COSÌ FAN TUTTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 04/09/1988
Epstein; TeKanawa, Rendall, Montague, Hagegård, Hong, Cheek
MOD Audio SID.19290529
While the Met casting for Zauberflote may not always leave a memorable result, the broadcast annals have a number of fine Cosis, and this is one. Max Epstein, who was Levine’s chief assistant for several years before dying much too young (the Walkure studio recording is dedicated to him as he did the major musical preparation). Te Kanawa always found Fiordiligi one of her most congenial assignments (and other Met Fiordiligis include such fine exponents as Steber (only available in the Sony studio recording because all her broadcasts are in translation), Vaness, Fleming (not on the airwaves, but a great studio recording, and a fine run at the Met), Lorengar (who followed TeKanawa in the new production and did the broadcast).
CAPRICCIO:Strauss
Original Air Date: 01/31/1998
Davis; Te Kanawa, Rootering, Kuebler, Keenlyside, Brendel, Harries
MOD Audio SID.19290530
The Met has only had two matinee broadcasts for Strauss’ final work: this one with Te Kanawa and Fleming in 2012. Andrew Davis conducted both revivals. Clairon was a famous role for Troyanos and luckily it is captured on a San Francisco telecast with Te Kanawa, but she died in 1993, which I guess is one reason for the more lightweight casting. Te Kanawa is definitely worth hearing.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 04/19/1997
Pappano; Chernov, Gorchakova, Farina, Tarassova, Ognovenko
MOD Audio SID.19290531
We hear so much more of Onegin these days, and this run is Pappano’s (CGarden music director) only Met appearance. Good to hear Chernov again in retrospect. Turned out to not be the Russian Robert Merrill. Antonio Pappano, though an American resident for some years has ended up basing most of his operatic career as the music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The Met thought enough to give him this new production as his debut and only run of Met appearances Chernov was originally brought in as a Russian Robert Merrill. The voice is attractive and smoothly lyric, but not a patch on his countryman, Yuri Mazurok, and at least two sizes too small to even be compared to Merrill. Even in the Met’s own archives, the Peter G. Davis review of the opening night comes in for some very hard knocks musically for both the singers and the conductor. Why this was picked for MOoD when the two Mazurok broadcasts (regularly on Sirius) were not picked gives one pause about performance selection on MOoD.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA:Rossini
Original Air Date: 03/06/1954
Erede; Merrill, Peters, Valletti, Corena, Siepi
MOD Audio SID.19290638
This broadcast, a month after the production’s premiere is among the most vocally potent Barbieres in the history of the Met, and the RCA recording under Leinsdorf only substitutes Tozzi for Siepi for the main cast. This is Peters at ther best, and I find the male contingent very satisfying indeed. No Cessa di piu resistere though Valletti did include it on the RCA recording. Don’t miss. This production was recorded by RCA with Leinsdorf for Erede, and Tozzi for Siepi, but the rest of the cast intact. Merrill and Peters are both very fine, but it is the three Italians who give performances to savor. Corena was never in second tier with his Bartolo, and the recitatives with Siepi absolutely magical. A spirited ensemble and you can hear it in uncompressed sound on MOoD any time you want. Highly recommended.
COSÌ FAN TUTTE:Mozart
Original Air Date: 04/09/1988
Epstein; TeKanawa, Rendall, Montague, Hagegård, Hong, Cheek
MOD Audio SID.19290745
While the Met casting for Zauberflote may not always leave a memorable result, the broadcast annals have a number of fine Cosis, and this is one. Max Epstein, who was Levine’s chief assistant for several years before dying much too young (the Walkure studio recording is dedicated to him as he did the major musical preparation). Te Kanawa always found Fiordiligi one of her most congenial assignments (and other Met Fiordiligis include such fine exponents as Steber (only available in the Sony studio recording because all her broadcasts are in translation), Vaness, Fleming (not on the airwaves, but a great studio recording, and a fine run at the Met), Lorengar (who followed TeKanawa in the new production and did the broadcast).
LA GIOCONDA:Ponchielli
Original Air Date: 01/03/1953
Cleva; Milanov, Baum, Warren, Barbieri, Siepi
MOD Audio SID.19290746
This is a big voiced Gioconda cast– the work does not call for chamber voices and this is the third of Milanov’s 7 broadcasts of the street singer. Baum is on a lower plane than the other starry principals, but for Gioconda aficionados (I’m one), this is a performance to enjoy.
EUGENE ONEGIN:Tchaikovsky
Original Air Date: 04/19/1997
Pappano; Chernov, Gorchakova, Farina, Tarassova, Ognovenko
MOD Audio SID.19290747
We hear so much more of Onegin these days, and this run is Pappano’s (CGarden music director) only Met appearance. Good to hear Chernov again in retrospect. Turned out to not be the Russian Robert Merrill. Antonio Pappano, though an American resident for some years has ended up basing most of his operatic career as the music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The Met thought enough to give him this new production as his debut and only run of Met appearances Chernov was originally brought in as a Russian Robert Merrill. The voice is attractive and smoothly lyric, but not a patch on his countryman, Yuri Mazurok, and at least two sizes too small to even be compared to Merrill. Even in the Met’s own archives, the Peter G. Davis review of the opening night comes in for some very hard knocks musically for both the singers and the conductor. Why this was picked for MOoD when the two Mazurok broadcasts (regularly on Sirius) were not picked gives one pause about performance selection on MOoD.
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY:Picker
Original Air Date: 12/24/2005
Conlon; Gunn, Racette, Graham, Zajick, Larmore
MOD Audio SID.19310101
An American Tragedy was premiered at the Met and should have been HDd during a scheduled revival in 2008 which was taken by Last Emperor (in hopes of a China tour which did not materialize). Zambello directed, and she remains faithful to the work which was revived at Glimmerglass in 2014 in a revised edition. On the radio the real standout is Zajick who makes conventional lines sound momentous, but the overall cast was well chosen.
TURANDOT:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/03/1966
Mehta; Nilsson, Freni, Corelli, Giaiotti
MOD Audio SID.19310104
This performance is Included in the Met’s 50th Anniversary collection. Turandot: The Best To Date at New Met [Unsigned review in the Journal-American of opening night September 26, 1966] The celebrating the opening of the new opera house over, the Metropolitan Opera settled for repertory last night and put on its best show to date. Puccini’s Turandot began the regular subscription season as a five-year old production that readily adjusted itself to new surroundings. It looked handsome, and it moved handsomely. Sighs. Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli took the leading roles as usual, the singing was magnificent. What else is there to say! This was a beautifully knit performance. Cecil Beaton’s sets and costumes rate among the best creations. Nathaniel Merrill has achieved some of the most imaginative staging. The cast is excellent. A new element entered with Zubin Mehta taking the conductor’s assignment. He imparts vitality and usually comprehends everything he does. The live acoustics of the pit led to overloud playing, but most interestingly he restrained himself in giving full rein to Puccini’s romanticism.
Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/08/1967
Gardelli; MacNeil, Gedda, Peters, Giaiotti, Amparan
MOD Audio SID.19310209
MacNeil made his Met debut as Rigoletto in 1959, his overwhelming performance an instant sensation. With a silvery, pinpoint voice, Peters had become virtually the Met’s resident lyric soprano and would go on to sing 88 performances of Gilda with the company, more than any other artist. This was one of only five performances Gedda gave as the Duke at the Met. Review of Fred Kirby in Billboard – MacNeil Is Outstanding In the Met’s Rigoletto Cornell MacNeil, cast in the title role of Rigoletto, definitely is the outstanding singer in this season’s performances of the Verdi warhorse at the Metropolitan Opera. MacNeil’s rich baritone made up for some spotty singing by other principals last Saturday (19). An exception was Bonaldi Giaiotti’s Sparafucile, which was a tower of strength. Giaiotti clearly is one of the company’s most dependable artists. Roberta Peters, as sweet a Gilda as ever, sang prettily, but sounded thin in spots, especially the Caro nome ending, while John Alexander, the possessor of a rich lyric tenor voice, seemed more interested in demonstrating it than in portraying the Duke. This was really evident at the ending of La donna e mobile, when he lost Lamberto Gardelli, an experienced operatic conductor leading the opera for the first time at the Met this season. The opera house’s wealth of basses again was apparent in the fine job by Raymond Michalski in the small, but important role of Monterone. Nedda Cassei again was a competent Maddalena. The serviceable production seemed at home in the new house, but, MacNeil, in his two arias and in duets, was the afternoon’s star. What a voice!The Metropolitan Opera recently lost one of its most cherished artists, soprano Roberta Peters, who passed away in January at the age of 86. Peters graced the Met stage for 515 performances over 35 years, specializing in lyric coloratura roles to which her silvery voice brought a special radiance. Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM celebrates her remarkable contribution to the company with a pair of special broadcasts that feature Peters in two of her signature roles. The first, a newly remastered 1967 performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte from the Met’s inaugural season at its new home in Lincoln Center, captures her dazzling interpretation of the Queen of the Night. The second, the Sirius premiere of a broadcast recorded just a month later, offers a glimpse of Peters as Gilda in Rigoletto, a role she sang more times at the Met than any other artist in the company’s history.
TURANDOT:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/03/1966
Mehta; Nilsson, Freni, Corelli, Giaiotti
MOD Audio SID.19310320
This performance is Included in the Met’s 50th Anniversary collection. Turandot: The Best To Date at New Met [Unsigned review in the Journal-American of opening night September 26, 1966] The celebrating the opening of the new opera house over, the Metropolitan Opera settled for repertory last night and put on its best show to date. Puccini’s Turandot began the regular subscription season as a five-year old production that readily adjusted itself to new surroundings. It looked handsome, and it moved handsomely. Sighs. Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli took the leading roles as usual, the singing was magnificent. What else is there to say! This was a beautifully knit performance. Cecil Beaton’s sets and costumes rate among the best creations. Nathaniel Merrill has achieved some of the most imaginative staging. The cast is excellent. A new element entered with Zubin Mehta taking the conductor’s assignment. He imparts vitality and usually comprehends everything he does. The live acoustics of the pit led to overloud playing, but most interestingly he restrained himself in giving full rein to Puccini’s romanticism.
Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/08/1967
Gardelli; MacNeil, Gedda, Peters, Giaiotti, Amparan
MOD Audio SID.19310425
MacNeil made his Met debut as Rigoletto in 1959, his overwhelming performance an instant sensation. With a silvery, pinpoint voice, Peters had become virtually the Met’s resident lyric soprano and would go on to sing 88 performances of Gilda with the company, more than any other artist. This was one of only five performances Gedda gave as the Duke at the Met. Review of Fred Kirby in Billboard – MacNeil Is Outstanding In the Met’s Rigoletto Cornell MacNeil, cast in the title role of Rigoletto, definitely is the outstanding singer in this season’s performances of the Verdi warhorse at the Metropolitan Opera. MacNeil’s rich baritone made up for some spotty singing by other principals last Saturday (19). An exception was Bonaldi Giaiotti’s Sparafucile, which was a tower of strength. Giaiotti clearly is one of the company’s most dependable artists. Roberta Peters, as sweet a Gilda as ever, sang prettily, but sounded thin in spots, especially the Caro nome ending, while John Alexander, the possessor of a rich lyric tenor voice, seemed more interested in demonstrating it than in portraying the Duke. This was really evident at the ending of La donna e mobile, when he lost Lamberto Gardelli, an experienced operatic conductor leading the opera for the first time at the Met this season. The opera house’s wealth of basses again was apparent in the fine job by Raymond Michalski in the small, but important role of Monterone. Nedda Cassei again was a competent Maddalena. The serviceable production seemed at home in the new house, but, MacNeil, in his two arias and in duets, was the afternoon’s star. What a voice!The Metropolitan Opera recently lost one of its most cherished artists, soprano Roberta Peters, who passed away in January at the age of 86. Peters graced the Met stage for 515 performances over 35 years, specializing in lyric coloratura roles to which her silvery voice brought a special radiance. Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM celebrates her remarkable contribution to the company with a pair of special broadcasts that feature Peters in two of her signature roles. The first, a newly remastered 1967 performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte from the Met’s inaugural season at its new home in Lincoln Center, captures her dazzling interpretation of the Queen of the Night. The second, the Sirius premiere of a broadcast recorded just a month later, offers a glimpse of Peters as Gilda in Rigoletto, a role she sang more times at the Met than any other artist in the company’s history.
TURANDOT:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/03/1966
Mehta; Nilsson, Freni, Corelli, Giaiotti
MOD Audio SID.19310530
This performance is Included in the Met’s 50th Anniversary collection. Turandot: The Best To Date at New Met [Unsigned review in the Journal-American of opening night September 26, 1966] The celebrating the opening of the new opera house over, the Metropolitan Opera settled for repertory last night and put on its best show to date. Puccini’s Turandot began the regular subscription season as a five-year old production that readily adjusted itself to new surroundings. It looked handsome, and it moved handsomely. Sighs. Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli took the leading roles as usual, the singing was magnificent. What else is there to say! This was a beautifully knit performance. Cecil Beaton’s sets and costumes rate among the best creations. Nathaniel Merrill has achieved some of the most imaginative staging. The cast is excellent. A new element entered with Zubin Mehta taking the conductor’s assignment. He imparts vitality and usually comprehends everything he does. The live acoustics of the pit led to overloud playing, but most interestingly he restrained himself in giving full rein to Puccini’s romanticism.
Verdi
Original Air Date: 04/08/1967
Gardelli; MacNeil, Gedda, Peters, Giaiotti, Amparan
MOD Audio SID.19310641
MacNeil made his Met debut as Rigoletto in 1959, his overwhelming performance an instant sensation. With a silvery, pinpoint voice, Peters had become virtually the Met’s resident lyric soprano and would go on to sing 88 performances of Gilda with the company, more than any other artist. This was one of only five performances Gedda gave as the Duke at the Met. Review of Fred Kirby in Billboard – MacNeil Is Outstanding In the Met’s Rigoletto Cornell MacNeil, cast in the title role of Rigoletto, definitely is the outstanding singer in this season’s performances of the Verdi warhorse at the Metropolitan Opera. MacNeil’s rich baritone made up for some spotty singing by other principals last Saturday (19). An exception was Bonaldi Giaiotti’s Sparafucile, which was a tower of strength. Giaiotti clearly is one of the company’s most dependable artists. Roberta Peters, as sweet a Gilda as ever, sang prettily, but sounded thin in spots, especially the Caro nome ending, while John Alexander, the possessor of a rich lyric tenor voice, seemed more interested in demonstrating it than in portraying the Duke. This was really evident at the ending of La donna e mobile, when he lost Lamberto Gardelli, an experienced operatic conductor leading the opera for the first time at the Met this season. The opera house’s wealth of basses again was apparent in the fine job by Raymond Michalski in the small, but important role of Monterone. Nedda Cassei again was a competent Maddalena. The serviceable production seemed at home in the new house, but, MacNeil, in his two arias and in duets, was the afternoon’s star. What a voice!The Metropolitan Opera recently lost one of its most cherished artists, soprano Roberta Peters, who passed away in January at the age of 86. Peters graced the Met stage for 515 performances over 35 years, specializing in lyric coloratura roles to which her silvery voice brought a special radiance. Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM celebrates her remarkable contribution to the company with a pair of special broadcasts that feature Peters in two of her signature roles. The first, a newly remastered 1967 performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte from the Met’s inaugural season at its new home in Lincoln Center, captures her dazzling interpretation of the Queen of the Night. The second, the Sirius premiere of a broadcast recorded just a month later, offers a glimpse of Peters as Gilda in Rigoletto, a role she sang more times at the Met than any other artist in the company’s history.
TURANDOT:Puccini
Original Air Date: 12/03/1966
Mehta; Nilsson, Freni, Corelli, Giaiotti
MOD Audio SID.19310743
This performance is Included in the Met’s 50th Anniversary collection. Turandot: The Best To Date at New Met [Unsigned review in the Journal-American of opening night September 26, 1966] The celebrating the opening of the new opera house over, the Metropolitan Opera settled for repertory last night and put on its best show to date. Puccini’s Turandot began the regular subscription season as a five-year old production that readily adjusted itself to new surroundings. It looked handsome, and it moved handsomely. Sighs. Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli took the leading roles as usual, the singing was magnificent. What else is there to say! This was a beautifully knit performance. Cecil Beaton’s sets and costumes rate among the best creations. Nathaniel Merrill has achieved some of the most imaginative staging. The cast is excellent. A new element entered with Zubin Mehta taking the conductor’s assignment. He imparts vitality and usually comprehends everything he does. The live acoustics of the pit led to overloud playing, but most interestingly he restrained himself in giving full rein to Puccini’s romanticism.
FAUST:Gounod
Original Air Date: 04/30/2005
Levine; Alagna, Isokoski, Pape, Hvorostovsky, Jepson
MOD Audio SID.19320104
I still don’t understand why this production had to be scrapped for the McAnuff . Isokoski while in no way effacing De Los Angeles or Steber (she’s on the Met recording, but she doesn’t have a broadcast) or Freni who did 6 Fausts first season at Lincoln Center, but none of them broadcast to me is still to be preferred to Poplavskaya. Alagna is a solid Faust, but unfortunately he and his then wife Gheorghiu left before the 2003 broadcast. This is Levine’s only year doing Faust. The continuing absence of the two Bjorling Fausts (1950 and 1959) both with Siepi is a major gap in the rebroadcast efforts on Sirius. I am also wondering why when the Fleming Leech Ramey Faust was on the air this past week, Faust as a work couldn’t have waited a week.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA:Barber
Original Air Date: 09/16/1966
Schippers; Díaz, Price, Thomas, Flagello, Elias
MOD Audio SID.19320106
This is the opening of the new Met at Lincoln Center and the world premiere of the opera. Leontyne never sang better than this night, and luckily it is well preserved for all to hear. Lady Bird Johnson and Imelda Marcos were among the dignitaries that night. From MOD: Expectations were high when the Metropolitan Opera announced that the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra would christen its new house at Lincoln Center in the fall of 1966—a suitably grand work based on Shakespeare’s tragedy and written specifically for Leontyne Price as Cleopatra. A singer himself, the composer knew Price’s voice and what it could do, shaping his conception of the opera’s heroine around this iconic American diva. The 26-year-old Puerto Rican–born bass Justino Díaz starred alongside Price as Antony while Ezio Flagello portrayed Antony’s friend Enobarbus. Tenor Jess Thomas brought his heroic presence to the role of Octavius Caesar, and the beloved mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, already a Met veteran in her 30s, sang the role of Cleopatra’s attendant Charmian. Thanks to a Texaco–Metropolitan Opera Radio Network broadcast from the opera’s world premiere, this indelible piece of Met history has been preserved for generations.
L’ELISIR D’AMORE:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 02/19/1972
Franci, Bergonzi, Scotto, Corena, Sereni
MOD Audio SID.19320213
This is as good as it gets. Bergonzi is just that scintilla more seductive than Kraus, and the other 3 Italians are close to perfection. I miss Sereni and Corena a lot when I hear the current crop of buffos. Don’t miss.
LUISA MILLER:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/17/1968
Schippers; Caballé, Tucker, Milnes, Tozzi, Flagello, Pearl
MOD Audio SID.19320315
This production brought Luisa Miller into the mainstream repertory. Caballe is caught at close to her very best, Tucker in tremendous Indian summer form, and Milnes a big breakthrough for him into the core Verdi parts. This is also available on Sony Historical CD as well and its regular appearance is well deserved.
FAUST:Gounod
Original Air Date: 04/30/2005
Levine; Alagna, Isokoski, Pape, Hvorostovsky, Jepson
MOD Audio SID.19320320
I still don’t understand why this production had to be scrapped for the McAnuff . Isokoski while in no way effacing De Los Angeles or Steber (she’s on the Met recording, but she doesn’t have a broadcast) or Freni who did 6 Fausts first season at Lincoln Center, but none of them broadcast to me is still to be preferred to Poplavskaya. Alagna is a solid Faust, but unfortunately he and his then wife Gheorghiu left before the 2003 broadcast. This is Levine’s only year doing Faust. The continuing absence of the two Bjorling Fausts (1950 and 1959) both with Siepi is a major gap in the rebroadcast efforts on Sirius. I am also wondering why when the Fleming Leech Ramey Faust was on the air this past week, Faust as a work couldn’t have waited a week.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA:Barber
Original Air Date: 09/16/1966
Schippers; Díaz, Price, Thomas, Flagello, Elias
MOD Audio SID.19320422
This is the opening of the new Met at Lincoln Center and the world premiere of the opera. Leontyne never sang better than this night, and luckily it is well preserved for all to hear. Lady Bird Johnson and Imelda Marcos were among the dignitaries that night. From MOD: Expectations were high when the Metropolitan Opera announced that the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra would christen its new house at Lincoln Center in the fall of 1966—a suitably grand work based on Shakespeare’s tragedy and written specifically for Leontyne Price as Cleopatra. A singer himself, the composer knew Price’s voice and what it could do, shaping his conception of the opera’s heroine around this iconic American diva. The 26-year-old Puerto Rican–born bass Justino Díaz starred alongside Price as Antony while Ezio Flagello portrayed Antony’s friend Enobarbus. Tenor Jess Thomas brought his heroic presence to the role of Octavius Caesar, and the beloved mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, already a Met veteran in her 30s, sang the role of Cleopatra’s attendant Charmian. Thanks to a Texaco–Metropolitan Opera Radio Network broadcast from the opera’s world premiere, this indelible piece of Met history has been preserved for generations.
L’ELISIR D’AMORE:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 02/19/1972
Franci, Bergonzi, Scotto, Corena, Sereni
MOD Audio SID.19320529
This is as good as it gets. Bergonzi is just that scintilla more seductive than Kraus, and the other 3 Italians are close to perfection. I miss Sereni and Corena a lot when I hear the current crop of buffos. Don’t miss.
FAUST:Gounod
Original Air Date: 04/30/2005
Levine; Alagna, Isokoski, Pape, Hvorostovsky, Jepson
MOD Audio SID.19320530
I still don’t understand why this production had to be scrapped for the McAnuff . Isokoski while in no way effacing De Los Angeles or Steber (she’s on the Met recording, but she doesn’t have a broadcast) or Freni who did 6 Fausts first season at Lincoln Center, but none of them broadcast to me is still to be preferred to Poplavskaya. Alagna is a solid Faust, but unfortunately he and his then wife Gheorghiu left before the 2003 broadcast. This is Levine’s only year doing Faust. The continuing absence of the two Bjorling Fausts (1950 and 1959) both with Siepi is a major gap in the rebroadcast efforts on Sirius. I am also wondering why when the Fleming Leech Ramey Faust was on the air this past week, Faust as a work couldn’t have waited a week.
LUISA MILLER:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/17/1968
Schippers; Caballé, Tucker, Milnes, Tozzi, Flagello, Pearl
MOD Audio SID.19320531
This production brought Luisa Miller into the mainstream repertory. Caballe is caught at close to her very best, Tucker in tremendous Indian summer form, and Milnes a big breakthrough for him into the core Verdi parts. This is also available on Sony Historical CD as well and its regular appearance is well deserved.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA:Barber
Original Air Date: 09/16/1966
Schippers; Díaz, Price, Thomas, Flagello, Elias
MOD Audio SID.19320639
This is the opening of the new Met at Lincoln Center and the world premiere of the opera. Leontyne never sang better than this night, and luckily it is well preserved for all to hear. Lady Bird Johnson and Imelda Marcos were among the dignitaries that night. From MOD: Expectations were high when the Metropolitan Opera announced that the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra would christen its new house at Lincoln Center in the fall of 1966—a suitably grand work based on Shakespeare’s tragedy and written specifically for Leontyne Price as Cleopatra. A singer himself, the composer knew Price’s voice and what it could do, shaping his conception of the opera’s heroine around this iconic American diva. The 26-year-old Puerto Rican–born bass Justino Díaz starred alongside Price as Antony while Ezio Flagello portrayed Antony’s friend Enobarbus. Tenor Jess Thomas brought his heroic presence to the role of Octavius Caesar, and the beloved mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, already a Met veteran in her 30s, sang the role of Cleopatra’s attendant Charmian. Thanks to a Texaco–Metropolitan Opera Radio Network broadcast from the opera’s world premiere, this indelible piece of Met history has been preserved for generations.
FAUST:Gounod
Original Air Date: 04/30/2005
Levine; Alagna, Isokoski, Pape, Hvorostovsky, Jepson
MOD Audio SID.19320743
I still don’t understand why this production had to be scrapped for the McAnuff . Isokoski while in no way effacing De Los Angeles or Steber (she’s on the Met recording, but she doesn’t have a broadcast) or Freni who did 6 Fausts first season at Lincoln Center, but none of them broadcast to me is still to be preferred to Poplavskaya. Alagna is a solid Faust, but unfortunately he and his then wife Gheorghiu left before the 2003 broadcast. This is Levine’s only year doing Faust. The continuing absence of the two Bjorling Fausts (1950 and 1959) both with Siepi is a major gap in the rebroadcast efforts on Sirius. I am also wondering why when the Fleming Leech Ramey Faust was on the air this past week, Faust as a work couldn’t have waited a week.
L’ELISIR D’AMORE:Donizetti
Original Air Date: 02/19/1972
Franci, Bergonzi, Scotto, Corena, Sereni
MOD Audio SID.19320745
This is as good as it gets. Bergonzi is just that scintilla more seductive than Kraus, and the other 3 Italians are close to perfection. I miss Sereni and Corena a lot when I hear the current crop of buffos. Don’t miss.
LUISA MILLER:Verdi
Original Air Date: 02/17/1968
Schippers; Caballé, Tucker, Milnes, Tozzi, Flagello, Pearl
MOD Audio SID.19320747
This production brought Luisa Miller into the mainstream repertory. Caballe is caught at close to her very best, Tucker in tremendous Indian summer form, and Milnes a big breakthrough for him into the core Verdi parts. This is also available on Sony Historical CD as well and its regular appearance is well deserved.
LES TROYENS:Berlioz
Original Air Date: 02/18/1984
Levine; Norman, Sooter, Monk, Taillon, Plishka, Ahlstedt
MOD Audio SID.19330102
Norman repeated Verrett’s double assumption on this broadcast (Verrett’s was for the opening of the production in 1973 when Ludwig was indisposed–I was there, quite an evening). I rather prefer Norman’s Didon to her Cassandre, but this broadcast now takes its place in MOoD. Enee is close to an impossible part, but Sooter is no worse than Ronald Dowd was in Boston for Caldwell.