DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 02/24/1968
Klobucar; Nilsson, Stewart, Rysanek, Vickers, Ludwig, Ridderbusch
MOD Audio SID.19150320
This performance has been issued on Sony Historic CD, and certainly has the cream of the crop of contemporary Wagnerians. It’s also available on MOoD. Highly recommended.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/08/1958
Cleva; Del Monaco, de los Angeles, Warren, Franke
MOD Audio SID.19150321
This is a splendid performance, and should also note the number of fine Otellos which have not been on Sirius, including but not limited to the the 3 1940s Otellos with Stella Roman, Tebaldi’s two Desdemonas from 1955 and 1958 (the 1955 is uncommon on the private market, and the 1958 never seen, even the 1958 from La Scala with the same trio– Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Warren is not that common and the 1963 Tucci, McCracken , Merrill with Solti have all been missed by Sirius. Really too many omissions for relatively recent performances. Also the Bohm (his only Verdi at the Met) from April 1972
NABUCCO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/03/1960
Schippers; MacNeil, Rysanek, Siepi, Fernandi
MOD Audio SID.19150424
MacNeil and Siepi are both excellent in the Met’s first Nabucco production. Rysanek gives her all, but really not the right match of voice and role for her. One does not hear the lead male roles sung like this anymore. This performance has also been reissued in the Met’s Verdi bicentennial CD box. In fact, this broadcast from a single season was Nabucco’s only presence in the Met repertoire until early 2000.
WERTHER:Massenet
Original Air Date: 01/23/1999
Runnicles; Hampson, Graham, Evans, Robertson
MOD Audio SID.19150426
I’m sorry I didn’t attend this revival with the title role moving to baritone hands (in Massenet’s own transposition) (still too high for Domingo?), but this broadcast catches Susan Graham in one of her very best afternoons. This is the baritone version Massenet wrote for Battistini. I didn’t see it in the theatre and just over the airwaves, it didn’t work for me. It however catches Susan Graham in particularly splendid voice. This is a novelty for if there were ever a tenor opera it is Werther, but the composer did arrange for baritone for Battistini. Hampson is very earnest, but I want the tenor colorations. This is one of Graham’s best Met outings.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/08/1958
Cleva; Del Monaco, de los Angeles, Warren, Franke
MOD Audio SID.19150532
This is a splendid performance, and should also note the number of fine Otellos which have not been on Sirius, including but not limited to the the 3 1940s Otellos with Stella Roman, Tebaldi’s two Desdemonas from 1955 and 1958 (the 1955 is uncommon on the private market, and the 1958 never seen, even the 1958 from La Scala with the same trio– Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Warren is not that common and the 1963 Tucci, McCracken , Merrill with Solti have all been missed by Sirius. Really too many omissions for relatively recent performances. Also the Bohm (his only Verdi at the Met) from April 1972
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 02/24/1968
Klobucar; Nilsson, Stewart, Rysanek, Vickers, Ludwig, Ridderbusch
MOD Audio SID.19150535
This performance has been issued on Sony Historic CD, and certainly has the cream of the crop of contemporary Wagnerians. It’s also available on MOoD. Highly recommended.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 02/24/1968
Klobucar; Nilsson, Stewart, Rysanek, Vickers, Ludwig, Ridderbusch
MOD Audio SID.19150636
This performance has been issued on Sony Historic CD, and certainly has the cream of the crop of contemporary Wagnerians. It’s also available on MOoD. Highly recommended.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/08/1958
Cleva; Del Monaco, de los Angeles, Warren, Franke
MOD Audio SID.19150637
This is a splendid performance, and should also note the number of fine Otellos which have not been on Sirius, including but not limited to the the 3 1940s Otellos with Stella Roman, Tebaldi’s two Desdemonas from 1955 and 1958 (the 1955 is uncommon on the private market, and the 1958 never seen, even the 1958 from La Scala with the same trio– Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Warren is not that common and the 1963 Tucci, McCracken , Merrill with Solti have all been missed by Sirius. Really too many omissions for relatively recent performances. Also the Bohm (his only Verdi at the Met) from April 1972
NABUCCO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/03/1960
Schippers; MacNeil, Rysanek, Siepi, Fernandi
MOD Audio SID.19150640
MacNeil and Siepi are both excellent in the Met’s first Nabucco production. Rysanek gives her all, but really not the right match of voice and role for her. One does not hear the lead male roles sung like this anymore. This performance has also been reissued in the Met’s Verdi bicentennial CD box. In fact, this broadcast from a single season was Nabucco’s only presence in the Met repertoire until early 2000.
WERTHER:Massenet
Original Air Date: 01/23/1999
Runnicles; Hampson, Graham, Evans, Robertson
MOD Audio SID.19150642
I’m sorry I didn’t attend this revival with the title role moving to baritone hands (in Massenet’s own transposition) (still too high for Domingo?), but this broadcast catches Susan Graham in one of her very best afternoons. This is the baritone version Massenet wrote for Battistini. I didn’t see it in the theatre and just over the airwaves, it didn’t work for me. It however catches Susan Graham in particularly splendid voice. This is a novelty for if there were ever a tenor opera it is Werther, but the composer did arrange for baritone for Battistini. Hampson is very earnest, but I want the tenor colorations. This is one of Graham’s best Met outings.
NABUCCO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 12/03/1960
Schippers; MacNeil, Rysanek, Siepi, Fernandi
MOD Audio SID.19150748
MacNeil and Siepi are both excellent in the Met’s first Nabucco production. Rysanek gives her all, but really not the right match of voice and role for her. One does not hear the lead male roles sung like this anymore. This performance has also been reissued in the Met’s Verdi bicentennial CD box. In fact, this broadcast from a single season was Nabucco’s only presence in the Met repertoire until early 2000.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/19/1966
Varviso; Herlea, Grist, Shirley, Corena, Siepi
MOD Audio SID.19160102
This is Reri Grist’s debut year, and the broadcast comes three weeks later. Herlea had some success debuting in Don Carlo two years earlier. One does not get better than Corena and Siepi in these roles. As Barbieres go, this one is not bad. Corena and Siepi are absolute masters in these roles, and the rest of the cast is good to very good– Grist has made her debut a few weeks before this broadcast. Varviso has an excellent studio Barbiere with Berganza, but this is a fine cast, which in the case of Corena and Siepi is not surpassed. Herlea is not as impressive here as in his Rodrigo (Don Carlo) but still a decent Figaro. I prefer a mezzo Rosina, but Grist is a fine singer and under-represented.
ELEKTRA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 02/27/1971
Böhm; Nilsson, Rysanek, Madeira, Stewart, Nagy
MOD Audio SID.19160104
This performance marks Madeira’s Met farewell, and reveals some of the vocal weakness that is surely partly resultant from her illness and death a little more than a year later. The rest of the cast, and especially Bohm are white hot. For Madeira at her best, go to the Bohm studio with Inge Borkh as Elektra. A very satisfying recording on all counts.
LA SONNAMBULA:Bellini
Original Air Date: 12/21/1968
Bonynge; Sutherland, Alexander, Giaiotti, Boky
MOD Audio SID.19160107
This is Sutherland’s second Sonnambula broadcast and well equal to the 1963 supporting cast for Sutherland of Gedda and Flagello; Both of Sutherland’s Amina broadcasts are on MOoD. Alexander and Giaiotti are evenly matched substitutes for Gedda and Flagello. Both performances are in MOoD, and well they should be.
SUSANNAH:Floyd
Original Air Date: 04/03/1999
Conlon; Fleming, Hadley, Ramey
MOD Audio SID.19160209
This is the Met’s only broadcast of Susannah, and finds all three principals on especially fine form. I’ve seen the opera four times, and each time it is very successful and attention holding. Even without the visual appeal, the opera makes an impact from the music alone. This was a highly successful Met repertory debut for the Carlisle Floyd opera and both Fleming and Ramey are extremely well cast. Conlon is very committed to the work, and it is a contemporary work that works almost as well in audio only as in the theatre with its sure-fire theatrics. One of the best efforts of the Met for both American and contemporary opera. Very fine performances from both Fleming and Ramey under Conlon bring great credit to the Met and the artists. One of the most distinctive broadcasts of the week. This is one of Fleming’s very best outings, and Ramey and Hadley are well cast as well. One of the better 20th century American operas.
?1435764702
SIMON BOCCANEGRA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/28/1950
Stiedry; Warren, Varnay, Tucker, Székely, Valdengo
MOD Audio SID.19160210
Reissued on Sony Classical in the Met’s Verdi box for his bicentennial. This is Warren’s only broadcast of the title role. He had done Paolo (the Valdengo role) a decade earlier shortly after winning the Met Auditions of the Air. His Simon was Lawrence Tibbett. This is Tucker’s first venture into the more dramatic tenor roles, and he sang it outstandingly for the next quarter century until his final Gabriel on the 1974 Met broadcast with plenty of gas still in the tank. This 1974 performance with Wixell and Maliponte is long overdue for a Sirius rebroadcast.
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN:Strauss
Original Air Date: 12/17/1966
Böhm; Rysanek, King, Ludwig, Berry, Dalis
MOD Audio SID.19160212
This is the Met broadcast premiere of one of Strauss’ greatest works. I went to a performance a few weeks earlier in the gala opening weeks of the Met’s Lincoln Center house. 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 for my money he is my favorite Barak on disc or in the theatre. FiDi was by all accounts quite memorable in the theatre, but I never saw him in the role. This performance really belongs in the Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) series as well, but for the moment it is now being issued as part of the Met at Lincoln Center 50th anniversary CD box.
MACBETH:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/21/1959
Leinsdorf; Warren, Rysanek, Hines, Bergonzi
MOD Audio SID.19160316
This is the Met premiere broadcast of Macbeth, and at least three of the principals are as good as you’re going to get. Mitropoulos was originally scheduled for this production but because of health problems it moved on to Leinsdorf. It’s a loss, but Rysanek more than holds up her end. This performance is also on Met Player for regular listening. Only the second year broadcast from 1960 has not appeared on Sirius (Barioni for Bergonzi) and it also has the duet on the heath cut. Still it would be interesting to hear as the contemporary reviews found the performance even better integrated. This cast was recorded by RCA shortly after the premiere, and this broadcast is available on Met Player. Very solid casting from top to bottom. Bergonzi really is luxury casting singing one of the great Verdi tenor arias, Ah, la paterna mano. Highly recommended.
LA SONNAMBULA:Bellini
Original Air Date: 12/21/1968
Bonynge; Sutherland, Alexander, Giaiotti, Boky
MOD Audio SID.19160319
This is Sutherland’s second Sonnambula broadcast and well equal to the 1963 supporting cast for Sutherland of Gedda and Flagello; Both of Sutherland’s Amina broadcasts are on MOoD. Alexander and Giaiotti are evenly matched substitutes for Gedda and Flagello. Both performances are in MOoD, and well they should be.
ELEKTRA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 02/27/1971
Böhm; Nilsson, Rysanek, Madeira, Stewart, Nagy
MOD Audio SID.19160423
This performance marks Madeira’s Met farewell, and reveals some of the vocal weakness that is surely partly resultant from her illness and death a little more than a year later. The rest of the cast, and especially Bohm are white hot. For Madeira at her best, go to the Bohm studio with Inge Borkh as Elektra. A very satisfying recording on all counts.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/19/1966
Varviso; Herlea, Grist, Shirley, Corena, Siepi
MOD Audio SID.19160425
This is Reri Grist’s debut year, and the broadcast comes three weeks later. Herlea had some success debuting in Don Carlo two years earlier. One does not get better than Corena and Siepi in these roles. As Barbieres go, this one is not bad. Corena and Siepi are absolute masters in these roles, and the rest of the cast is good to very good– Grist has made her debut a few weeks before this broadcast. Varviso has an excellent studio Barbiere with Berganza, but this is a fine cast, which in the case of Corena and Siepi is not surpassed. Herlea is not as impressive here as in his Rodrigo (Don Carlo) but still a decent Figaro. I prefer a mezzo Rosina, but Grist is a fine singer and under-represented.
?1435764702
SIMON BOCCANEGRA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/28/1950
Stiedry; Warren, Varnay, Tucker, Székely, Valdengo
MOD Audio SID.19160426
Reissued on Sony Classical in the Met’s Verdi box for his bicentennial. This is Warren’s only broadcast of the title role. He had done Paolo (the Valdengo role) a decade earlier shortly after winning the Met Auditions of the Air. His Simon was Lawrence Tibbett. This is Tucker’s first venture into the more dramatic tenor roles, and he sang it outstandingly for the next quarter century until his final Gabriel on the 1974 Met broadcast with plenty of gas still in the tank. This 1974 performance with Wixell and Maliponte is long overdue for a Sirius rebroadcast.
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN:Strauss
Original Air Date: 12/17/1966
Böhm; Rysanek, King, Ludwig, Berry, Dalis
MOD Audio SID.19160428
This is the Met broadcast premiere of one of Strauss’ greatest works. I went to a performance a few weeks earlier in the gala opening weeks of the Met’s Lincoln Center house. 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 for my money he is my favorite Barak on disc or in the theatre. FiDi was by all accounts quite memorable in the theatre, but I never saw him in the role. This performance really belongs in the Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) series as well, but for the moment it is now being issued as part of the Met at Lincoln Center 50th anniversary CD box.
SUSANNAH:Floyd
Original Air Date: 04/03/1999
Conlon; Fleming, Hadley, Ramey
MOD Audio SID.19160529
This is the Met’s only broadcast of Susannah, and finds all three principals on especially fine form. I’ve seen the opera four times, and each time it is very successful and attention holding. Even without the visual appeal, the opera makes an impact from the music alone. This was a highly successful Met repertory debut for the Carlisle Floyd opera and both Fleming and Ramey are extremely well cast. Conlon is very committed to the work, and it is a contemporary work that works almost as well in audio only as in the theatre with its sure-fire theatrics. One of the best efforts of the Met for both American and contemporary opera. Very fine performances from both Fleming and Ramey under Conlon bring great credit to the Met and the artists. One of the most distinctive broadcasts of the week. This is one of Fleming’s very best outings, and Ramey and Hadley are well cast as well. One of the better 20th century American operas.
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN:Strauss
Original Air Date: 12/17/1966
Böhm; Rysanek, King, Ludwig, Berry, Dalis
MOD Audio SID.19160531
This is the Met broadcast premiere of one of Strauss’ greatest works. I went to a performance a few weeks earlier in the gala opening weeks of the Met’s Lincoln Center house. 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 for my money he is my favorite Barak on disc or in the theatre. FiDi was by all accounts quite memorable in the theatre, but I never saw him in the role. This performance really belongs in the Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) series as well, but for the moment it is now being issued as part of the Met at Lincoln Center 50th anniversary CD box.
MACBETH:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/21/1959
Leinsdorf; Warren, Rysanek, Hines, Bergonzi
MOD Audio SID.19160636
This is the Met premiere broadcast of Macbeth, and at least three of the principals are as good as you’re going to get. Mitropoulos was originally scheduled for this production but because of health problems it moved on to Leinsdorf. It’s a loss, but Rysanek more than holds up her end. This performance is also on Met Player for regular listening. Only the second year broadcast from 1960 has not appeared on Sirius (Barioni for Bergonzi) and it also has the duet on the heath cut. Still it would be interesting to hear as the contemporary reviews found the performance even better integrated. This cast was recorded by RCA shortly after the premiere, and this broadcast is available on Met Player. Very solid casting from top to bottom. Bergonzi really is luxury casting singing one of the great Verdi tenor arias, Ah, la paterna mano. Highly recommended.
LA SONNAMBULA:Bellini
Original Air Date: 12/21/1968
Bonynge; Sutherland, Alexander, Giaiotti, Boky
MOD Audio SID.19160638
This is Sutherland’s second Sonnambula broadcast and well equal to the 1963 supporting cast for Sutherland of Gedda and Flagello; Both of Sutherland’s Amina broadcasts are on MOoD. Alexander and Giaiotti are evenly matched substitutes for Gedda and Flagello. Both performances are in MOoD, and well they should be.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/19/1966
Varviso; Herlea, Grist, Shirley, Corena, Siepi
MOD Audio SID.19160641
This is Reri Grist’s debut year, and the broadcast comes three weeks later. Herlea had some success debuting in Don Carlo two years earlier. One does not get better than Corena and Siepi in these roles. As Barbieres go, this one is not bad. Corena and Siepi are absolute masters in these roles, and the rest of the cast is good to very good– Grist has made her debut a few weeks before this broadcast. Varviso has an excellent studio Barbiere with Berganza, but this is a fine cast, which in the case of Corena and Siepi is not surpassed. Herlea is not as impressive here as in his Rodrigo (Don Carlo) but still a decent Figaro. I prefer a mezzo Rosina, but Grist is a fine singer and under-represented.
?1435764702
SIMON BOCCANEGRA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 01/28/1950
Stiedry; Warren, Varnay, Tucker, Székely, Valdengo
MOD Audio SID.19160642
Reissued on Sony Classical in the Met’s Verdi box for his bicentennial. This is Warren’s only broadcast of the title role. He had done Paolo (the Valdengo role) a decade earlier shortly after winning the Met Auditions of the Air. His Simon was Lawrence Tibbett. This is Tucker’s first venture into the more dramatic tenor roles, and he sang it outstandingly for the next quarter century until his final Gabriel on the 1974 Met broadcast with plenty of gas still in the tank. This 1974 performance with Wixell and Maliponte is long overdue for a Sirius rebroadcast.
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 02/07/1981
Foster; Popp, Kuebler, Duesing, Donat, Macurdy
MOD Audio SID.19170208
Lucia Popp made her debut with the Chagall Flute as Queen of the Night, the first season in the new house. She didn’t broadcast the role until 3 years later, and then 11 years later moves down to Pamina in this broadcast She’s a very fine Pamina, but overall I am not impressed by the remainder of the cast. The main distinction here is Popp’s Pamina, and she is one of the best. The rest of the cast is OK, but there are other broadcasts of more distinction in the other roles.