Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/14/1985
Levine; Raimondi, Battle, Vaness, Allen, von Stade
MOD VideoMOD Audio SID.18510745
This performance surfaced in its video format both on MOoD, and in the Levine 40th anniversary DVD box. This is a Ponnelle production, and has its usual pluses and minuses. Vaness misses just a bit of superstar quality (her Fiordiligi and Donna Anna are more distinctive).
Raimondi is not my favorite singer, but Levine is at his best in Mozart and the ensemble is very strong. I’ve enjoyed re-acquainting myself with this performance over the last year and have played it several times. This is his first season of Figaro at the Met, an opera he would conduct more than 77 times in 3 new productions (Ponnelle, Jonathan Miller, Richard Eyre.). Amazingly 3 of the matinee broadcasts have not been done again.
For the record: March 21, 1992 features Upshaw , Schuman, Von Stade, Furlanetto, Hampson, Moll December 5, 1998 features Bonney/Guyer, Lott, Mentzer, Croft, Terfel Feb. 12, 2005 features Rost, Watson, Perez, Relyea, Kwiecien.
One run of Nozze with Levine was not broadcast and that featured Dorothea Roschmann and Anja Harteros in their Met debuts. I remember these performances very well, and in the current Gelb/Sirius era, we would have had at least one if not a couple of these on the radio, The 1992 would be especially welcome for the Furlanetto/Hampson combination (which is also on their complete DG recording).
Donizetti
Original Air Date: 03/05/1966
Schippers; Bergonzi, Peters, Corena, Guarrera
MOD Audio SID.18510746
This performance has been issued in Sony’s Historic Met CD series. Also on MOoD is Bergonzi and Corena partnered by Scotto and Sereni who I think are better matches in this opera.One cannot lose with Bergonzi and Corena.
Mozart
Original Air Date: 03/25/1978
Bonynge; Morris, Sutherland, Bacquier, Varady, Brecknock, Tourangeau
MOD Audio SID.18510641
This is Julia Varady’s only season and broadcast from the Met, and earns a well-deserved place in MOoD. The missing piece is that 9 days earlier the Met telecast this, and it operatic stage. Traubel has never appeared in any form. There is so little Sutherland video from the Met. Of particular interest is Bacquier in his only season as Leporello and Morris makes a youthful but powerful Don. It also captures the last of the Berman production. The video please! Also Sutherland’s only other Donna Anna from the Met is from opening season of the new house at Lincoln Center under Karl Bohm with Siepi, Flagello, and Giaiotti with Lorengar as the Elvira. This has not been recently discussed on SIrius in 5 years and should be in MOoD.
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / PAGLIACCI:Mascagni / Leoncavallo
Original Air Date: 02/10/2007
Armiliato; Zajick, Licitra, Delavan / Licitra, Stoyanova, Ataneli
SID.18520102
The leading performances here are from the two female leads, Zajick and Stoyanova. Armiliato is much more involved than usual and the sound is unusually good. This is scheduled presumably as part of the memorial to Licitra. I think the Trittico shows him off to better effect. Zajick is a solid Santuzza, and I rather like Stoyanova, but not a great afternoon.
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/19/1953
Erede; Güden, Conley, Fenn, Merrill, Scott
MOD Audio SID.18520103
This is the only season Merrill has Marcello, and broadcasts it twice, once in English, and once in Italian. I would love to hear the English language broadcast with Nadine Conner and Richard Tucker (whom Virgil Thomson thinks is ill matched to Conner), but among our many denials, translations are basically off-limits unless they are Janacek or the Dietz/Kanin Fledermaus from 1950.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 02/23/2002
Jurowski; Hampson, Kringelborn, Giordani, Karnéus, Lloyd
MOD Audio SID.18520104
Jurowski is on especially congenial turf, but my memories of Kringelborn are not quite so positive. Hampson has a commercial Onegin in English with te Kanawa under Mackerras. I love the opera, but my favorite Met archival broadcasts are with Yuri Mazurok –he has two Onegin broadcasts from 1979 (adjacent season).
ROMÉO ET JULIETTE:Gounod
Original Air Date: 04/18/1970
Lombard; Corelli, Pilou, Díaz, Baldwin, Reardon
SID.18520105
This is the earliest of Corelli’s three broadcasts as Romeo, but already quite a dropoff from his first Met Romeos 2 seasons earlier. His 1974 Romeo with Judith Blegen is on Met Player, but that also catches him far from his best. I like Pilou and liked her Juliette very much.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/03/1993
Levine; Jones, Morris, Gessendorf, Lakes, Ludwig, Salminen
SID.18520106
This is Gwyneth Jones’ second Walkure Brunnhilde broadcast, her earlier one in 1983 was with Behrens as Sieglinde. This broadcast marks Christa Ludwig’s farewell to the Met in one of her signature roles. Mechthild Gessendorf sings one of the very best broadcast Sieglindes with gleaming tone at the top and a solid rich middle and lower voice. This broadcast is definitely worthy of your attention.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/03/1993
Levine; Jones, Morris, Gessendorf, Lakes, Ludwig, Salminen
SID.18520107
This is Gwyneth Jones’ second Walkure Brunnhilde broadcast, her earlier one in 1983 was with Behrens as Sieglinde. This broadcast marks Christa Ludwig’s farewell to the Met in one of her signature roles. Mechthild Gessendorf sings one of the very best broadcast Sieglindes with gleaming tone at the top and a solid rich middle and lower voice. This broadcast is definitely worthy of your attention.
RODELINDA:Handel
Original Air Date: 05/06/2006
Summers; Fleming, Scholl, van Rensburg, Blythe, Dumaux, Relyea
MOD Video SID.18520427
This performance in the second season of the production and Scholl’s first appearance at the Met. There was a third broadcast which includes an HD moviecast of Rodelinda with Fleming and Scholl under Bicket (whom I prefer to Summers) but the intervening 4 years do not benefit either Fleming or Scholl. This video is available also in MOoD so you can compare for yourself. I like Scholl much more than David Daniels so this is my preferred Rodelinda.
SALOME:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/30/1996
Runnicles; Malfitano, Riegel, Schwarz, Weikl, Baker
SID.18520209
This performance is notable as Weikl’s last Met season and his last staged performance was four days later. Schwarz is a forceful Herodias, but Riegel is a bit light for my taste as Herod. Malfitano is OK, but I never want to return to her work very much.
FIDELIO:Beethoven
Original Air Date: 02/16/1991
Perick; Connell, Lakes, Welker, Moll, Donath, Kaasch
SID.18520210
This revival comes in for some harsh words from Tim Page, and this broadcast marks the late Elizabeth Connell’s farewell to the Met. She has a more considerable overall career than her appearances at the Met show, but this Fidelio does not help much. Moll and Donath are the two members of the A team, but Rocco and Marzelline are not the essential casting for Fidelio, though I certainly appreciate good singers in the canon quartet.
ESCLARMONDE:Massenet
Original Air Date: 12/11/1976
Bonynge; Sutherland, Aragall, Tourangeau, Grant
MOD Audio SID.18520211
This is the Met’s only broadcast of Esclarmonde, and the performance in addition to the predictable glitter from Sutherland, captures Aragall in one of his best performances. For many, his material was the best of absolute best, and the new generation of tenors in the 1970s, but it never quite all came together. Here is the exception. Enjoy.
RIGOLETTO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/03/1979
Stivender; MacNeil, Blegen, Alexander, Hines, Jones
SID.18520212
This is MacNeil’s final Met broadcast of the title role– he has the house record at 102 (5 broadcasts); I wish Sirius would roll out MacNeil’s first Rigoletto broadcast from 1960, when he is really in super-baritone form or even 1964 with Bergonzi’s first Duke broadcast. Blegen is tied for fourth after Peters (88!!!!!! one for every piano key), Pons, and Swenson who are tied for second. Blegen’s earlier broadcast is on Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) and she is one of my favorite Gildas. Alexander is a dependable Duke, but he has some stiff competition . He was a fine musician, marvelous colleague, and sustained among the most-wide ranging Met repertoire (and without need of transpositions). A very favored colleague of Sutherland, Caballe, Sills, and Levine.
CARMEN:Bizet
Original Air Date: 03/21/1987
Levine; Baltsa, Carreras, Cotrubas, Ramey
SID.18520213
Baltsa has two runs at the Met, her debut year in 1980 as Octavian in Rosenkavalier, and 7 years later a run in Carmen including a telecast (long available on DVD, except Mitchell for Cotrubas). She then returns for a gala concert with Domingo in 1988 and she is gone. Database is not marked as final appearance, but I wouldn’t bet on her returning. This performance is available on MOoD (formerly Met Player), but the most distinctive performance is Ramey. This is Carreras final broadcast and only two appearances away from the end of his Met career due to illness (he does one more Carmen with Isola Jones, and then comes back for an Act 4 of Carmen with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson on a gala evening (not broadcast) with Domingo and Pavarotti as well 13 years after finishing the Carmen run.
DAS RHEINGOLD:Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/27/1951
Stiedry; Hotter, Harshaw, Svanholm, Davidson, Hines, Ernster
MOD Audio SID.18520214
Hans Hotter’s MET debut season. This performance is taken from the “Wagner at the Met” CD box set. The chief vocal interest lies in Hotter’s broadcast of Wotan – one of only two Ring performances he broadcast from the Met; the other was Hunding (not Wotan) in Walkure in 1954. Branzell returns to the Met after a seven year absence and moves down from Fricka to Erda, appearing in two Rheingolds and three Siegfrieds in 1951. Her Met career spans 27 years from 1924 -1951 and 412 performances. Paul Jackson, in his survey of Met broadcasts, is not enamored of Stiedry’s conducting. I still hope this means we will hear the rest of the 1951 Ring on Sirius soon – which includes Traubel’s Siegfried & Gotterdammerung Brunnhildes; Jackson is especially fond of her Siegfried even though she omits the few Bs and Cs of the role..
RODELINDA:Handel
Original Air Date: 05/06/2006
Summers; Fleming, Scholl, van Rensburg, Blythe, Dumaux, Relyea
MOD Video SID.18520427
This performance in the second season of the production and Scholl’s first appearance at the Met. There was a third broadcast which includes an HD moviecast of Rodelinda with Fleming and Scholl under Bicket (whom I prefer to Summers) but the intervening 4 years do not benefit either Fleming or Scholl. This video is available also in MOoD so you can compare for yourself. I like Scholl much more than David Daniels so this is my preferred Rodelinda.
LA TRAVIATA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/26/2018
Nézet-Séguin; Damrau, Flórez (cancelled), Costello, Kelsey
SID.18520321
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Michael Mayer’s richly textured new production, featuring a dazzling 19th-century setting that changes with the seasons. Soprano Diana Damrau plays the tragic heroine, Violetta, and tenor Juan Diego Flórez returns to the Met for the first time since 2015 to sing the role of Alfredo, Violetta’s hapless lover. Baritone Quinn Kelsey is Alfredo’s father, Germont, who destroys their love. Later performances feature Anita Hartig, Stephen Costello, Artur Ruciński, and Plácido Domingo.
REVIEW: The Met Turns the Tragedy of ‘Traviata’ Into Dull Disney Schmaltz By James Jorden • 12/05/18 – Well, you have to give the Met credit for accomplishing a feat no other opera company in the world could—or should. At Tuesday’s gala new production of La Traviata, the company managed to downgrade Verdi’s masterpiece of musical drama to a kitschy Disney musical. The prime culprit in this act of artistic vandalism is director Michael Mayer, who seems to have no handle at all on this classic tale of a courtesan inspired by true love to make the most profound sacrifice. In the great duet in the second act, for example, when the penitent Violetta confronts Germont, the morally outraged father of her lover, the singers circled listlessly around a bed that hogged center stage through all three acts.
Review: La Traviata’ Opens a New Era at the Met Opera By Anthony Tommasini Dec. 5, 2018 ….””To begin his tenure as the company’s music director, Mr. Nézet-Séguin led an uncommonly fine rendition of Verdi’s “La Traviata,” in a new staging by Michael Mayer that stars the soprano Diana Damrau and the tenor Juan Diego Flórez. And in a rare gesture of respect and good will, the Met’s musicians joined Mr. Nézet-Séguin on stage for a bow after the show.
“
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/19/1953
Erede; Güden, Conley, Fenn, Merrill, Scott
MOD Audio SID.18520103
This is the only season Merrill has Marcello, and broadcasts it twice, once in English, and once in Italian. I would love to hear the English language broadcast with Nadine Conner and Richard Tucker (whom Virgil Thomson thinks is ill matched to Conner), but among our many denials, translations are basically off-limits unless they are Janacek or the Dietz/Kanin Fledermaus from 1950.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 02/23/2002
Jurowski; Hampson, Kringelborn, Giordani, Karnéus, Lloyd
MOD Audio SID.18520423
Jurowski is on especially congenial turf, but my memories of Kringelborn are not quite so positive. Hampson has a commercial Onegin in English with te Kanawa under Mackerras. I love the opera, but my favorite Met archival broadcasts are with Yuri Mazurok –he has two Onegin broadcasts from 1979 (adjacent season).
AIDA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/06/1976
Levine; Price, Domingo, Horne, MacNeil, Giaiotti
MOD Audio SID.18520424
Three of Domingo’s 14 Met Radames were over the airwaves, and this is the first. In the Sirius listing, James Morris is left off as King. This is the kind of Aida bass tandem we were used to until the last two decades. Giaiotti is one of the best Ramfis around. I’m not a fan of Horne’s Amneris, and this is her only Met season in the role. She’s a major artist, but not a Verdi mezzo. Price is heard to better advantage in earlier performances, especially 1963 and 1965.
ESCLARMONDE:Massenet
Original Air Date: 12/11/1976
Bonynge; Sutherland, Aragall, Tourangeau, Grant
MOD Audio SID.18520530
This is the Met’s only broadcast of Esclarmonde, and the performance in addition to the predictable glitter from Sutherland, captures Aragall in one of his best performances. For many, his material was the best of absolute best, and the new generation of tenors in the 1970s, but it never quite all came together. Here is the exception. Enjoy.
DAS RHEINGOLD:Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/27/1951
Stiedry; Hotter, Harshaw, Svanholm, Davidson, Hines, Ernster
MOD Audio SID.18520533
Hans Hotter’s MET debut season. This performance is taken from the “Wagner at the Met” CD box set. The chief vocal interest lies in Hotter’s broadcast of Wotan – one of only two Ring performances he broadcast from the Met; the other was Hunding (not Wotan) in Walkure in 1954. Branzell returns to the Met after a seven year absence and moves down from Fricka to Erda, appearing in two Rheingolds and three Siegfrieds in 1951. Her Met career spans 27 years from 1924 -1951 and 412 performances. Paul Jackson, in his survey of Met broadcasts, is not enamored of Stiedry’s conducting. I still hope this means we will hear the rest of the 1951 Ring on Sirius soon – which includes Traubel’s Siegfried & Gotterdammerung Brunnhildes; Jackson is especially fond of her Siegfried even though she omits the few Bs and Cs of the role..
LA BOHÈME:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/19/1953
Erede; Güden, Conley, Fenn, Merrill, Scott
MOD Audio SID.18520534
This is the only season Merrill has Marcello, and broadcasts it twice, once in English, and once in Italian. I would love to hear the English language broadcast with Nadine Conner and Richard Tucker (whom Virgil Thomson thinks is ill matched to Conner), but among our many denials, translations are basically off-limits unless they are Janacek or the Dietz/Kanin Fledermaus from 1950.
DON CARLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/05/1952
Stiedry; Tucker, Rigal, Silveri, Barbieri, Hines, Hotter
MOD Audio SID.18520636
This is most distinctive for being Tucker’s first Don Carlo broadcast and one of Hotter’s few. This is the first of Tucker’s three Don Carlo broadcasts, and I find his 1955 preferable. What I’ve never heard, but also from 1952 (but next season) is his second which has a better supporting cast with Merrill for Silveri, and Siepi for Hines as Filippo; Erede is in the pit for his only Don Carlo broadcast. Also unusual is that though Tucker went on to sing the opera for 15 more years after his 1955 broadcast with Steber, he never went to the airwaves for it again. At 26 performances, he is by far the Don Carlo champion– I saw him in it three times. most notably at a fall 1968 matinee not broadcast with (Orlandi, Verrett, Merrill, Ghiaurov, and Talvela under Abbado). Bing did not see Hotter in leading roles and in Walkure he was cast as Hunding, not Wotan. What has not been rebroadcast on Sirius is Hotter’s farewell which is a 1954 Parsifal with Svanholm, Varnay, and London, and Hotter as Gurnemanz under Stiedry. I would love to hear that.
THE MAGIC FLUTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/29/2018
Bicket; Morley, Lewek, Bliss, Ryan, Gunn, Walker, Robinson
SID.18520000
Now a holiday tradition, Julie Taymor’s beloved production of Mozart’s enchanting fairy tale returns in its abridged, English-language version for families.
Program 122918-magic-flute
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 02/23/2002
Jurowski; Hampson, Kringelborn, Giordani, Karnéus, Lloyd
MOD Audio SID.18520743
Jurowski is on especially congenial turf, but my memories of Kringelborn are not quite so positive. Hampson has a commercial Onegin in English with te Kanawa under Mackerras. I love the opera, but my favorite Met archival broadcasts are with Yuri Mazurok –he has two Onegin broadcasts from 1979 (adjacent season).
DAS RHEINGOLD:Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/27/1951
Stiedry; Hotter, Harshaw, Svanholm, Davidson, Hines, Ernster
MOD Audio SID.18520744
Hans Hotter’s MET debut season. This performance is taken from the “Wagner at the Met” CD box set. The chief vocal interest lies in Hotter’s broadcast of Wotan – one of only two Ring performances he broadcast from the Met; the other was Hunding (not Wotan) in Walkure in 1954. Branzell returns to the Met after a seven year absence and moves down from Fricka to Erda, appearing in two Rheingolds and three Siegfrieds in 1951. Her Met career spans 27 years from 1924 -1951 and 412 performances. Paul Jackson, in his survey of Met broadcasts, is not enamored of Stiedry’s conducting. I still hope this means we will hear the rest of the 1951 Ring on Sirius soon – which includes Traubel’s Siegfried & Gotterdammerung Brunnhildes; Jackson is especially fond of her Siegfried even though she omits the few Bs and Cs of the role..
AIDA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/06/1976
Levine; Price, Domingo, Horne, MacNeil, Giaiotti
MOD Audio SID.18520747
Three of Domingo’s 14 Met Radames were over the airwaves, and this is the first. In the Sirius listing, James Morris is left off as King. This is the kind of Aida bass tandem we were used to until the last two decades. Giaiotti is one of the best Ramfis around. I’m not a fan of Horne’s Amneris, and this is her only Met season in the role. She’s a major artist, but not a Verdi mezzo. Price is heard to better advantage in earlier performances, especially 1963 and 1965.
DON CARLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/05/1952
Stiedry; Tucker, Rigal, Silveri, Barbieri, Hines, Hotter
MOD Audio SID.18520749
This is most distinctive for being Tucker’s first Don Carlo broadcast and one of Hotter’s few. This is the first of Tucker’s three Don Carlo broadcasts, and I find his 1955 preferable. What I’ve never heard, but also from 1952 (but next season) is his second which has a better supporting cast with Merrill for Silveri, and Siepi for Hines as Filippo; Erede is in the pit for his only Don Carlo broadcast. Also unusual is that though Tucker went on to sing the opera for 15 more years after his 1955 broadcast with Steber, he never went to the airwaves for it again. At 26 performances, he is by far the Don Carlo champion– I saw him in it three times. most notably at a fall 1968 matinee not broadcast with (Orlandi, Verrett, Merrill, Ghiaurov, and Talvela under Abbado). Bing did not see Hotter in leading roles and in Walkure he was cast as Hunding, not Wotan. What has not been rebroadcast on Sirius is Hotter’s farewell which is a 1954 Parsifal with Svanholm, Varnay, and London, and Hotter as Gurnemanz under Stiedry. I would love to hear that.