DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Original Air Date: 03/30/2019
Jordan; Goerke, Westbroek, Barton, Skelton, Grimsley, Groissböck
Live in HD SID.19380534
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.
SIEGFRIED:Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/13/2019
Jordan; Goerke, Morley, Cargill, Vinke, Siegel, Volle, Konieczny, Belosselskiy
SID.19380640
Review: In the Met’s ‘Siegfried,’ Singers Transcend the Staging – By Joshua Barone April 14, 2019
Pity the opera directors who decide to stage Wagner’s “Ring” — for in doing so they have to figure out what to do with “Siegfried.” The third installment of Wagner’s epic, which returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Robert Lepage’s tech-happy production on Saturday, has tripped up even the smartest of “Ring” directors. Blame the source material: a title role both tedious and impractically difficult; a repetitive libretto sitting somewhere between coming-of-age adventure and dark comedy; a singing dragon. Mr. Lepage’s staging doesn’t do much to help the problems baked into “Siegfried,” a weak spot of the “Ring” that lacks the breakneck pace of “Das Rheingold,” the heart-rending humanity of “Die Walküre” or the textbook-perfect tragedy of “Götterdämmerung.” What it does help, however, is the problem of the 45-ton machine so central to his production as its primary set piece. Instead of relying on the unreliable behemoth to be as kinetic as in the earlier “Ring” operas, Mr. Lepage here treats the machine as more of a canvas for Pedro Pires’s impressive projections. Three-dimensional, interactive videos create the illusion of leaves rustling beneath Siegfried’s feet, of a pond’s surface being truly reflective.
***
But good singers can lift a subpar staging. In this “Siegfried,” they transcend it. Stefan Vinke is making his Met debut in the titular heldentenor role, armed with insouciant high notes and a bright smile. His heroism occasionally veers into howling, and the strain in his voice doesn’t always befit a boyish naïf who knows no fear. (He shares the run with Andreas Schager, who is capable of breezing through the role’s most challenging passages with the shocking ease of Siegfried wrangling a bear.) But Mr. Vinke is a pleasure to watch; he leans into the opera’s comedy — and his character’s ignorance, which often comes off as idiocy. As the scheming Mime, who takes in the orphaned Siegfried in the hope of using the boy’s strength to gain the ring, Gerhard Siegel infused his tenor with venom. Mime’s brother, Alberich, who in “Das Rheingold” commits the original sin of the “Ring,” only returns in “Siegfried” for brief moments in Act II. But those scenes were among the most memorable on Saturday. That’s because Alberich is sung by Tomasz Konieczny, who is also making his Met debut and continues to stand out even among extraordinary colleagues. His resonant bass ricochets off the planks of the machine as he imbues Alberich with dignified authority. His confrontation with Wotan — presented in “Siegfried” as the Wanderer, dressed like a Gandalf of the Wild West and performed by Michael Volle — is a high point of the opera. Or, rather, low: They are both booming basses, equally mighty in a way that illustrates, with only music, how alike these antipodal characters may be.
If women seem absent, it’s because there are so few: the whistle-high Erin Morley as the Woodbird; the solemn Karen Cargill as Erda; and, of course, the fiery soprano Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde. It’s remarkable that anyone in this cast was singing so well in a matinee that began at 11:30 a.m. But Ms. Goerke also had to feign sleep onstage for nearly 20 minutes before letting out a resounding “Heil dir, Sonne!” that penetrated through swelling fortes in the orchestra, crisp and controlled under the baton of Philippe Jordan. Ms. Goerke’s vigor only grew in a crescendo toward all-out majesty in the final scene, a courtship with Mr. Vinke that ended with their leaping into love and matching high C’s. For this climax of old-fashioned operatic thrills, they weren’t even standing on the machine — as if they existed outside Mr. Lepage’s production entirely. @NYTimes
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG:Wagner
Jordan; Goerke, Haller, Schuster, Schager, Nikitin, Konieczny, Owens
Original Air Date: 04/27/2019 SID.19380746
PROGRAM
The opening night performance in the conclusion of the 2019 revival of the LePage RING CYCLE.
NYTimes Review (Tommasini) – In a role that can easily make Siegfried seem like some rowdy, clueless, clunky youth, he conveyed genuine romantic longing for Brünnhilde (the soprano Christine Goerke at her best). And during the long stretch of the story at the hall of powerful Gibichung family, when Siegfried — under the spell of a potion that makes him forget Brünnhilde and fall for Gutrune (the gleaming soprano Edith Haller, in her Met debut) — Mr. Schager’s vulnerable Siegfried often seems poignantly confused, with flashes of memory when he appears to know something is not right. Until a dream-come-true Siegfried arrives, Mr. Schager will do just fine. Jacqueline Woodson Transformed Children’s Literature. Now She’s Writing for Herself. The bass-baritone Eric Owens made a prideful, calculating and vocally formidable Hagen. And, once again, the conductor Philippe Jordan is proving the hero of the Met’s “Ring.” He led an inexorably unfolding and incisive account of the score, drawing velvety string sound and blazing yet never blaring crescendos from the Met Orchestra, which has seldom sounded finer. Ms. Goerke was magnificent. With unfailing energy, fearless abandon and gleaming sound, she was a mesmerizing Brünnhilde. She caught all the mood shifts of this volatile character, one moment coming across like a smitten young lover, the next a betrayed and embittered woman, a former Valkyrie warrior who by the end, in a self-immolating act of transcendence, brings down the entire edifice of the gods.
HAMLET:Thomas
Original Air Date: 03/27/2010
Langrée; Keenlyside, Petersen, Larmore, Morris, Spence
MOD Video SID.19390320
This is the only Met broadcast of the Thomas work. Keenlyside has a commercial DVD in the same production with Dessay from Barcelona 2004. Petersen was a late substitute for Dessay for the whole run. Larmoreis especially vivid as Gertrude, part of her movement into dramatic mezzo/soprano parts.
HAMLET:Thomas
Langrée; Keenlyside, Petersen, Larmore, Morris, Spence
Original Air Date: 03/27/2010
MOD Video
SID.19390637
This is the only Met broadcast of the Thomas work. Keenlyside has a commercial DVD in the same production with Dessay from Barcelona 2004. Petersen was a late substitute for Dessay for the whole run. Larmoreis especially vivid as Gertrude, part of her movement into dramatic mezzo/soprano parts.
HAMLET:Thomas
Langrée; Keenlyside, Petersen, Larmore, Morris, Spence
Original Air Date: 03/27/2010
MOD Video
SID.19390642
This is the only Met broadcast of the Thomas work. Keenlyside has a commercial DVD in the same production with Dessay from Barcelona 2004. Petersen was a late substitute for Dessay for the whole run. Larmoreis especially vivid as Gertrude, part of her movement into dramatic mezzo/soprano parts.
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS:Strauss
Levine; Norman, King, Battle, Troyanos, Nentwig, Dickson
Original Air Date: 03/12/1988
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19410211
This is the audio for the performance issued on DVD, NOT available on MOoD, as are many of the R. Strauss offerings. Battle’s performance is enhanced by the visual. Norman, King, and Troyanos are among the major exponents of their parts in late 20th century.
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS:Strauss
Levine; Norman, King, Battle, Troyanos, Nentwig, Dickson
Original Air Date: 03/12/1988
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19410424
This is the audio for the performance issued on DVD, NOT available on MOoD, as are many of the R. Strauss offerings. Battle’s performance is enhanced by the visual. Norman, King, and Troyanos are among the major exponents of their parts in late 20th century.
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS:Strauss
Levine; Norman, King, Battle, Troyanos, Nentwig, Dickson
Original Air Date: 03/12/1988
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19410427
This is the audio for the performance issued on DVD, NOT available on MOoD, as are many of the R. Strauss offerings. Battle’s performance is enhanced by the visual. Norman, King, and Troyanos are among the major exponents of their parts in late 20th century.
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS:Strauss
Levine; Norman, King, Battle, Troyanos, Nentwig, Dickson
Original Air Date: 03/12/1988
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19410640
This is the audio for the performance issued on DVD, NOT available on MOoD, as are many of the R. Strauss offerings. Battle’s performance is enhanced by the visual. Norman, King, and Troyanos are among the major exponents of their parts in late 20th century.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Behrens, Morris, Norman, Lakes, Ludwig, Moll
Original Air Date: 04/08/1989
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19430105
This performance is in the MOoD as a video. Lakes is operating in a league that is at least a half step beyond him. Behrens, who is certainly well schooled, is not the right voice for me. Norman is very much her own stylist. Still this is a strong cast overall, and finds the Met orchestra and Levine in their first cycle together in extremely committed form.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Behrens, Morris, Norman, Lakes, Ludwig, Moll
Original Air Date: 04/08/1989
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19430106
This performance is in the MOoD as a video. Lakes is operating in a league that is at least a half step beyond him. Behrens, who is certainly well schooled, is not the right voice for me. Norman is very much her own stylist. Still this is a strong cast overall, and finds the Met orchestra and Levine in their first cycle together in extremely committed form.
FEDORA:Giordano
Abbado; Freni, Domingo, Croft, Arteta
Original Air Date: 04/26/1997
MOD Video
SID.19430316
This is the Met’s only broadcast of this verismo work, and is available on DVD also. This is a solid performance even if it catches Freni in the extreme twilight of a very long career. This is Freni’s penultimate opera performance at the Met, with another Fedora 5 days later. She appears 5 years later in an opening night gala doing Act 2 of Fedora, and she returns 3 years later for an end of season concert that marks her last vocal appearance on any stage.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Behrens, Morris, Norman, Lakes, Ludwig, Moll
Original Air Date: 04/08/1989
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19430317
This performance is in the MOoD as a video. Lakes is operating in a league that is at least a half step beyond him. Behrens, who is certainly well schooled, is not the right voice for me. Norman is very much her own stylist. Still this is a strong cast overall, and finds the Met orchestra and Levine in their first cycle together in extremely committed form.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Behrens, Morris, Norman, Lakes, Ludwig, Moll
Original Air Date: 04/08/1989
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19430318
This performance is in the MOoD as a video. Lakes is operating in a league that is at least a half step beyond him. Behrens, who is certainly well schooled, is not the right voice for me. Norman is very much her own stylist. Still this is a strong cast overall, and finds the Met orchestra and Levine in their first cycle together in extremely committed form.
FEDORA:Giordano
Abbado; Freni, Domingo, Croft, Arteta
Original Air Date: 04/26/1997
MOD Video
SID.19430636
This is the Met’s only broadcast of this verismo work, and is available on DVD also. This is a solid performance even if it catches Freni in the extreme twilight of a very long career. This is Freni’s penultimate opera performance at the Met, with another Fedora 5 days later. She appears 5 years later in an opening night gala doing Act 2 of Fedora, and she returns 3 years later for an end of season concert that marks her last vocal appearance on any stage.
FEDORA:Giordano
Abbado; Freni, Domingo, Croft, Arteta
Original Air Date: 04/26/1997
MOD Video
SID.19430638
This is the Met’s only broadcast of this verismo work, and is available on DVD also. This is a solid performance even if it catches Freni in the extreme twilight of a very long career. This is Freni’s penultimate opera performance at the Met, with another Fedora 5 days later. She appears 5 years later in an opening night gala doing Act 2 of Fedora, and she returns 3 years later for an end of season concert that marks her last vocal appearance on any stage.
MANON:Massenet
Maurizio Benini: Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano, Artur Ruciński, Carlo Bosi
Original Air Date: 10/26/2019
Live in HD
SID.19430640
Exhilarating soprano Lisette Oropesa stars as the irresistible title character, the tragic beauty who yearns for the finer things in life, in Laurent Pelly’s revealing production. Tenor Michael Fabiano is the besotted Chevalier des Grieux, whose desperate love for Manon proves their undoing. Maurizio Benini conducts Massenet’s sensual score. A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; and Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse Production a gift of The Sybil B. Harrington Endowment Fund
VICTORY LAP Interview with Lisette Oropesa from metopera.org
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Behrens, Morris, Norman, Lakes, Ludwig, Moll
Original Air Date: 04/08/1989
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19430750
This performance is in the MOoD as a video. Lakes is operating in a league that is at least a half step beyond him. Behrens, who is certainly well schooled, is not the right voice for me. Norman is very much her own stylist. Still this is a strong cast overall, and finds the Met orchestra and Levine in their first cycle together in extremely committed form.
DIE WALKÜRE:Wagner
Levine; Behrens, Morris, Norman, Lakes, Ludwig, Moll
Original Air Date: 04/08/1989
MOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19440101
This performance is in the MOoD as a video. Lakes is operating in a league that is at least a half step beyond him. Behrens, who is certainly well schooled, is not the right voice for me. Norman is very much her own stylist. Still this is a strong cast overall, and finds the Met orchestra and Levine in their first cycle together in extremely committed form.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Gergiev; Hvorostovsky, Fleming, Vargas, Zaremba, Aleksashkin
Original Air Date: 02/24/2007
Live in HDMOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19450212
This performance is well known as one of the first season hits from the Met Live in HD. It is available on video in Blu-Ray (not so many of the Met performances are), as well as in MOoD. Gergiev, Hvorostovsky and Fleming deliver on their superstar standing both in audio and video.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Gergiev; Hvorostovsky, Fleming, Vargas, Zaremba, Aleksashkin
Original Air Date: 02/24/2007
Live in HDMOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19450428
This performance is well known as one of the first season hits from the Met Live in HD. It is available on video in Blu-Ray (not so many of the Met performances are), as well as in MOoD. Gergiev, Hvorostovsky and Fleming deliver on their superstar standing both in audio and video.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Gergiev; Hvorostovsky, Fleming, Vargas, Zaremba, Aleksashkin
Original Air Date: 02/24/2007
Live in HDMOD AudioMOD Video
SID.19450531
This performance is well known as one of the first season hits from the Met Live in HD. It is available on video in Blu-Ray (not so many of the Met performances are), as well as in MOoD. Gergiev, Hvorostovsky and Fleming deliver on their superstar standing both in audio and video.
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA:Verdi
Patanè; Pavarotti, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Peters, Payne
Original Air Date: 03/01/1980
MOD Video
SID.19470209
New Production for Pavarotti had been telecast two weeks earlier with Quilico for Nucci, Berini for Payne, and Blegen for Peters. Patane is a fine conductor. I think Amelia is a little heavy for Ricciarelli– her best outing in this role is a San Francisco broadcast with Carreras. Ricciarelli, Pavarotti under Patane appear in a video with Quilico, Berini, and Blegen from the same run. I generally prefer the supporting cast that is on the video, and that is available in Met Opera on Demand (MOoD), formerly Met Player. Riccardo was one of LP’s best roles, and Patane is a solid conductor. Ricciarelli is a bit light for Amelia, but she has a most successful San Francisco outing (maybe Chicago too?) with Carreras. The telecast which comes before the broadcast features Quilico, Berini, and Blegen in the supporting parts. Patane is a solid, idiomatic conductor. Payne isn’t much, it’s starting to get late for Peters, but this is Nucci’s debut season, and he appears as late as 2004 as a strong Monforte in Vespri Siciliani. He premiered a new production of Nabucco at Covent Garden in 2013, which is his most frequent assumption on a calendar that is rather full through October 2017!!! He still has in his repertoire Miller, Boccanegra, Giorgio Germont, and Rigoletto at La Scala this past January with upcoming dates in Budapest and Madrid. No dates on this side of the Atlantic, but 26 years after his Met debut, and at the age of 74, he’s only a year younger than Domingo.Ricciarelli is a bit light for Amelia, but she has a most successful San Francisco outing (maybe Chicago too?) with Carreras. The telecast which comes before the broadcast features Quilico, Berini, and Blegen in the supporting parts is available on DVD and in MOoD. Patane is a solid, idiomatic conductor. Payne isn’t much, it’s starting to get late for Peters, but this is Nucci’s debut season, and he appears at the Met as late as 2004 as a strong Monforte in Vespri Siciliani. He premiered a new production of Nabucco at Covent Garden in 2013, which is his most frequent assumption on a calendar that is rather full through October 2017!!! He still has in his repertoire Miller, Boccanegra, Giorgio Germont, and Rigoletto at La Scala with upcoming dates in Budapest and Madrid. No dates on this side of the Atlantic, but 26 years after his Met debut, and at the age of 74, he’sonly a year younger than Domingo. MOD is 2/16/80 performance with Patanè; Ricciarelli, Blegen, Berini, Pavarotti, Quilico
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA:Verdi
Patanè; Pavarotti, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Peters, Payne
Original Air Date: 03/01/1980
MOD Video
SID.19470426
New Production for Pavarotti had been telecast two weeks earlier with Quilico for Nucci, Berini for Payne, and Blegen for Peters. Patane is a fine conductor. I think Amelia is a little heavy for Ricciarelli– her best outing in this role is a San Francisco broadcast with Carreras. Ricciarelli, Pavarotti under Patane appear in a video with Quilico, Berini, and Blegen from the same run. I generally prefer the supporting cast that is on the video, and that is available in Met Opera on Demand (MOoD), formerly Met Player. Riccardo was one of LP’s best roles, and Patane is a solid conductor. Ricciarelli is a bit light for Amelia, but she has a most successful San Francisco outing (maybe Chicago too?) with Carreras. The telecast which comes before the broadcast features Quilico, Berini, and Blegen in the supporting parts. Patane is a solid, idiomatic conductor. Payne isn’t much, it’s starting to get late for Peters, but this is Nucci’s debut season, and he appears as late as 2004 as a strong Monforte in Vespri Siciliani. He premiered a new production of Nabucco at Covent Garden in 2013, which is his most frequent assumption on a calendar that is rather full through October 2017!!! He still has in his repertoire Miller, Boccanegra, Giorgio Germont, and Rigoletto at La Scala this past January with upcoming dates in Budapest and Madrid. No dates on this side of the Atlantic, but 26 years after his Met debut, and at the age of 74, he’s only a year younger than Domingo.Ricciarelli is a bit light for Amelia, but she has a most successful San Francisco outing (maybe Chicago too?) with Carreras. The telecast which comes before the broadcast features Quilico, Berini, and Blegen in the supporting parts is available on DVD and in MOoD. Patane is a solid, idiomatic conductor. Payne isn’t much, it’s starting to get late for Peters, but this is Nucci’s debut season, and he appears at the Met as late as 2004 as a strong Monforte in Vespri Siciliani. He premiered a new production of Nabucco at Covent Garden in 2013, which is his most frequent assumption on a calendar that is rather full through October 2017!!! He still has in his repertoire Miller, Boccanegra, Giorgio Germont, and Rigoletto at La Scala with upcoming dates in Budapest and Madrid. No dates on this side of the Atlantic, but 26 years after his Met debut, and at the age of 74, he’sonly a year younger than Domingo. MOD is 2/16/80 performance with Patanè; Ricciarelli, Blegen, Berini, Pavarotti, Quilico
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA:Verdi
Patanè; Pavarotti, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Peters, Payne
Original Air Date: 03/01/1980
MOD Video
SID.19470743
New Production for Pavarotti had been telecast two weeks earlier with Quilico for Nucci, Berini for Payne, and Blegen for Peters. Patane is a fine conductor. I think Amelia is a little heavy for Ricciarelli– her best outing in this role is a San Francisco broadcast with Carreras. Ricciarelli, Pavarotti under Patane appear in a video with Quilico, Berini, and Blegen from the same run. I generally prefer the supporting cast that is on the video, and that is available in Met Opera on Demand (MOoD), formerly Met Player. Riccardo was one of LP’s best roles, and Patane is a solid conductor. Ricciarelli is a bit light for Amelia, but she has a most successful San Francisco outing (maybe Chicago too?) with Carreras. The telecast which comes before the broadcast features Quilico, Berini, and Blegen in the supporting parts. Patane is a solid, idiomatic conductor. Payne isn’t much, it’s starting to get late for Peters, but this is Nucci’s debut season, and he appears as late as 2004 as a strong Monforte in Vespri Siciliani. He premiered a new production of Nabucco at Covent Garden in 2013, which is his most frequent assumption on a calendar that is rather full through October 2017!!! He still has in his repertoire Miller, Boccanegra, Giorgio Germont, and Rigoletto at La Scala this past January with upcoming dates in Budapest and Madrid. No dates on this side of the Atlantic, but 26 years after his Met debut, and at the age of 74, he’s only a year younger than Domingo.Ricciarelli is a bit light for Amelia, but she has a most successful San Francisco outing (maybe Chicago too?) with Carreras. The telecast which comes before the broadcast features Quilico, Berini, and Blegen in the supporting parts is available on DVD and in MOoD. Patane is a solid, idiomatic conductor. Payne isn’t much, it’s starting to get late for Peters, but this is Nucci’s debut season, and he appears at the Met as late as 2004 as a strong Monforte in Vespri Siciliani. He premiered a new production of Nabucco at Covent Garden in 2013, which is his most frequent assumption on a calendar that is rather full through October 2017!!! He still has in his repertoire Miller, Boccanegra, Giorgio Germont, and Rigoletto at La Scala with upcoming dates in Budapest and Madrid. No dates on this side of the Atlantic, but 26 years after his Met debut, and at the age of 74, he’sonly a year younger than Domingo. MOD is 2/16/80 performance with Patanè; Ricciarelli, Blegen, Berini, Pavarotti, Quilico
Gounod
Nézet-Séguin; Kaufmann, Poplavskaya, Pape, Braun, Losier
Original Air Date: 12/10/2011
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.19480107
Nezet-Seguin’s conducting was one of the best things he’s done at the Met, and both Kaufmann and Pape were excellent if not exactly erasing aural memories of Bjorling and Siepi (1950 and 1959). The two blots for me were Poplavskaya as Marguerite and the misconceived production by Des McAnuff which will not disturb listening.
Verdi
Levine; Millo, Domingo, Toczyska, Milnes, Plishka
Original Air Date: 01/07/1989
MOD Video
SID.19480210
This is Domingo’s second of 3 Radames broadcasts (the last is a simulcast video the following season with Zajick instead of Toczyska). Millo is on excellent form, and Tocyzska is an arresting performer who is a very solid Amneris.
Gounod
Nézet-Séguin; Kaufmann, Poplavskaya, Pape, Braun, Losier
Original Air Date: 12/10/2011
Live in HDMOD Video
SID.19480319
Nezet-Seguin’s conducting was one of the best things he’s done at the Met, and both Kaufmann and Pape were excellent if not exactly erasing aural memories of Bjorling and Siepi (1950 and 1959). The two blots for me were Poplavskaya as Marguerite and the misconceived production by Des McAnuff which will not disturb listening.
Verdi
Levine; Millo, Domingo, Toczyska, Milnes, Plishka
Original Air Date: 01/07/1989
MOD Video
SID.19480426
This is Domingo’s second of 3 Radames broadcasts (the last is a simulcast video the following season with Zajick instead of Toczyska). Millo is on excellent form, and Tocyzska is an arresting performer who is a very solid Amneris.