
Original Air Date: 01/01/2000
Levine; Hadley, Upshaw, Croft, Graham, Baker, Lieberson
MOD Audio SID.18440320
Levine is a great promoter of Harbison’s work, but I miss the appeal.
First appearance of Hunt Lieberson whose only other role was Didon in the new Troyens production whose broadcast marks Hunt Lieberson’s Met farewell in February 2003 before her untimely death in July 2006.
SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Original Air Date: 04/12/1958
Cleva; Del Monaco, Stevens, Singher
MOD Audio SID.18440321
Del Monaco never did a studio version of Samson so this performance is welcome. Stevens I never saw live, but I want a more settled, glamorous sound for Dalila.
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 I am happy to have it since Del Monaco never did a studio version
12/5/16 ***I am not a huge fan of the audio only Stevens’ Dalila, but this performance with a fine High Priest from Singher certainly is not wanting for vocal voltage. This performance is available on MetPlayer as well. 1/16/12
TOSCA:Puccini
Original Air Date: 11/02/2018
Rizzi; Radvanovsky, Calleja, Koch, Carfizzi
Live Broadcast SID.18440535
Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/05/1964
Varviso; Sutherland; Kónya, Herlea, Giaiotti
MOD Audio SID.18450102
Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/09/2006
Levine; van Rensburg, Röschmann, Deshorties, Kozená. Francis
MOD Audio SID.18450103
Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 04/10/1999
Gergiev; Domingo, Gorchakova, Söderström, Hvorostovsky, Borodina, Putilin
MOD AudioMOD Video SID.18450104
Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/04/1959
Cleva; Gari, Rysanek, Merrill, Thebom, Hines, Uhde
MOD Audio SID.18450105
Puccini
Original Air Date: 03/21/1981
Levine; Zylis-Gara, Ciannella, Elvira, Capecchi
SID.18450106
Gounod
Original Air Date: 04/13/1968
Molinari-Pradelli; Gedda, Freni, Macurdy, Baldwin, Reardon
SID.18450107
Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/19/1987
Bonynge; Pavarotti, Sutherland, Verrett, Nucci, De Grandis
MOD Audio SID.18450208
Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/04/1976
Levine; Kollo, Lorengar, Dunn, McIntyre, Giaiotti
SID.18450209
Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/04/1976
Levine; Kollo, Lorengar, Dunn, McIntyre, Giaiotti
SID.18450210
Rossini
Original Air Date: 01/17/1976
Schippers; Sills, Verrett, Di Giuseppe, Díaz
SID.18450211
Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/02/1944
Szell; Traubel, Janssen, Bampton, Melchior, Thorborg, Kipnis
MOD Audio SID.18450212
Giordano
Original Air Date: 04/26/1997
Abbado; Freni, Domingo, Croft, Arteta
MOD Video SID.18450213
Mozart
Original Air Date: 03/04/1967
Krips; Raskin, Shirley, Uppman, Peters, Macurdy
MOD Audio SID.18450214
Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/09/1991
Kout; Ziegler, Gessendorf, Haugland, Kilduff, Meredith
SID.18450316
Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/11/1995
Levine; Chernov, Millo, Domingo, Scandiuzzi, Pola
SID.18450318
MARNIE : Nico Muhly
Original Air Date: 11/07/2018
Cast: Spano; Leonard, Kelly, Graves, Davies, Maltman
Media: Live Broadcast SID.
Composer Nico Muhly unveils his second new opera for the Met with this gripping reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel, set in the 1950s, about a beautiful, mysterious young woman who assumes multiple identities. Director Michael Mayer and his creative team have devised a fast-moving, cinematic world for this exhilarating story of denial and deceit, which also inspired a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the enigmatic Marnie, and baritone Christopher Maltman is the man who pursues her—with disastrous results. Robert Spano conducts.
Music by Nico Muhly, libretto by Nicholas Wright, based on the novel by Winston Graham
Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera
By special arrangement with Universal Pictures
MEFISTOFELE : Boito
Original Air Date: 11/08/2018
Cast: Rizzi; Meade, Fabiano, Van Horn, Check
SID.18450000
* Live Broadcast * Program
The spectacular Robert Carsen production returns to the Met for the first time since 2000, with bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the diabolical title character, tenor Michael Fabiano as Faust, and soprano Angela Meade as Margherita. Mefistofele is the celebrated and only completed opera by Arrigo Boito—who famously collaborated with Verdi on the libretti for Otello and Falstaff.
Production co-owned by the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco
OperaProduction a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Julian H. Robertson, Jr. and Mrs. and
Mrs. Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr.
Additional funding by the Rose and Robert Edelman Foundation, Inc.
MARNIE : Nico Muhly
Original Air Date: 11/10/2018
Cast: Spano; Leonard, Kelly, Graves, Davies, Maltman
Media: Live Broadcast SID.18450600
Composer Nico Muhly unveils his second new opera for the Met with this gripping reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel, set in the 1950s, about a beautiful, mysterious young woman who assumes multiple identities. Director Michael Mayer and his creative team have devised a fast-moving, cinematic world for this exhilarating story of denial and deceit, which also inspired a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the enigmatic Marnie, and baritone Christopher Maltman is the man who pursues her—with disastrous results. Robert Spano conducts.
Music by Nico Muhly, libretto by Nicholas Wright, based on the novel by Winston Graham
Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera
A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera
By special arrangement with Universal Pictures
Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/05/1935
Panizza; Ponselle, Jagel, Tibbett
SID.18460102
Rossini
Original Air Date: 04/07/1973
Levine; Prey, Horne, Di Giuseppe, Corena, Tozzi
MOD Audio SID.18460103
Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 02/24/2007
Gergiev; Hvorostovsky, Fleming, Vargas, Zaremba, Aleksashkin
Live in HDMOD AudioMOD Video SID.18460104