LE NOZZE DI FIGARO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 01/28/1995
Levine; Alaimo, Upshaw, Vaness, Croft, Ziegler
SID.19120214
This is very much a “Levine repertory” cast. Upshaw, Croft, Vaness figure prominently in Levine’s performances with a native as Figaro. Senechal is a marvelous Basilio. This is Alaimo’s only season as Figaro, and his historical broadcast competition is major, to just mention Siepi and Terfel. Upshaw has one other broadcast (three years earlier) when I saw her and was unimpressed. She was musically fine, but I find the tone very one-dimensional. Vaness and Croft and dependable performers, but again not on the top drawer of other singers. Vaness is an excellent Mozartean and her Fiordiligi, Vitelia, and Electra all have much to commend them, but the Countess can always stand an extra dose of tonal glamour, and that is not hers to give. The Met has featured some very glorious Countesses: Steber, De Los Angeles, Della Casa, Te Kanawa, Fleming, all with fine broadcast representations.
MANON:Massenet
Original Air Date: 02/28/1987
Rosenthal; Malfitano, Gulyás, Holloway
SID.19120315
This was the first Met broadcast of Massenet’s Manon in almost a quarter century, and despite the authentic touches of Rosenthal and Senechal, the Ponnelle production and some casting was a dud. We’ll see Manon fares in the new production in a few weeks with Netrebko. Gulyas who was a cover tenor when not performing in Khovanshchina had been called into duty when Neil Shicoff was suffering from pharyngitis. Several other tenors were pressed into debuts after the broadcast including Jerry Hadley and Gregory Kunde. I would vote for the 1959 Manon with De Los Angeles and Gedda which has never been heard on Sirius.
BILLY BUDD:Britten
Original Air Date: 04/19/1980
Leppard; Stilwell, Cassilly, Morris, Glossop, Ward
SID.19120316
The Met has broadcast Billy Budd 5 times since its arrival in 1978. This is the second, with Cassilly replacing the Vere creator Peter Pears. The Pears broadcast from the year before has not been on Sirius, and in the case of the most recent Budd broadcast with Dwayne Croft and Phillip Langridge a video was done which has not yet made its way to either Met Player or to a commercial DVD. In memory of Langridge and one of the great Met productions (Dexter at his considerable best), this should move into Met Player, one of the view Met videos left that does not have distribution. The 1980 performance on Sirius next week features Stilwell and Morris repeating their roles from the Met premiere the season before. I find Budd a stronger work overall than Peter Grimes, especially as experienced in the theatre.
FIDELIO:Beethoven
Original Air Date: 12/18/1993
Michael; Evans, Heppner, Hale, Rootering, Donath, Schade
MOD Audio SID.19120317
This is not my favorite Fidelio, but more notable as Anne Evans’ Met farewell. Helen Donath has a small Met career (21 performances). She has a fine voice as first heard on the Solti Rosenkavalier as Sophie. I saw her several decades later in DC as she had moved up to the Marschallin. She has been active in selected parts well after her Met Susannas which came at the end of the Fidelio season (but not broadcast). Robert Hale was second choice for Wotan during a number of the Morris years and married at least two sopranos– Inge Nielsen and Marina Poplavskaya.
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/06/2008
Barenboim; Lehman, Dalayman, DeYoung, Youn, Grochowski
MOD Audio SID.19120318
Celebrated Wagnerian conductor Daniel Barenboim made his Met debut with this production of one of opera’s greatest dramas. Gary Lehman and Katarina Dalayman are the legendary title characters in this searing story of love and destiny. Kwangchul Youn sings King Marke, the betrayed monarch whose understanding and forgiveness comes too late to save the lovers’ life. Michelle DeYoung is Isolde’s servant Brangäne and Gerd Grochowski sings Kurwenal, Tristan’s faithful companion. I’ve enjoyed Dalayman in other Wagner roles, and Barenboim in his Tristans from Bayreuth and La Scala, but my memories just didn’t show this hanging together as well. I’ll be listening again via MOoD as well.. We are finally starting to have Gelb era broadcasts in the rotation and it is good to be able to hear some new views.
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/06/2008
Barenboim; Lehman, Dalayman, DeYoung, Youn, Grochowski
MOD Audio SID.19120319
Celebrated Wagnerian conductor Daniel Barenboim made his Met debut with this production of one of opera’s greatest dramas. Gary Lehman and Katarina Dalayman are the legendary title characters in this searing story of love and destiny. Kwangchul Youn sings King Marke, the betrayed monarch whose understanding and forgiveness comes too late to save the lovers’ life. Michelle DeYoung is Isolde’s servant Brangäne and Gerd Grochowski sings Kurwenal, Tristan’s faithful companion. I’ve enjoyed Dalayman in other Wagner roles, and Barenboim in his Tristans from Bayreuth and La Scala, but my memories just didn’t show this hanging together as well. I’ll be listening again via MOoD as well.. We are finally starting to have Gelb era broadcasts in the rotation and it is good to be able to hear some new views.
RIGOLETTO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/20/2019
Luisotti; Sierra, Zaharia, Hymel, Frontali, Kocán
SID.19120321
RIGOLETTO {893}
Giuseppe Verdi–Francesco Maria Piave/Victor Hugo
Rigoletto……………Roberto Frontali
Gilda……………….Nadine Sierra
Duke of Mantua……….Francesco Demuro
Maddalena……………Ramona Zaharia
Sparafucile………….Stefan Kocán
Monterone……………Robert Pomakov
Borsa……………….Eduardo Valdes
Marullo……………..Jeongcheol Cha
Count Ceprano………..Paul Corona
Countess Ceprano……..Samantha Hankey
Giovanna…………….Jennifer Roderer
Page………………..Catherine MiEun Choi-Steckmeyer
Guard……………….Earle Patriarco
Conductor……………Nicola Luisotti
Production…………..Michael Mayer
Set Designer…………Christine Jones
Costume Designer……..Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer…….Kevin Adams
Choreographer………..Steven Hoggett
Stage Director……….Gregory Keller
This production of Rigoletto is set in Las Vegas, 1960.
Verdi’s tragic jester returns in Michael Mayer’s neon-bedecked, Las Vegas–themed production. Baritones Roberto Frontali and George Gagnidze share the title role, and soprano Nadine Sierra reprises her portrayal of Gilda, the role that helped launch her now-blossoming Met career. Tenors Vittorio Grigolo, Francesco Demuro, Matthew Polenzani, and Stephen Costello share the role of the lascivious Duke, and Nicola Luisotti conducts.
FALSTAFF:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/08/1986
Levine; Taddei, Neblett, Monk, Cossotto, Blegen, Ahlstedt
MOD Audio SID.19120422
Its particularly good to have this performance back on the radio. Taddei and Cossotto make a most interesting pair, and I’m sorry she did not do more of the part. I don’t have strong memories of Neblett and Monk. Taddei who came very late to the Met did this run of Falstaff followed by a run in L’elisir which was broadcast and has been on Sirius. If they run that performance again I will check it out. Taddei’s actual Met farewell is as Dulcamara in Met in the Pennsauken Cooper River Park in New Jersey with Hong as his Adina. Taddei appeared as both Scarpia and Rigoletto in Philadelphia (both with Tucker) and I also saw his Leporello in Dallas (with Sutherland and the EMI gang), Germont (with Callas) and much later Leporello again in San Francisco with Siepi. The Met was not starving for good baritones in those days, so we got too little of him and very late. He has a nice non-Met legacy of studio and live performances. He died at 93 June 2, 2010.
LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/28/1940
Papi; Pons, Jobin, Petina, Baccaloni
MOD Audio SID.19120423
This performance has also been issued in the Sony Historical CD series from the Met. The surprise was that this was Pons’ only Met broadcast of Marie–she has thirteen Lucia broadcasts!!!!! This broadcast is her first time in the part at the Met (Broadcast production premieres were not common prior to Gelb) She was a huge Met star. She was my third Lucia (Callas and Sutherland first); that Fort Worth Lucia was not the way to remember her. Generally I don’t find Fille as strong a work as either Don Pasquale or L’Elisir d’Amore. This is not only the incomparable Lily Pons’s first performance in Donizetti’s comic opera at the Met; it is her only broadcast as Marie. Equal parts dazzling singer and romping tomboy, she is totally charming. No wonder Time magazine put her on its cover. Salvatore Baccaloni is Sergeant Sulpice and Raoul Jobin is the man who steals Pons’s heart. In this famous World War II-era broadcast Pons interpolates “La Marseillaise” at the end—bringing a cheering Met audience to its feet.
BENVENUTO CELLINI:Berlioz
Original Air Date: 12/27/2003
Levine; Giordani, Bayrakdarian, Del Carlo, Jepson, Lloyd
MOD Audio SID.19120424
This is the opera’s only broadcast from its only season. There is much lovely music along the way, but it does not have cumulative impact for me. Giordani copes not always pleasantly with an extremely challenging role. I think twice a year for Cellini is just about the maximum desired cycling. Once a year would be enough for me especially since it’s in MOoD.
FALSTAFF:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/08/1986
Levine; Taddei, Neblett, Monk, Cossotto, Blegen, Ahlstedt
MOD Audio SID.19120534
Its particularly good to have this performance back on the radio. Taddei and Cossotto make a most interesting pair, and I’m sorry she did not do more of the part. I don’t have strong memories of Neblett and Monk. Taddei who came very late to the Met did this run of Falstaff followed by a run in L’elisir which was broadcast and has been on Sirius. If they run that performance again I will check it out. Taddei’s actual Met farewell is as Dulcamara in Met in the Pennsauken Cooper River Park in New Jersey with Hong as his Adina. Taddei appeared as both Scarpia and Rigoletto in Philadelphia (both with Tucker) and I also saw his Leporello in Dallas (with Sutherland and the EMI gang), Germont (with Callas) and much later Leporello again in San Francisco with Siepi. The Met was not starving for good baritones in those days, so we got too little of him and very late. He has a nice non-Met legacy of studio and live performances. He died at 93 June 2, 2010.
FIDELIO:Beethoven
Original Air Date: 12/18/1993
Michael; Evans, Heppner, Hale, Rootering, Donath, Schade
MOD Audio SID.19120535
This is not my favorite Fidelio, but more notable as Anne Evans’ Met farewell. Helen Donath has a small Met career (21 performances). She has a fine voice as first heard on the Solti Rosenkavalier as Sophie. I saw her several decades later in DC as she had moved up to the Marschallin. She has been active in selected parts well after her Met Susannas which came at the end of the Fidelio season (but not broadcast). Robert Hale was second choice for Wotan during a number of the Morris years and married at least two sopranos– Inge Nielsen and Marina Poplavskaya.
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/06/2008
Barenboim; Lehman, Dalayman, DeYoung, Youn, Grochowski
MOD Audio SID.19120637
Celebrated Wagnerian conductor Daniel Barenboim made his Met debut with this production of one of opera’s greatest dramas. Gary Lehman and Katarina Dalayman are the legendary title characters in this searing story of love and destiny. Kwangchul Youn sings King Marke, the betrayed monarch whose understanding and forgiveness comes too late to save the lovers’ life. Michelle DeYoung is Isolde’s servant Brangäne and Gerd Grochowski sings Kurwenal, Tristan’s faithful companion. I’ve enjoyed Dalayman in other Wagner roles, and Barenboim in his Tristans from Bayreuth and La Scala, but my memories just didn’t show this hanging together as well. I’ll be listening again via MOoD as well.. We are finally starting to have Gelb era broadcasts in the rotation and it is good to be able to hear some new views.
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/06/2008
Barenboim; Lehman, Dalayman, DeYoung, Youn, Grochowski
MOD Audio SID.19120638
Celebrated Wagnerian conductor Daniel Barenboim made his Met debut with this production of one of opera’s greatest dramas. Gary Lehman and Katarina Dalayman are the legendary title characters in this searing story of love and destiny. Kwangchul Youn sings King Marke, the betrayed monarch whose understanding and forgiveness comes too late to save the lovers’ life. Michelle DeYoung is Isolde’s servant Brangäne and Gerd Grochowski sings Kurwenal, Tristan’s faithful companion. I’ve enjoyed Dalayman in other Wagner roles, and Barenboim in his Tristans from Bayreuth and La Scala, but my memories just didn’t show this hanging together as well. I’ll be listening again via MOoD as well.. We are finally starting to have Gelb era broadcasts in the rotation and it is good to be able to hear some new views.
SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saens
Original Air Date: 03/23/2019
Elder; Rachvelishvili, Antonenko, Naouri, Konieczny, Groissböck
SID.19120640
Following triumphant performances in Aida and Adriana Lecouvreur earlier this season, mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili gives a commanding … exhilarating (New York Times) performance as the seductive Dalila, opposite tenor Gregory Kunde, who sings Samson with strong, focused tone and … genuine nobility (New York Times). Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2014 for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, makes his Met debut directing a vivid staging of Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic, featuring a monumental setting for the last-act Temple of Dagon, where the hero crushes his Philistine enemies. Sir Mark Elder conducts the first new Met production of the work in 20 years.
Conductor Sir Mark Elder
Samson Gregory Kunde
Abimélech Tomasz Konieczny
The high priest of dagon Laurent Naouri
First philistine Eduardo Valdes
Second philistine Jeongcheol Cha
A philistine messenger Scott Scully
An old hebrew Günther Groissböck
Dalila Anita Rachvelishvili
First Intermission
-Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Anita Rachvelishvilil
-Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Gregory Kunde and Laurent Naouri
-Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Tomasz Konieczny and Günther Groissböck
-Mary Jo Heath interviews maestro Carlo Rizzi
Second Intermission
-Mary Jo Heath interviews chorus master Donald Palumbo
-TOLL BROTHERS – METROPOLITAN OPERA QUIZ
Guest Artist: Erin Morley; Host: Gerald Martin Moorel Panelists: Ken Benson, Brad Cresswell and Peter Kazaras
Pianist: Howard Watson
LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 12/28/1940
Papi; Pons, Jobin, Petina, Baccaloni
MOD Audio SID.19120743
This performance has also been issued in the Sony Historical CD series from the Met. The surprise was that this was Pons’ only Met broadcast of Marie–she has thirteen Lucia broadcasts!!!!! This broadcast is her first time in the part at the Met (Broadcast production premieres were not common prior to Gelb) She was a huge Met star. She was my third Lucia (Callas and Sutherland first); that Fort Worth Lucia was not the way to remember her. Generally I don’t find Fille as strong a work as either Don Pasquale or L’Elisir d’Amore. This is not only the incomparable Lily Pons’s first performance in Donizetti’s comic opera at the Met; it is her only broadcast as Marie. Equal parts dazzling singer and romping tomboy, she is totally charming. No wonder Time magazine put her on its cover. Salvatore Baccaloni is Sergeant Sulpice and Raoul Jobin is the man who steals Pons’s heart. In this famous World War II-era broadcast Pons interpolates “La Marseillaise” at the end—bringing a cheering Met audience to its feet.
BENVENUTO CELLINI:Berlioz
Original Air Date: 12/27/2003
Levine; Giordani, Bayrakdarian, Del Carlo, Jepson, Lloyd
MOD Audio SID.19120747
This is the opera’s only broadcast from its only season. There is much lovely music along the way, but it does not have cumulative impact for me. Giordani copes not always pleasantly with an extremely challenging role. I think twice a year for Cellini is just about the maximum desired cycling. Once a year would be enough for me especially since it’s in MOoD.
COSI FAN TUTTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 01/28/2006
Levine; Deshorties, Groves, Kozená, Kwiecien, Focile, Allen
SID.19130102
This revival had premiered in the fall with Frittoli making a wonderful foil for Kozena, and Levine was at his considerable Mozartean best. Deshorties, while not as stretched as she had been in Entfuhrung is again cast beyond her capacity. Still, the overall ensemble is of good quality and worthy of a listen.
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / PAGLIACCI:Mascagni / Leoncavallo
Original Air Date: 04/13/1957
Cleva; Milanov, Tucker, Valentino / Amara, Baum, Merrill
SID.19130103
The main feature here is Merrill’s Tonio which he only broadcast twice in his long Met career, this performance and in 1960 with a weaker Cavalleria cast. The Pagliacci is the same cast on both broadcasts. Warren really dominated Tonio during his lifetime, and MacNeil and Milnes in the latter part of Merrill’s career. For me, Merrill is the voice for the prologue, and he also has an excellent commercial with Lorengar and McCracken.
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/15/1997
Levine; Pavarotti, Voigt, Pons, Shin, Dever
SID.19130104
Except for Pavarotti, there is nothing of special distinction. Both of Pavarotti’s Met videos (1980 and 1991) of Ballo have more interest and they are both on MOoD. Levine only has three matinee broadcasts, 1991 (with Millo and Pavarotti), this broadcast, and a 2015 with Radvanovsky, Tamura (replacing Beczala) and Hvorostovsky. Better to add that one to the rotation.
ARABELLA:Strauss
Original Air Date: 12/15/2001
Eschenbach; Fleming; Ketelsen, Bonney, Very, Forst, Halfvarson
MOD Audio SID.19130105
This is Fleming’s only Met broadcast outing as Arabella. Eschenbach was the fly in the ointment when I saw the production prior to the broadcast, and so he remains. Because of the English translation used prior to the new production, Sirius listeners are regularly denied the glories of Steber under Kempe in the premiere season of 1955, and Della Casa from 1957-1965. Della Casa has studio and stage Arabellas in German from other sources, but Kempe is a special Straussian, and Steber is in particularly stunning voice with London from the premiere year. 09/24/2012 – I thought Eschenbach was the real fly in the ointment when this revival came around. Fleming is in very beautiful voice, but the performance as a whole lacks magic. Arabella takes special handling and this doesn’t really get it. 03/27/2012 – I saw an earlier performance in the run, and while OK, Fleming did not have a great deal of personality. The singing was excellent. I prefer Steber or Della Casa. 8/2/2011 – For me, Eschenbach is a bit of the fly in the ointment, but this is still a solid Arabella cast. This does give me a chance to make a plea for the Met premiere broadcast of Arabella (in English — part of the delay I am sure) with Steber, Guden, London, under Rudolf Kempe. What a magnificent performance from all concerned
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 03/25/2019 LIVE Broadcast
Jordan; Goerke, Westbroek, Barton, Skelton, Grimsley, Groissböck
SID.19130106
In what is expected to be a Wagnerian event for the ages, soprano Christine Goerke, in her MET role debut, plays Brünnhilde, Wotan’s willful warrior daughter, who loses her immortality in opera’s most famous act of filial defiance. Tenor Stuart Skelton and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek play the incestuous twins Siegmund and Sieglinde. Greer Grimsley sings Wotan. Philippe Jordan conducts.
Brünnhilde…………..Christine Goerke (role debut)
Siegmund…………….Stuart Skelton
Sieglinde……………Eva-Mari Westbroek
Wotan……………….Greer Grimsley
Fricka………………Jamie Barton
Hunding……………..Günther Groissböck
Gerhilde…………….Kelly Cae Hogan
Grimgerde……………Maya Lahyani
Helmwige…………….Jessica Faselt
Ortlinde…………….Wendy Bryn Harmer
Rossweisse…………..Mary Phillips
Schwertleite…………Daryl Freedman (debut)
Siegrune…………….Eve Gigliotti
Waltraute……………Renee Tatum
Conductor……………Philippe Jordan
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL:Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/12/1987
Janowski; Donat, Winbergh, Salminen, Mills, Zednik
SID.19130107
The main news here is Winbergh who had too few Met appearances and Salminen who is a solid Osmin, if not as good as Moll. My memory of Donat (the Polish coloratura, not Helen Donath) is limited and certainly in this performance. Janowski only has three broadcast appearances at the Met (Arabella, and Salome with Marton are the other two). He’s a major conductor, and if Salminen lacks some of the smoothness of Moll, to me he is much preferable to Talvela in this role. Winbergh left us much too soon, and Mills and Zednik are lively performers. Donat is too low profile for Konstanze (and this is her final Met performance), but the men are very good, and Janowski is a conductor we saw too little of. Salminen reappears four years later in a broadcast that is in MOoD with Devia and Olsen as support under Levine in one of his best efforts. Winbergh only has three other Met broadcasts, two Ottavios in Don Giovanni and his final Met appearance as Jose in Carmen. Since that is where his career was going — Parsifal and Tristan were on his calendar in final year, it would be nice to hear his Jose, and Uria-Monzon would be a break from the typical Carmen–she’s native French speaker.
SALOME:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/13/1965
Böhm; Nilsson, Liebl, Dalis, Cassel, Shirley
MOD Audio SID.19130208
This is an absolute MUST. Mercifully it’s on Met Player (at least for North America). Bohm and Nilsson are ablaze. I saw two performance this first season of the Rennert/Heinrich production and as much as I loved the Solti recording, and later Nilsson with Solti and CSO at Carnegie Hall, Bohm and Nilsson burned ever so brightly, and the conductor threw in a concert Don Juan before the Salome to warm the orchestra up. I added Ernst Wiemann who as First Nazarene makes his presence known, and he was part of excellent Met singers in secondary parts. The supporting cast is very strongly cast (the five Jews and the Nazarenes Ernst Wiemann and the recently deceased Calvin Marsh are very distinctive. One of the great performances captured, with Nilsson in her only broadcast Met Salome, and it’s a humdinger. Liebl and Dalis both in the new Rennert production and their vivid singing contribute strongly, but in the end it’s a Birgit and Karl show.
Original Air Date: 02/24/1979
Levine; Giacomini, Scotto, Milnes, Horne, Ghiaurov, Morris
SID.19130209
This is Levine’s first year conducting Don Carlo, and in its full five act format. I don’t think Horne works very well at all, and some of the phrases press Scotto very hard. The men are solid, though it’s not my favorite Posa. Ghiaurov is caught well past his best, Horne is miscast, Scotto is overparted, and Giacomini rather monochrone in his first Met season. Morris is one of the younger Inquisitors, and certainly gala casting for the Celestial Voice from Leona Mitchell. What is a surprise is that Don Carlo which is one of Levine’s most frequent assignments (60 performances) and a Met record for the opera, but the only Levine performances listed in MOoD is the atreamed audio from 2006 with Racette and Botha, and neither of the videos — the first with Freni, the second with Scotto (with Moldoveanu and Troyanos) which have been available on DVD have made it to MOoD. Whatever the limitations of individual performers, this is a full voiced line-up.
MANON LESCAUT:Puccini
Original Air Date: 03/08/1975
Adler; Kirsten, Alexander, Walker, Michalski
SID.19130211
Kirsten replaced Leontyne Price on this broadcast. She is thoroughly professional even if she is 65 years old!!!!! Her first broadcast is 26 years earlier when she was pushing 40. Better to hear that with Bjorling. Highly recommended but still omitted from the Sirius Manon Lescaut sweepstakes are the Tebaldi-Tucker from 1959 and the Kirsten Bergonzi from 1960 (Kirsten replacing Stella) This is a rare broadcast, but it IS possible to find
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 01/29/1994
Santi; Devia, Hadley, Pons, Plishka
SID.19130212
Devia has not been a frequent Met performer (73 performances over 15 years). This is her final broadcast from the Met (and she has not been at the Met for 18 years w, though still quite active in Europe.) For me she is a much superior Lucia to Dessay, Netrebko, or Swenson, even if she is not in the Sutherland class. Who is? This performance is available on Met Opera on Demand (MOoD).
THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES:Corigliano
Original Air Date: 01/04/1992
Levine; Stratas, Hagegård, Quilico, Horne, Clark, Fleming
SID.19130213
This was a basically successful Met commission and beautifully cast and prepared. I think it is best experienced with the video from a telecast the next week), which is available from Levine’s 40th anniversary DVD package and in MOoD. The video really helps the work along. . Commissioned by the Met and with a libretto by William M. Hoffman, the work imagines an opera put on by the ghost of Beaumarchais for the ghost of Marie Antoinette and the other spectral residents of Versailles. The sold-out, seven-performance premiere run featured an all-star cast that included Teresa Stratas, Håkan Hagegård, Renée Fleming, Graham Clark, Gino Quilico, and Marilyn Horne.
IL TROVATORE:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/16/1957
Rudolf; Baum, Stella, Madeira, Merrill, Moscona
SID.19130214
This is a performance well worth hearing. Stella and Merrill are blessed with two of the richest voices ever to be before the public and both are in their absolute prime. I don’t much care for Baum, but for some he is more listenable. He is the Manrico most frequently encountered in the 40s and 50s. This is his 6th and last broadcast Trovatore (only Martinelli exceeds Baum’s 60 Manricos with 69). Madeira is tied with Mignon Dunn for 4th (Homer, Zajick, and Cossotto are #1-3). Her voice is a real alt, so the end of the opera is a bit beyond her. The conductor Max Rudolf was “head of music staff” in this period and just as his Butterfly recording with Steber and Tucker is quite tidy, so is this Trovatore. Take a listen to this performance and see how you think it ranks with this season’s Trovatore.
FRANCESCA DA RIMINI:Zandonai
Original Air Date: 02/22/1986
Santi; Scotto, Mauro, MacNeil, Lewis
SID.19130315
I saw this cast and this performance is Kabaivanska’s Met farewell. Well cast and well conducted, there are two broadcasts of Onegin in 1979 (but different seasons),both with Mazurok and Plishka the only repeats from one to another. To me, this is slightly better. For those who have never encountered Mazurok, I find his voice as velvety as Hvorostovsky, and an upper register that definitely has squillo. Wish the Met would transfer one of these Mazurok Onegins to MOoD. Glad that it at least gets a regular Sirius re-hearing.