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.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Original Air Date: 02/01/1964
Rosenstock; Kónya, Crespin, Rankin, Cassel, Wiemann
SID.19350315
Bing generally avoided broadcasts as the first performance in a run, and this one could certainly have done with a few performances for the ensemble to gel. More cuts than we are used to, and Rosenstock is not the most inspiring leader. Konya is in excellent voice, and stands up to the best of the Lohengrins ever. Crespin is one of my favorites, and already by 1964 she could be uneven. Still I like an Elsa with metal for the second act confrontation with Ortrud and also the full throated singing she and Konya bring to the Bridal Chamber. Rankin and Cassel are up to the vocal demands if not always the distinction one would like, and Wiemann was an excellent house bass ready for all the Wagner roles. His phrasing is often a good deal more pleasing than Hines who had more significant vocal equipment. *** Bing generally avoided first performances of repertory as broadcasts, and sometimes things go rather bumpily (most infamously the Schwarzkopf Don Giovanni and the Moffo Lucia). This one does not find Crespin (a huge personal favorite) at her most settled, but she has her moments. Konya really is a fine Lohengrin and for a solid decade #1. The performance has some cuts as well, but by the middle of the second act, things are starting to fall into place.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Original Air Date: 02/01/1964
Rosenstock; Kónya, Crespin, Rankin, Cassel, Wiemann
SID.19350531
Bing generally avoided broadcasts as the first performance in a run, and this one could certainly have done with a few performances for the ensemble to gel. More cuts than we are used to, and Rosenstock is not the most inspiring leader. Konya is in excellent voice, and stands up to the best of the Lohengrins ever. Crespin is one of my favorites, and already by 1964 she could be uneven. Still I like an Elsa with metal for the second act confrontation with Ortrud and also the full throated singing she and Konya bring to the Bridal Chamber. Rankin and Cassel are up to the vocal demands if not always the distinction one would like, and Wiemann was an excellent house bass ready for all the Wagner roles. His phrasing is often a good deal more pleasing than Hines who had more significant vocal equipment. *** Bing generally avoided first performances of repertory as broadcasts, and sometimes things go rather bumpily (most infamously the Schwarzkopf Don Giovanni and the Moffo Lucia). This one does not find Crespin (a huge personal favorite) at her most settled, but she has her moments. Konya really is a fine Lohengrin and for a solid decade #1. The performance has some cuts as well, but by the middle of the second act, things are starting to fall into place.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Original Air Date: 02/01/1964
Rosenstock; Kónya, Crespin, Rankin, Cassel, Wiemann
SID.19350747
Bing generally avoided broadcasts as the first performance in a run, and this one could certainly have done with a few performances for the ensemble to gel. More cuts than we are used to, and Rosenstock is not the most inspiring leader. Konya is in excellent voice, and stands up to the best of the Lohengrins ever. Crespin is one of my favorites, and already by 1964 she could be uneven. Still I like an Elsa with metal for the second act confrontation with Ortrud and also the full throated singing she and Konya bring to the Bridal Chamber. Rankin and Cassel are up to the vocal demands if not always the distinction one would like, and Wiemann was an excellent house bass ready for all the Wagner roles. His phrasing is often a good deal more pleasing than Hines who had more significant vocal equipment. *** Bing generally avoided first performances of repertory as broadcasts, and sometimes things go rather bumpily (most infamously the Schwarzkopf Don Giovanni and the Moffo Lucia). This one does not find Crespin (a huge personal favorite) at her most settled, but she has her moments. Konya really is a fine Lohengrin and for a solid decade #1. The performance has some cuts as well, but by the middle of the second act, things are starting to fall into place.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Klobucar; Kónya, Arroyo, Dvoráková, Cassel, Macurdy, Milnes
Original Air Date: 02/10/1968
SID.20080209
Milnes’s one of the solid pluses, as are Konya and Arroyo. The last of this run the following week featured James King in the title role. Dvorakova did Isolde at the Met and Senta in Philadelphia.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Klobucar; Kónya, Arroyo, Dvoráková, Cassel, Macurdy, Milnes
Original Air Date: 02/10/1968
SID.20080425
Milnes’s one of the solid pluses, as are Konya and Arroyo. The last of this run the following week featured James King in the title role. Dvorakova did Isolde at the Met and Senta in Philadelphia.
LOHENGRIN:Wagner
Klobucar; Kónya, Arroyo, Dvoráková, Cassel, Macurdy, Milnes
Original Air Date: 02/10/1968
SID.20080642
Milnes’s one of the solid pluses, as are Konya and Arroyo. The last of this run the following week featured James King in the title role. Dvorakova did Isolde at the Met and Senta in Philadelphia.
SALOME:Strauss
Böhm; Nilsson, Liebl, Dalis, Cassel, Shirley
Original Air Date: 03/13/1965
MOD Audio
SID.20160214
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.
SALOME:Strauss
Böhm; Nilsson, Liebl, Dalis, Cassel, Shirley
Original Air Date: 03/13/1965
MOD Audio
SID.20160425
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.
SALOME:Strauss
Böhm; Nilsson, Liebl, Dalis, Cassel, Shirley
Original Air Date: 03/13/1965
MOD Audio
SID.20160756
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.