TRISTAN UND ISOLDE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/18/1971
Leindsorf; Thomas, Nilsson, Dalis, Tozzi, Doole
MOD Audio SID.19010641
This performance is not often rebroadcast, and is as distinctive for Leinsdorf’s sleek conducting as for Nilsson’s continued mastery of Isolde. I find Jess Thomas less ingratiating than most, but this is one of his better performances.
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/18/1971
Leindsorf; Thomas, Nilsson, Dalis, Tozzi, Doole
MOD Audio SID.19010642
This performance is not often rebroadcast, and is as distinctive for Leinsdorf’s sleek conducting as for Nilsson’s continued mastery of Isolde. I find Jess Thomas less ingratiating than most, but this is one of his better performances.
IDOMENEO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/21/1991
Levine; Heppner, Upshaw, Vaness, Mentzer, Kazaras
MOD Audio SID.19010744
This is a solid performance, and especially so for the young Heppner, and Vaness, who is probably the best Electra the Met has seen.
DER ROSENKAVALIER:Strauss
Original Air Date: 1/29/2000
Kout; Mentzer, Studer, Halfvarson, Norberg-Schulz, Opie
SID: 19010745
This is Cheryl Studer’s penultimate Met performance in her 39 performance Met career. The Met has cast Rosenkavalier more strongly, but Studer still has major Strauss credentials.
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/12/1992
Panni; Anderson, Leech, Fu, Plishka
MOD Audio SID.19020101
Nothing really saves this afternoon as can be read in the Met database listing for the second performance of this new production by Francesca Zambello which comes in for some pretty harsh treatment from Martin Mayer– far from my favorite critic, but I think he has the right bead on this performance if not the musical excellence of Lucia as a great musical achievement. A Volpe miscue of large proportions (18 performances this season). 9/3/2013 – From my comments then: This is the newly preferred Sirius Lucia which I don’t think is very good. It does feature the conducting of Marcello Panni, who died shortly after his run of La Juive at the Met.
DIE ÄGYPTISCHE HELENA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/31/2007
Luisi; Voigt, Kerl, Damrau, Grove, Brendel
MOD Audio SID.19020102
This is the Met’s only broadcast of the Strauss work and Kerl and Damrau are very impressive. I don’t love the work, but like most Strauss, it has its moments. It’s repeated too often in rotation which in no way approximates its importance in the Strauss canon. This was the first Met production in more than eight decades. I love the awakening scene, but for me it’s one of the weaker Strauss works. I shouldn’t complain. No Strauss at all this season or next. To date this is the only Met matinee broadcast of this uncommon Strauss work. The strongest profile is from Damrau who is an excellent Aithra. The opera has some great moments, and was one of Met
audience’s first chances to encounter Luisi, now the Principal Conductor.
COSÌ FAN TUTTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 03/15/1997
Isepp; Vaness, Croft, Graham, Gunn, McLaughlin, Shimell
SID.19020103
This is the season after the Bartoli run as Despina also with Vaness. Most of the interest in this broadcast centers on Richard Croft now in Satyagraha and Susan Graham for whom this is an early broadcast. Her second Dorabella run is in 2001 has also been on Sirius. For Vaness fans she has two Cosi broadcasts from early in her Met career 1984 and 1991, and the 1984 is particularly recommended. Her Mozart singing in the early 1980s was right up there with the very best– Steber, Fleming, Lorengar, Te Kanawa.
FAUST: Gounod
Original Air Date: 12/30/1972
Benzi; Gedda, Boky, Macurdy, Manuguerra, Forst
SID.19020104
Gedda and Manuguerra are two of my favorite singers, and well cast,but neither Boky nor Macurdy is what I want in Gounod. It is indeed sad that such a Faust is presented when I can think of several Fausts which have never been on the airwaves are deserving of hearing– 12/31/1949 Pelletier Kirsten DiStefano Warren Tajo WHY NOT? 12/23/1950 Cleva Kirsten Bjorling Guarrera Siepi WHY NOT? 12/5/1953 Monteux DeLosAngeles Conley Merrill Rossi-Lemeni 2/19/1955 Monteux DeLosAngeles Peerce Merrill Siepi SIRIUS MOoD 2/4/1956 Monteux Kirsten Campora Guarrera Hines Monteux farewell 1/4/1958 Morel Guden Gedda Merrill Hines SIRIUS MOoD 12/19/1959 Morel Soderstrom Bjorling Merrill Siepi WHY NOT? 1/4/1964 Cleva Moffo Morell Ruzdak Siepi SIRIUS 4/9/1966 Pretre Fenn Gedda Walker Siepi 1/18/1969 Varviso Lorengar Gedda Merrill Siepi WHY NOT? 2/26/1972 Rich Zylis-Gara Domingo Sereni Tozzi SIRIUS MOoD 12/30/1972 Benzi Boky Gedda Manuguerra Macurdy SIRIUS 1/8/1977 Pretre Meier, Johanna Burrows Carlson Giaiotti WHY NOT? More recent Fausts are well covered, but missing Bjorling’s Faust not once but twice (he has no studio recording, and is one of the all-time Met stars). The other Why not have their points. And no, we don’t need more repetitions of the 1972 Faust with Domingo which has been overplayed in recent months.
LUISA MILLER:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/23/2002
Levine; Frittoli, Shicoff, Frontali, Tian, Ens, Graves
SID.19020105
This performance just doesn’t get off the ground, For me, though Frittoli and Frontali are at least Italianate, they are short of the critical goods necessary to really be full voiced enough for these roles; the interpreters at this new production’s fall premiere earlier in the season did not even have the stylistics. Not one of Met casting’s finest hours. A disappointing revival in a new production. Frittoli was a bit light for the role, and Shicoff would have been much better 10 years earlier. Frontali is a small scaled Miller.
TOSCA:Puccini
Original Air Date: 03/23/1957
Mitropoulos; Albanese, Barioni, Warren
SID.19020106
This performance was supposed to be Bjorling with Albanese and Warren. Tosca is not an ideal part for Albanese, but she certainly knows the idiom.
DON PASQUALE:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/21/1940
Papi; Baccaloni, Sayão, Martini, Valentino
MOD Audio SID.19020107
This is one of the older Met broadcasts to appear in the Sirius rebroadcast series. It’s also one of the best, with Baccaloni and Sayao in very top form. This is also available in MOoD.
Sayao and Baccaloni have a lot of charm in our only broadcast from the 40s this week This is also on Met Player, and it’s good to hear why Baccaloni and Sayao were so beloved. What personality even in 1940 AM sound.
MANON LESCAUT:Puccini
Original Air Date: 03/17/1990
Santi; Freni, Dvorsk, Schexnayder, Tajo
SID.19020208
This is Freni’s only Met broadcast of Manon Lescaut (she did three performances in 1984 as well), and she is one of my favorite Manons even though she is well into the veteran stage.
Dvorsky is acceptable, but not lots of good Des Grieux available in 1990 (a much more challenging part than the Massenet). Santi understands the tradition well, but I prefer Mitropoulos or Levine, both of whom are much more animated.
3/16/12 – Freni was a wonderful Manon Lescaut, but she saved it for close to the end of her career. Luckily she made a great recording with Pavarotti and Levine under Met auspices (Bartoli as the madrigal singer! Taddei as Lescaut) Still, she’s a fine Manon Lescaut, and deserves a better supporting cast and conductor than she gets.
Manon Lescaut is one Puccini that is not overdone so I always look forward to hearing it, and the Met has some great broadcasts including two Bjorlings that have been on Sirius and are in MetOpera on Demand.
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
SID.19020209
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. I am rooting for her to be good on this broadcast because she only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson.
My reaction is as qualified as Paul Jackson in his final volume on the Met broadcasts. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again I will make a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has 2 Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series.
But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.
———
12/25/11 This is from Nilsson’s last Met appearance (save the following week’s Sieglinde with Hunter!!) that she would make for 5 years, when she absented herself from the country because of tax problems. A great loss to the Met, but the years were starting to add up. Ehrling conducts a competent cycle, but the real stick in the mud in this performance is Rundgren who is definitely a non-marquee Hagen. A high profile Hagen is really essential for a good Gotterdammerung, and Chereau made the same mistake in 1978 when I saw the centennial Ring in its third season with Firtz Hubner. We’ve been very spoiled by mostly Salminen for the last 20 years. Along with Frick and Bohme and (Greindl in Europe– no loss to my ears) they have been the dominant singers of one of the great Wagner roles.
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Original Air Date: 03/29/1975
Ehrling; Nilsson, Thomas, Rundgren, Dooley, Rankin, Reynolds
SID.19020210
This is Nilsson’s final Wagner opera from the Met airwaves. I am rooting for her to be good on this broadcast because she only has two other Gotterdammerung broadcasts, the first in 1962 when she was in very fresh voice under Leinsdorf (and on Met Opera in Demand (MOoD) and 1963 under Rosenstock — originally planned for Reiner– with extensive cuts. The supporting cast with the exception of possibly Anna Reynolds’ Waltraute don’t offer much help to Nilsson.
My reaction is as qualified as Paul Jackson in his final volume on the Met broadcasts. She is still in much better voice than when she returned to the Met after a 5 year absence in Elektra. Once again I will make a plea for the Rita Hunter Gotterdammerung broadcast from the year before (where she replaces Nilsson) which features her in very fresh voice, and one of the few broadcast appearances of Helge Brilioth as Siegfried, all under Kubelik. Kubelik only has 2 Met broadcasts (Troyens is the other with Verrett, Ludwig, and Vickers) and neither has been on the Sirius rebroadcast series.
But back to Gotterdammerung, Hagen is almost as important as Brunnhilde and Siegfried, and Rundgren is distinctly second grade goods. Thomas Stewart premiered the production in 1974, but Dooley was the Gunther on both the Kubelik and this broadcast, so no broadcast record for one of Stewart’s best roles. Rankin, a well traveled mezzo mostly in the Italian wing, is a curious choice for Gutrune (maybe Kubelik had a fond memory of her Troyens Cassandra when he premiered the opera 15 years earlier at La Scala with Del Monaco and Simionato in Italian. So this Gotterdammerung will be a curiosity, but for me her 1962 broadcast and the two commercial (Decca studio and Philips live from Bayreuth are noble indeed.
———-
12/25/11 This is from Nilsson’s last Met appearance (save the following week’s Sieglinde with Hunter!!) that she would make for 5 years, when she absented herself from the country because of tax problems. A great loss to the Met, but the years were starting to add up. Ehrling conducts a competent cycle, but the real stick in the mud in this performance is Rundgren who is definitely a non-marquee Hagen. A high profile Hagen is really essential for a good Gotterdammerung, and Chereau made the same mistake in 1978 when I saw the centennial Ring in its third season with Firtz Hubner. We’ve been very spoiled by mostly Salminen for the last 20 years. Along with Frick and Bohme and (Greindl in Europe– no loss to my ears) they have been the dominant singers of one of the great Wagner roles.
ELEKTRA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/25/1961
Rosenstock; Borkh, Rysanek, Madeira, Uhde, Vinay
MOD Audio SID.19020211
Rosenstock appears for the originally scheduled Mitropoulos who had died the previous November. Still, this is a powerful cast in a masterpiece. The whole cast is top drawer, and highly recommended. This is the only Elektra Borkh and Rysanek ever did together, and they are among the very best in these roles. Nice to welcome this performance to MOoD in their 2014 reissues. For me a highlight of the week.
Rosenstock comes to the Met first in 1929, and left after one season (poor reviews compared to Bodanzky and Bodanzky returned the following season). Rosenstock returned to Germany, then to Japan for the WHOLE WWII at NHK. He gets back to New York, and starts anew at New York City Opera and succeeds Halasz as director in 1952. After 4 seasons as director, he is replaced by Julius Rudel, and then returns to the Met in 1961 replacing the recently deceased Mitropoulos.
He goes on to conduct over 250 Met performances in the next 8 years. including Tosca and Lucia on the Met tour among just about everything. He is a solid conductor, and Borkh in 1961 one of the very great Elektras.
I PURITANI:Bellini
Original Air Date: 02/01/1997
Müller; Swenson, Neill, Hampson, Miles
MOD Audio SID.19020212
The Netrebko video and the Gruberova and Sutherland Elviras are all available in MOoD as well as this one. Swenson has an attractive voice, but I don’t find her especially compelling, and the supporting cast is much better on the other performances. Cavalleria/ Pagliacci from 1988 and Idomeneo from 1991 are added into the schedule beginning Wednesday.
LA TRAVIATA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/19/1998
Rizzi; Racette, Álvarez, Chernov
SID.19020213
This production had been through multiple cast changes. Originally for Gheorgiu and Alagna, it moved to Fleming, who begged off because of schedule overcrowding. By the time of the broadcast, Levine had been succeeded by Rizzi. Although Marcelo Alvarez sang much better than today, he never quite made the top tier for me; his work in Ballo and Cav/Pag the past few seasons have been very solid. Racette was too generic vocally at thetime of this broadcast, and major move into Puccini and verismo did little good for her voice. Chernov who never quite made it had a lovely voice, if not exactly the Russian Robert Merrill (that was more likely Yuri Mazurok). MOoD also features Ponselle, Steber, Tebaldi, and Cotrubas prior to Racette, and Fleming and Gheorghiu post all of whom are more distinctive. Albanese has 10 broadcasts of her Violetta –5 pre Bing, 5 under Bing, but only her last from 1959 has been on Sirius. Sutherland has a 1964 broadcast that the archives show as having been on Sirius, but it has not been rebroadcast since I started tracking the Sirius rebroadcasts in 2011; De Los Angeles has a 1958 broadcast which has not been rebroadcast. Caballe, despite an opening night did not show for her broadcast (Pilou sang) so one of her most famous roles is not documented on the Met airwaves.
THAÏS:Massenet
Original Air Date: 01/28/1978
Pritchard; Sills, Milnes, Gibbs
SID.19020214
For a long time this was the only Met broadcast of Thais, but with Fleming’s effort in 2008 one can hear a much fresher sound in the title role. I love Massenet, but I often prefer Esclarmonde to Thais (Manon and Werther are better by far). It’s on twice a year, but has seemed more frequent. Fleming was far preferable. The Sills performance is on MOoD as is the Fleming video. Has been on Sirius a lot. I’m not a big fan of the performance.
Thank goodness this was NOT videoed. Sills did not have enough vocal allure for this role. Fleming’s broadcast and video are available in every format including Met Player, as well as a commercial CD that precedes her Met performances by several years. This Sills Thais is on Met Player and appears disproportionately often in the rotation. Sills clearly brought a number of people to opera but she was one of the first singers I grew weary of because of excessive hype. Her Cleopatra was very fine at NYCO.
LUISA MILLER:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/23/2002
Levine; Frittoli, Shicoff, Frontali, Tian, Ens, Graves
SID.19020315
This performance just doesn’t get off the ground, For me, though Frittoli and Frontali are at least Italianate, they are short of the critical goods necessary to really be full voiced enough for these roles; the interpreters at this new production’s fall premiere earlier in the season did not even have the stylistics. Not one of Met casting’s finest hours. A disappointing revival in a new production. Frittoli was a bit light for the role, and Shicoff would have been much better 10 years earlier. Frontali is a small scaled Miller.
DON PASQUALE:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/21/1940
Papi; Baccaloni, Sayão, Martini, Valentino
MOD Audio SID.19020316
This is one of the older Met broadcasts to appear in the Sirius rebroadcast series. It’s also one of the best, with Baccaloni and Sayao in very top form. This is also available in MOoD.
Sayao and Baccaloni have a lot of charm in our only broadcast from the 40s this week This is also on Met Player, and it’s good to hear why Baccaloni and Sayao were so beloved. What personality even in 1940 AM sound.
DIE ÄGYPTISCHE HELENA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/31/2007
Luisi; Voigt, Kerl, Damrau, Grove, Brendel
MOD Audio SID.19020318
This is the Met’s only broadcast of the Strauss work and Kerl and Damrau are very impressive. I don’t love the work, but like most Strauss, it has its moments. It’s repeated too often in rotation which in no way approximates its importance in the Strauss canon.
This was the first Met production in more than eight decades. I love the awakening scene, but for me it’s one of the weaker Strauss works. I shouldn’t complain. No Strauss at all this season or next.
To date this is the only Met matinee broadcast of this uncommon Strauss work. The strongest profile is from Damrau who is an excellent Aithra. The opera has some great moments, and was one of Met audience’s first chances to encounter Luisi, now the Principal Conductor.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 12/21/1957
Rudolf; Guarrera, Peters, Valletti, Corena, Hines
MOD Audio SID.19020321
Guarrera is an alert if not so suave Figaro. Rudolf leads an experienced ensemble. One should listen to Corena here to hear why he’s remains so missed. The Met should release the Berganza 1968 video if for no other reason to preserve his Bartolo.
ELEKTRA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/25/1961
Rosenstock; Borkh, Rysanek, Madeira, Uhde, Vinay
MOD Audio SID.19020422
Rosenstock appears for the originally scheduled Mitropoulos who had died the previous November. Still, this is a powerful cast in a masterpiece. The whole cast is top drawer, and highly recommended. This is the only Elektra Borkh and Rysanek ever did together, and they are among the very best in these roles. Nice to welcome this performance to MOoD in their 2014 reissues. For me a highlight of the week.
Rosenstock comes to the Met first in 1929, and left after one season (poor reviews compared to Bodanzky and Bodanzky returned the following season). Rosenstock returned to Germany, then to Japan for the WHOLE WWII at NHK. He gets back to New York, and starts anew at New York City Opera and succeeds Halasz as director in 1952. After 4 seasons as director, he is replaced by Julius Rudel, and then returns to the Met in 1961 replacing the recently deceased Mitropoulos.
He goes on to conduct over 250 Met performances in the next 8 years. including Tosca and Lucia on the Met tour among just about everything. He is a solid conductor, and Borkh in 1961 one of the very great Elektras.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/10/2019
Dudamel; Yoncheva, Johnson Cano, Skelton, Dolgov, Lucic, Morris
SID.19020428
Conducting sensation Gustavo Dudamel makes his Met debut leading Verdi’s towering Shakespearean masterpiece, in the first revival of Bartlett Sher’s gripping 2015 production. The cast includes dynamic tenor Stuart Skelton in the title role, star soprano Sonya Yoncheva as the devoted but doomed Desdemona, and outstanding baritone Željko Lučić as the treacherous Iago.
Production a gift of Jacqueline Desmarais, in memory of Paul G. Desmarais Sr. Revival a gift of Rolex
I PURITANI:Bellini
Original Air Date: 02/01/1997
Müller; Swenson, Neill, Hampson, Miles
MOD Audio SID.19020529
The Netrebko video and the Gruberova and Sutherland Elviras are all available in MOoD as well as this one. Swenson has an attractive voice, but I don’t find her especially compelling, and the supporting cast is much better on the other performances. Cavalleria/ Pagliacci from 1988 and Idomeneo from 1991 are added into the schedule beginning Wednesday.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 12/21/1957
Rudolf; Guarrera, Peters, Valletti, Corena, Hines
MOD Audio SID.19020532
Guarrera is an alert if not so suave Figaro. Rudolf leads an experienced ensemble. One should listen to Corena here to hear why he’s remains so missed. The Met should release the Berganza 1968 video if for no other reason to preserve his Bartolo.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 12/21/1957
Rudolf; Guarrera, Peters, Valletti, Corena, Hines
MOD Audio SID.19020532
Guarrera is an alert if not so suave Figaro. Rudolf leads an experienced ensemble. One should listen to Corena here to hear why he’s remains so missed. The Met should release the Berganza 1968 video if for no other reason to preserve his Bartolo.
DIE ÄGYPTISCHE HELENA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/31/2007
Luisi; Voigt, Kerl, Damrau, Grove, Brendel
MOD Audio SID.19020534
This is the Met’s only broadcast of the Strauss work and Kerl and Damrau are very impressive. I don’t love the work, but like most Strauss, it has its moments. It’s repeated too often in rotation which in no way approximates its importance in the Strauss canon.
This was the first Met production in more than eight decades. I love the awakening scene, but for me it’s one of the weaker Strauss works. I shouldn’t complain. No Strauss at all this season or next.
To date this is the only Met matinee broadcast of this uncommon Strauss work. The strongest profile is from Damrau who is an excellent Aithra. The opera has some great moments, and was one of Met audience’s first chances to encounter Luisi, now the Principal Conductor.
ELEKTRA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/25/1961
Rosenstock; Borkh, Rysanek, Madeira, Uhde, Vinay
MOD Audio SID.19020637
Rosenstock appears for the originally scheduled Mitropoulos who had died the previous November. Still, this is a powerful cast in a masterpiece. The whole cast is top drawer, and highly recommended. This is the only Elektra Borkh and Rysanek ever did together, and they are among the very best in these roles. Nice to welcome this performance to MOoD in their 2014 reissues. For me a highlight of the week.
Rosenstock comes to the Met first in 1929, and left after one season (poor reviews compared to Bodanzky and Bodanzky returned the following season). Rosenstock returned to Germany, then to Japan for the WHOLE WWII at NHK. He gets back to New York, and starts anew at New York City Opera and succeeds Halasz as director in 1952. After 4 seasons as director, he is replaced by Julius Rudel, and then returns to the Met in 1961 replacing the recently deceased Mitropoulos.
He goes on to conduct over 250 Met performances in the next 8 years. including Tosca and Lucia on the Met tour among just about everything. He is a solid conductor, and Borkh in 1961 one of the very great Elektras.
I PURITANI:Bellini
Original Air Date: 02/01/1997
Müller; Swenson, Neill, Hampson, Miles
MOD Audio SID.19020638
The Netrebko video and the Gruberova and Sutherland Elviras are all available in MOoD as well as this one. Swenson has an attractive voice, but I don’t find her especially compelling, and the supporting cast is much better on the other performances. Cavalleria/ Pagliacci from 1988 and Idomeneo from 1991 are added into the schedule beginning Wednesday.