RIGOLETTO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/03/1979
Stivender; MacNeil, Blegen, Alexander, Hines, Jones
SID.18520531
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.18520532
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.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.
ROMÉO ET JULIETTE:Gounod
Original Air Date: 04/18/1970
Lombard; Corelli, Pilou, Díaz, Baldwin, Reardon
SID.18520535
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.18520637
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.18520638
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.
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / PAGLIACCI:Mascagni / Leoncavallo
Original Air Date: 02/10/2007
Armiliato; Zajick, Licitra, Delavan / Licitra, Stoyanova, Ataneli
SID.18520641
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.
FIDELIO:Beethoven
Original Air Date: 02/16/1991
Perick; Connell, Lakes, Welker, Moll, Donath, Kaasch
SID.18520642
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.
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..
CARMEN:Bizet
Original Air Date: 03/21/1987
Levine; Baltsa, Carreras, Cotrubas, Ramey
SID.18520745
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.
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.
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.
SALOME:Strauss
Original Air Date: 03/30/1996
Runnicles; Malfitano, Riegel, Schwarz, Weikl, Baker
SID.18520748
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.
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.
ESCLARMONDE:Massenet
Original Air Date: 12/11/1976
Bonynge; Sutherland, Aragall, Tourangeau, Grant
MOD Audio SID.19010101
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.
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN:Offenbach
Original Air Date: 03/27/1982
Chailly; Domingo, Morris, Welting, Troyanos, Eda-Pierre, Howells
MOD Audio SID.19380101
This is Chailly’s only Met appearance, and is the premiere year of the Schenk, Schneider-Siemssen production. I’m surprised this performance is not the one in MOoD instead of the Levine from 1993. Much as I like Vaness and Held, an 11 year younger Domingo with the above cast (and especially Senechal) would seem more likely. Still, this performance is a welcome choice for the Sirius rotation (it’s not new this week, but not often included).
MADAMA BUTTERFLY:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/17/1977
Patanè; Scotto, Aragall, Love, Edwards, Atherton
SID.19010317
Aragall only has 38 Met performances in his nine season tenure. His two broadcasts are Esclarmonde with Sutherland and this Butterfly with Scotto in close to her very best voice. I saw one of these 1977 Butterflys and few tenor voices had such unforced beauty. His Met farewell comes in Boheme 2 days after this broadcast Aragall suffered from severe nervousness which could affect his pitch. Luckily his two Met broadcasts capture mostly just the remarkable voice, one much respected by his peers– Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti. Patane lamentably died much too young at 54 while conducting at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. He was an excellent maestro in the Met’s Italian wing, and is the conductor for Pavarotti and Ricciarelli’s Ballo in Maschera telecast/DVD. He also is number 4 in Gioconda performances at 25 (Cleva at 65 (Milanov and Tebaldi); Serafin at 55, Toscanini at 29 surpass him).
SAMSON ET DALILA:Saint-Saëns
Original Air Date: 12/26/1936
Abravanel; Maison, Wettergren, Pinza
MOD Audio SID.19010318
This is the second oldest Met performance to have been rebroadcast on Sirius — the Lawrence/Melchior Gotterdammerung also from 1936 (but previous season) is the oldest. Abravanel is more remembered as longtime conductor of the Utah Symphony, but his three Met seasons beginning with this broadcast showed him as a sure hand in the French and German wings of the repertory. The principals have plenty of profile, and Pinza is an excellent High Priest.
TANNHÄUSER:Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/21/1978
Levine; McCracken, Kubiak, Bumbry, Weikl, Macurdy
SID.19010319
This is McCracken’s only broadcast outing as Tannhauser, and he is really very fine. Weikl and Bumbry are tops in these roles and Kubiak is a very decent Elisabeth. Levine is at his very best. What is inexplicable to me is why this performance has not made its way to MOoD. McCracken has 597 Met appearances, more than 300 of them after his return as Otello in March 1963. Bumbry, to my mind is the most important American mezzo of the 20th century. Venus was a breakthrough role for her in 1960 at the Bayreuth Festival. This is her only broadcast from the Met of Venus. This performance does great honor to all of the cast and I am grateful that it has been regularly on Sirius, but the better sound afforded in MOoD would definitely benefit Tannhauser.
JENUFA:Janácek
Original Air Date: 01/25/2003
Jurowski; Mattila, Polaski, Begley, Ventris, Nadler
SID.19010320
I like Jurowski’s work, but I find Mattila and Polaski (encouraged by the director) to be cold with little of the warmth that one should finally feel at the opera’s resolution.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM:Britten
Original Air Date: 12/21/1996
Atherton; McNair, Kowalski, Rose, Streit, Bunnell, Gilfry, Gustafson
MOD Audio SID.19010321
The work was revived under Conlon in 2013 for 3 Sirius streamed live broadcasts, one of which was rebroadcast on Sirius as part of their June Friday night encores, but no national free network. I saw a lovely production at the original Sadler’s Wells Theatre almost 20 years ago under the late Richard Hickox. It’s one of those works I seem to like less as the years go on, but that may be just me.
DER ROSENKAVALIER:Strauss
Original Air Date: 1/29/2000
Kout; Mentzer, Studer, Halfvarson, Norberg-Schulz, Opie
SID.19010422
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.
TANNHÄUSER:Wagner
Original Air Date: 01/21/1978
Levine; McCracken, Kubiak, Bumbry, Weikl, Macurdy
SID.19010423
This is McCracken’s only broadcast outing as Tannhauser, and he is really very fine. Weikl and Bumbry are tops in these roles and Kubiak is a very decent Elisabeth. Levine is at his very best. What is inexplicable to me is why this performance has not made its way to MOoD. McCracken has 597 Met appearances, more than 300 of them after his return as Otello in March 1963. Bumbry, to my mind is the most important American mezzo of the 20th century. Venus was a breakthrough role for her in 1960 at th e Bayreuth Festival. This is her only broadcast from the Met of Venus. This performance does great honor to all of the cast and I am grateful that it has been regularly on Sirius, but the better sound afforded in MOoD would definitely benefit Tannhauser.
IDOMENEO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/21/1991
Levine; Heppner, Upshaw, Vaness, Mentzer, Kazaras
MOD Audio SID.19010424
This is a solid performance, and especially so for the young Heppner, and Vaness, who is probably the best Electra the Met has seen.
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 12/18/1971
Leindsorf; Thomas, Nilsson, Dalis, Tozzi, Doole
MOD Audio SID.19010425
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.19010426
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.
VANESSA:Barber
Original Air Date: 02/01/1958
Mitropoulos; Steber, Gedda, Elias, Resnik, Tozzi
MOD Audio SID.19010427
Vanessa received its world premiere with this cast two weeks before this broadcast. Though Steber was not the first choice for the title role, she does some of her best broadcast singing on this. The Skating aria (later removed by Barber from the published score) has as many technical hurdles as any of Steber’s Mozart heroines, and she is up to them. The libretto gets its deserved criticisms, but Barber’s music has allowed the work to continue performances if none yet in the Met’s Lincoln Center theatre.
IDOMENEO:Mozart
Original Air Date: 12/21/1991
Levine; Heppner, Upshaw, Vaness, Mentzer, Kazaras
MOD Audio SID.19010428
This is a solid performance, and especially so for the young Heppner, and Vaness, who is probably the best Electra the Met has seen.