In this 11th year, over ten nights performances from the Met’s Live in HD series will be shown starting with a screening of FUNNY FACE in a special co-presentation with Film at Lincoln Center. Screenings run from August 23 through September 2. There will be 3000 seats in the Plaza in front of the Opera House with an additional standing room area. Cancellations due to thunder/lighting or high wind will not be rescheduled.
OTELLO:Verdi
Original Air Date: 03/11/1967
Mehta; Caballé, McCracken, Gobbi, Lorenzi
MOD Audio SID.19370637
This is the first Otello broadcast from the new house at Lincoln Center. Caballe is very fine in the fourth act, but earlier acts do not find her fully engaged. McCracken and Gobbi are fully engaged from first note, and Mehta is a solid participant. Sirius continues to deprive us of Tebaldi’s 1955 and 1958 Desdemonas which capture her (especially 1955) in remarkable voice. This is Caballe’s first broadcast from the Met, and McCracken, Gobbi and Mehta are wonderful partners. Compared to some other Desdemonas, I found her a little short until Act Four, but in the final act she was on all eight cylinders. I love the chemistry of McCracken and Gobbi. This fine performance is available on MetPlayer also. There never was a tenor quite like James McCracken—a veritable force of nature vocally, he fought his way to an international career that would come to be dominated by his seething portrayal of the title role of Verdi’s Otello. In this March 11, 1967, broadcast conducted by Zubin Mehta, McCracken’s finely sung Otello rages with a raw-nerve fury but also brings heroic tenderness to the love duet and his final moments. Montserrat Caballé’s singing, regal in its beauty throughout, gives way to towering passion in Desdemona’s clash with Otello in Act III. Tito Gobbi is utter, impeccable evil as Iago, heard in the savage glee he finally takes in hurling Cassio’s name, like a knife, at Otello at the end of Act II. This performance is available in Met Opera on Demand (MOoD) and definitely worth your time.
CARMEN:Bizet
Mehta; Resnik, Tucker, Raskin, Díaz
Original Air Date: 03/15/1969
SID.19410103
This is Resnik’s only Carmen broadcast, and Mehta is plenty fiery. Although he had premiered the production with Bumbry, the first season broadcast went to Lombard conducting Bumbry with Tucker and Freni). Resnik’s tone, even for Carmen was a bit worn in 1969, but very stylish. Bing almost could not think of Carmen without Tucker. He has four broadcasts during the 1950s and indeed the first two of the new production in 1968 and 1969. My enjoyment of Tucker’s Jose was always limited by the fact that dramatically Domingo and Vickers were far more satisfying. That he sang one more Jose broadcast in 1972– excepting a Domingo replacement for Vickers in 1972 would have had Tucker as the only Jose on the airwaves from 1958 till 1972 (admittedly Bing took Carmen out of the repertoire from 1960-1967). Certainly few other tenors could have supported such an extended string, and been as strong vocally in 1969 as he was in 1952. I like his excellence in other roles more. It is worth noting here that for Tucker’s 99th birthday, there was supposedly some promise of major Sirius broadcasting. Guess Resnik won that battle this week. Raskin is an ordinary Micaela without the magic that attended her Nannetta or her Mozart at City Opera and her career was cut short by illness and an early passing. Diaz is a replacement for the originally scheduled Merrill, and is OK. Mehta (conductor for life of the Israel Philharmonic, though Zoroastrian) makes this a very Kosher Carmen indeed.
CARMEN:Bizet
Mehta; Resnik, Tucker, Raskin, Díaz
Original Air Date: 03/15/1969
SID.19410318
This is Resnik’s only Carmen broadcast, and Mehta is plenty fiery. Although he had premiered the production with Bumbry, the first season broadcast went to Lombard conducting Bumbry with Tucker and Freni). Resnik’s tone, even for Carmen was a bit worn in 1969, but very stylish. Bing almost could not think of Carmen without Tucker. He has four broadcasts during the 1950s and indeed the first two of the new production in 1968 and 1969. My enjoyment of Tucker’s Jose was always limited by the fact that dramatically Domingo and Vickers were far more satisfying. That he sang one more Jose broadcast in 1972– excepting a Domingo replacement for Vickers in 1972 would have had Tucker as the only Jose on the airwaves from 1958 till 1972 (admittedly Bing took Carmen out of the repertoire from 1960-1967). Certainly few other tenors could have supported such an extended string, and been as strong vocally in 1969 as he was in 1952. I like his excellence in other roles more. It is worth noting here that for Tucker’s 99th birthday, there was supposedly some promise of major Sirius broadcasting. Guess Resnik won that battle this week. Raskin is an ordinary Micaela without the magic that attended her Nannetta or her Mozart at City Opera and her career was cut short by illness and an early passing. Diaz is a replacement for the originally scheduled Merrill, and is OK. Mehta (conductor for life of the Israel Philharmonic, though Zoroastrian) makes this a very Kosher Carmen indeed.
CARMEN:Bizet
Mehta; Resnik, Tucker, Raskin, Díaz
Original Air Date: 03/15/1969
SID.19410534
This is Resnik’s only Carmen broadcast, and Mehta is plenty fiery. Although he had premiered the production with Bumbry, the first season broadcast went to Lombard conducting Bumbry with Tucker and Freni). Resnik’s tone, even for Carmen was a bit worn in 1969, but very stylish. Bing almost could not think of Carmen without Tucker. He has four broadcasts during the 1950s and indeed the first two of the new production in 1968 and 1969. My enjoyment of Tucker’s Jose was always limited by the fact that dramatically Domingo and Vickers were far more satisfying. That he sang one more Jose broadcast in 1972– excepting a Domingo replacement for Vickers in 1972 would have had Tucker as the only Jose on the airwaves from 1958 till 1972 (admittedly Bing took Carmen out of the repertoire from 1960-1967). Certainly few other tenors could have supported such an extended string, and been as strong vocally in 1969 as he was in 1952. I like his excellence in other roles more. It is worth noting here that for Tucker’s 99th birthday, there was supposedly some promise of major Sirius broadcasting. Guess Resnik won that battle this week. Raskin is an ordinary Micaela without the magic that attended her Nannetta or her Mozart at City Opera and her career was cut short by illness and an early passing. Diaz is a replacement for the originally scheduled Merrill, and is OK. Mehta (conductor for life of the Israel Philharmonic, though Zoroastrian) makes this a very Kosher Carmen indeed.
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA:Levy
Mehta; Lear, Reardon, Collier, Milnes, Macurdy
Original Air Date: 04/01/1967
SID.19450214
Whatever the musical limitations, Cacoyannis’ direction and the searing performances of Lear and Collier as Lavinia and Christine Mannon and maybe the best thing Reardon and Milnes ever did. Michael Cacoyannis’ staging and a cast rehearsed to a fare thee well by Mehta overcome the limitations of O’Neill and Levy. It was quite an effective evening in the theatre. Lear and Collier even in such rarefied company stood out. This is from first season in the new house. Sad that we didn’t have cameras whirring in those days – probably the performance of the 1960s most regret not being on video, because video might have caught some of the enormous electricity that was simply not in Levy’s music. Surprisingly, this piece lingers on the edge of the repertory, exceeded only by Vanessa in terms of repeat performances for recent Met world premieres.
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA:Levy
Mehta; Lear, Reardon, Collier, Milnes, Macurdy
Original Air Date: 04/01/1967
SID.19450533
Whatever the musical limitations, Cacoyannis’ direction and the searing performances of Lear and Collier as Lavinia and Christine Mannon and maybe the best thing Reardon and Milnes ever did. Michael Cacoyannis’ staging and a cast rehearsed to a fare thee well by Mehta overcome the limitations of O’Neill and Levy. It was quite an effective evening in the theatre. Lear and Collier even in such rarefied company stood out. This is from first season in the new house. Sad that we didn’t have cameras whirring in those days – probably the performance of the 1960s most regret not being on video, because video might have caught some of the enormous electricity that was simply not in Levy’s music. Surprisingly, this piece lingers on the edge of the repertory, exceeded only by Vanessa in terms of repeat performances for recent Met world premieres.
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA:Levy
Mehta; Lear, Reardon, Collier, Milnes, Macurdy
Original Air Date: 04/01/1967
SID.19450744
Whatever the musical limitations, Cacoyannis’ direction and the searing performances of Lear and Collier as Lavinia and Christine Mannon and maybe the best thing Reardon and Milnes ever did. Michael Cacoyannis’ staging and a cast rehearsed to a fare thee well by Mehta overcome the limitations of O’Neill and Levy. It was quite an effective evening in the theatre. Lear and Collier even in such rarefied company stood out. This is from first season in the new house. Sad that we didn’t have cameras whirring in those days – probably the performance of the 1960s most regret not being on video, because video might have caught some of the enormous electricity that was simply not in Levy’s music. Surprisingly, this piece lingers on the edge of the repertory, exceeded only by Vanessa in terms of repeat performances for recent Met world premieres.
RODELINDA:Handel
Bicket; Fleming, Daniels, van Rensburg, Blythe, Mehta, Relyea
Original Air Date: 01/01/2005
MOD Audio
SID.19490321
Fleming is the star in all three seasons of Rodelinda at the Met, and the first two broadcasts from 2005 (this one) and 2006 have a major shift with Bicket handing over to Patrick Summers, and the lead countertenor role from David Daniels to Andreas Scholl. The telecast/moviecast is on Decca DVD and in MOoD comes five years later in 2011 and returns Bicket to the podium, but for my money finds Scholl in considerably diminished form compared to his excellent effort in 2006. I’m not a big fan of Handel, and while several of the individual arias are notable, the absence of ensembles (except for the glorious duet for Blythe with the lead countertenor) and the ABA aria style make for a long afternoon or evening of listening or watching. The comings and goings of Rodelinda at the Met are well documented in MOoD, and this first broadcast is a good place to start.
RODELINDA:Handel
Bicket; Fleming, Daniels, van Rensburg, Blythe, Mehta, Relyea
Original Air Date: 01/01/2005
MOD Audio
SID.19490532
Fleming is the star in all three seasons of Rodelinda at the Met, and the first two broadcasts from 2005 (this one) and 2006 have a major shift with Bicket handing over to Patrick Summers, and the lead countertenor role from David Daniels to Andreas Scholl. The telecast/moviecast is on Decca DVD and in MOoD comes five years later in 2011 and returns Bicket to the podium, but for my money finds Scholl in considerably diminished form compared to his excellent effort in 2006. I’m not a big fan of Handel, and while several of the individual arias are notable, the absence of ensembles (except for the glorious duet for Blythe with the lead countertenor) and the ABA aria style make for a long afternoon or evening of listening or watching. The comings and goings of Rodelinda at the Met are well documented in MOoD, and this first broadcast is a good place to start.
RODELINDA:Handel
Bicket; Fleming, Daniels, van Rensburg, Blythe, Mehta, Relyea
Original Air Date: 01/01/2005
MOD Audio
SID.19490744
Fleming is the star in all three seasons of Rodelinda at the Met, and the first two broadcasts from 2005 (this one) and 2006 have a major shift with Bicket handing over to Patrick Summers, and the lead countertenor role from David Daniels to Andreas Scholl. The telecast/moviecast is on Decca DVD and in MOoD comes five years later in 2011 and returns Bicket to the podium, but for my money finds Scholl in considerably diminished form compared to his excellent effort in 2006. I’m not a big fan of Handel, and while several of the individual arias are notable, the absence of ensembles (except for the glorious duet for Blythe with the lead countertenor) and the ABA aria style make for a long afternoon or evening of listening or watching. The comings and goings of Rodelinda at the Met are well documented in MOoD, and this first broadcast is a good place to start.
TOSCA:Puccini
Mehta; Crespin, Raimondi, Bacquier
Original Air Date: 01/13/1968
SID.20170212
Crespin was the first prima donna to repeat Tosca on the airwaves during the Bing era. I generally prefer her supporting cast here, and will be eagerly listening to this. She could be an uneven singer, but you know it is she from the first note. Raimondi (Gianni, not Ruggero– no relation) has a brief Met career, but I prefer him to Konya, and Bacquier is astrong Scarpia.