Verdi at the MET: Legendary Performances from The Metropolitan Opera

Verdi's 200th birthday provided a good excuse for this boxed set of Metropolitan Opera performances that were broadcast live between 1935 and 1967. These have appeared in other editions, most "unofficial," though UN BALLO IN MASCHERA and OTELLO were in the Met's "historic broadcast" series on LP, issued for fund-raising purposes around 1980. All but two of these had been run by Metropolitan Opera Radio on Sirius/XM prior to release of this set, and the AIDA was also heard in 2005 as an "archive" performance during the Saturday network radio broadcasts. The sound quality varies, and as might be expected the 1935 LA TRAVIATA requires the most indulgence from the listener. The sound has been improved considerably from earlier copies, and while quite a bit of distortion from the source recording remains, noise and speed variation issues have been addressed. Applause after arias has been truncated, possibly when the original transfer was made years ago from the acetate discs, but the defects are worth tolerating to hear Rosa Ponselle's Violetta, and Lawrence Tibbett when he was still in prime vocal condition. While sounding far better than the TRAVIATA, there's a small amount of distortion in the 1945 RIGOLETTO, 1949 FALSTAFF and 1959 MACBETH. The RIGOLETTO seems an odd choice; the sound is a little dim and, as noted by the critics at the time, The Duke of Mantua was not one of Bjoerling's better roles from a dramatic standpoint. But the voice is splendid, and Leonard Warren supplies plenty of drama. It's also good to have an example of Cesare Sodero's competent conducting, since he was busy at the Met in the early 1940's, and his commercial recordings are not representative of his abilities, made when he worked as music director for the Edison phonograph company. The MACBETH, from the Met's first production of the work, invites comparison with the commercial recording RCA Victor made with the same cast. The live performance has a strange acoustic, evidently not sourced from the microphones used for the broadcasts, providing more resonance than usual. The frequency response is good and the voices are captured fairly well, but the orchestra sounds like it was in another room. I'm guessing the microphones were above the stage, without a direct path to the orchestra pit. Distortion levels aren't extreme, but do unfortunate things especially to Leonie Rysanek's voice. While the voices and orchestra sound better in the commercial recording, it was made in the early days of stereo, emphasizing separation of the channels, distracting enough that playing it in monaural mode helps. Even so, the balance between singers is better in the live performance. The two from 1940 are especially attractive, being fine performances with interesting casts, and the sound is quite good with low distortion and a surprising amount of dynamic range. The OTELLO is very impressive, energetic and precisely executed by all forces under Ettore Panizza, with Martinelli's voice captured far better than it was in the studio-recorded excerpts he made at the same time for Victor. The sound quality is also fine on the rest of the performances, with the 1950 SIMON BOCCANEGRA and 1952 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO excellent for the time they were recorded, and having little surface noise from the discs. I have a couple minor gripes about the editing. Scene and act changes happen without a break; I don't expect commentary by Milton Cross, but a few seconds of silence would have helped. There is also no hint in the notes as to how these were presented in performance "at the Met" where RIGOLETTO and LA TRAVIATA were usually given in four acts. In a couple places the applause has been truncated; it may make some sense at the end of a disc side, such as after the tenor aria in Act III of LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, but there isn't much excuse for dropping 30 seconds of it after "O patria mia" in the 1967 AIDA. Fortunately this only seems to occur in a few places, so I don't consider it a major issue. The 136-page booklet has plot synopses of the operas and some information on events surrounding the performances, with the text in English, German and French, but very little technical detail on the recordings, other than for the 1935 LA TRAVIATA. The cast lists and pictures are probably the most useful parts of it. Access to the discs is somewhat awkward, since they are in cardboard envelopes arranged as folders. Squeezing the envelope open near the "spine" of the folder usually allows the disc to drop out far enough to grab the center hole, and the cut-out on the edge is an improvement over the similar packaging of the Wagner collection. At least the box doesn't take up a lot of space, and the envelopes provide plenty of area for identifying the tracks on the discs. With ten operas in generally fine performances, this is an excellent release, a bargain at the price, and despite a few minor issues it is fully deserving of a 5-star "I love it" rating.

An excellent collection of Saturday matinee broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. We can complain that a few "historical" performances were not included and question one selection in particular because there exists a fine commercial studio performance of the work featuring mostly the same cast .... but if you love Verdi and treasure great singing, this is an album you should purchase immediately while it's still available.

One can only hope this is the first of many more to come at such reasonable prices and excellent quality. This is only a sample of the second golden age at the Met from the 1930s to the 1970s, documented by recordings. And it is a great sample.

I started with the first opera in the set, a 1935 performance of Otello with Lawrence Tibbett as Iago and Giovanni Martinelli as Otello. From the first chords, I blurted out, "Oh, no!" as the quality of the sound was so substandard. Then Martinelli's passion came through, and I smiled and chortled, "Oh, yes!" Something about these live performances with dream casts - just spectacular. Leonard Warren's Falstaff was a revelation to me. A young Richard Tucker as Alvaro in Forza del Destino was almost as exciting as a young Pavarottie. Only caveat thus far - Leonie Rysanek, whom I have loved - sounded shrill in Macbeth. And Zinka Milanov who in my opinion was the most overrated singer of all time was mediocre in Forza, especially compared to a recording a few years later that started Tucker again as Alvara and Leontyne Price as Leonara - Yum!

This is a must have collection. No one has ever touched the likes of Ponselle, Tibbett, Martinelli as Otello, etc., just to name the most obvious of the earlier singers represented here. Price's incomparable Aida,Bjorling's only recorded Ballo, Tucker, Bergonzi, Warren..... It would take a book to describe the many wonders of this set. Get it while it lasts. The Operatic Ear, anotheramerica.org

All the performances are indeed legendary. I am eight-two years old, and have been attending Met performanes since I was sixteen. I never thought I would hear them again. I have recommended them to all of my friends in the States and here in Spain. where I now reside. Leonard Brownstein,PhD. Madrid

Verdi is a delight even when the sound is dated, or the interpretation unexpected. Great performers in atypical roles makes this collection a highly recommended treasure and a great value.

The recordings area mixed bag, but the entire set is worth it for the Ponselle La Traviata alone---one of the great performances of this opera ever. There's not a single recording here without interest, but (excepting the Traviata) not one that would make me dispense with a preferred studio version (or two) of the same work.

This is a wild and woolly ride at times, but definitely worth the money. Much of it is the Leonard Warren show, and he is pretty impressive with his huge, unbalanced instrument (wobbling middle, fabulous top). He really throws himself into it - his Falstaff is practically hysterical (not hysterically funny, just hysterical). I endorse most of the other comments. The Ernani is a really odd choice. All of the principals save Fernandi are in poor voice - for them. Velvet-voiced Siepi has such a wobble he's hard to listen to much of the time. MacNeil is unusually grey and unimposing in tone, at least until the last act. As for Rysanek, in the mid and lower range she often displays such poor intonation and precarious sound that you wonder how anybody would let her on stage; but then those thrilling, laser-focused high notes pop out and she bestrides the stage like a colossus. Her fans will know all about this, but this Abigaille is a particularly lurid example. (She's more consistent as Lady Macbeth.) Schippers is his usual taut and energetic self. For this Nabucco a split 2/4 stars, for the whole set a 4.5.

Voilà plusieurs mois que je savoure ce coffret et plus je l'écoute plus je me dis que c'est à NY que Verdi se trouve chez lui :; bien sur la Scala reste la Scala mais le MET nous apporte de l'exceptoionnel.

オペラの歴史上に名をとどめる名演を生で聴くという幸運を感謝したくなるCD集です。Lawrence Tibbett, Jussi Bjorling, Zinka Milanov, Leonard Warren, Leontyne といった名歌手が、役をどう解釈し、表現したかが実感できる素晴らしいものとおもいました。半世紀以上前の録音ですが、状態はとても良いものです。

No creo que haya mejor manera de celebrar el bicentenario verdiano que escuchar de cabo a rabo esta maravillosa caja con diez de las más justamente famosas óperas del gran maestro italiano (aunque podrían haberla agrandado a una docena e incluir Il Trovatore y Ernani también, o Don Carlo y Vespri Siciliani), interpretadas y radiadas por el Metropolitan de Nueva York desde mediados de los años 30 hasta finales de los 60, con algunos de los más grandes cantantes del pasado siglo. Todas estas grabaciones se han editado durante años por varios sellos y con diversa calidad de sonido. Tengo buena parte de ellas, pero creo que esta primera edición autorizada, transferida de las cintas guardadas por el MET, gozan de un mejor sonido en general. Particularmente la legendaria Traviata de Rosa Ponselle de 1935 se edita con una restauración que me parece casi milagrosa. He escuchado esta grabación desde su edición en vinilo por Pearl, pasando por diversas transferencias en CD, incluyendo la de Ward Marston en Naxos, y no creía que nadie pudiera sacar de esos viejos acetatos ninguna información sonora más. Pero me equivocaba. En esta edición la riqueza y grandeza de la soberbia voz de Ponselle adquiere una presencia que casi me hace llorar de emoción. Solo por ello habría pagado con gusto el precio de esta caja. Pero es que además tenemos el Otello de Giovanni Martinelli de 1940, que en opinión de John Steane (para mí, el más brillante crítico vocal de la segunda mitad del pasado siglo, recientemente fallecido) es el mejor de los preservados del cantante italiano, lo cual es como decir el mejor Otello grabado de la historia. Las otras 8 grabaciones son igualmente soberbias, con grandes cantantes verdianos que, al contrario que la mayoría de las "estrellas" de ahora, se formaron en una tradición de canto casi olvidada, que combinaba legato, fraseo impecable, bella vocalización y expresiva declamación. Si valoras grandes interpretaciones en buen mono sobre insípidas actuaciones en excelente sonido digital. cómprala antes de que se agote.

The Verdi at the Met is the companion of Wagner at the Met;but does not have the problems with the sleeves that the Wagner set had. We struggled to pull out the CDs from the sleeves. The reason being they had three CDs for each opera.However,the Met Verdi set only having two discs makes it easier to pull out the CDs from the sleeve.The box has another box glued to the inside and has a lid.One can describe the package as petite.Details of the operas are on the back of the box.The sleeves have pictures of the singers in the opera on the front,on the back the singers roles they are in.Inside the sleeves, track numbers and the arias sung.On the spine the order in which the operas are to be placed,Opera and conductor.All CDs are white with details in light blue and the Disc number with Acts. To clean up the sound celemony capstan software was used on these releases to reduce transport pitch fluctuations present on the original sources. All recordings restored and mastered from lacquer discs or analogue tapes from the Met opera Archives. I can attest to this,as I once owned the Pearl La Traviata with Ponselle;the sound was shocking,I gave it away. The Naxos I own is better,but this new recording is as though the dirt was cleaned from an oil painting.I can hear the orchestra and the voice of Ponselle and Tibbett clearly.Now I know how they really sound.The booklet has a Note from Peter Gelb General manager of the Met,also there is an essay on Verdi at the Met, which goes into the history of Verdi at this opera house,and details about the Singers in this box set.At the end there is the Producers Note with a history of Box 44 where most of the machinery for recording was placed.The singers roles are placed first,then the Track numbers and arias,plus details about the singers and the conductor.Translations German and French.Pictures of the singers and conductors are sprinkled throughout the booklet.The Met opera Orchestra and Chorus is used in all the operas in this set. Sleeve 1. LA TRAVIATA:(LIVE, recorded January 5,1935.)Ponselle,Jagel,Tibbett cond Panizza,who was assistant to Toscanini from 1921-1929.He was appointed in 1934 as Italian conductor at the Met Opera,a position he held until 1942.He died in 1967.In 1926 he conducted the first full performance of Turandot with Alfano's ending. Toscanini only conducted the premiere up to where Puccini left the score.Maria Callas said the Ponselle was"the greatest singer of us all"In 1918 she sung opposite Caruso in Forza del Destino aged 21.It was Caruso who brought Ponselle to general Manager Gatti-Casazza attention(his wife was New Zealander diva Francis Alda),that Ponselle sung in that opera.Geraldine Farrar once stated "when you wish to discuss singers there are two you must put aside.One is Caruso,the other is Ponselle. Then you may begin." Christiansen writes"Like Caruso's or Schumann-Heink Ponselle's voice floats-it never sounds pushed. Her singing is of a matchlessly satisfying completeness" Steane mentions that" her voice was probably the richest soprano the 20th Century has known". Tibbetts Di Provenza is a model of how the aria should be rendered.His Germont is sung with dignity and with the imposing beauty of his voice.Jagel is good,how good,you can hear through this cleaner sound. "It is a shattering performance" Opera on record concludes. Nimbus Records Ponselle NI 78051923-1939.RCA Victor Vocal CD series.Rosa Ponselle.1923-1939.This recording by its own is worth the price of this set. Sleeve 2. OTHELLO:(LIVE, recorded February 24th 1940).Martinelli,Rethberg,Tibbett.Cond Panizza.I own the 12 February 1938 recording of this opera.Steane writes that"the best of complete recordings from the stage is that taken on February 24th 1940. Rethberg is recognisably the Worlds greatest soprano and Tibbett is the excellent Iago. Martinelli's Othello was the last grand creation of an epoch"In Kaufmann's Verdi CD there is an essay titled Verdi and his Tenors by Karl Grawe "About Othello,Del Monaco( Tebaldi cond Von Karajan,Decca Analogue box set)had been warned aginst inviting comparisons with Ramon Vinay(Furtwangler Salzburg 1951).Yet it had been argued that Vinay, too, could never stand comparison with Martinelli." Tibbett,a great singing actor,is the first in a long line of American Verdi Baritones,Warren,Merrill,Milnes and Macneill. Has Era la notte ever been more beautifully vocalized.The RCA Victor vocal series CD- Lawrence Tibbett(1926-35) Rethberg was considered the singers singer. She was once voted the worls's most perfect singer,an opinion shared by Toscanini.Her early records the HMV,Parlophone,and Victor recordings 1927-1934 2 discs.Romophone. Sleeve 3.UN BALLO IN MASCHERA:(LIVE,recorded December 14th 1940) cond Panizza. Zinka Milanov,Bruna Castagna,Jussi Bjorling,Alexander Sved.Con Panizza. After years at La Scala and the Met shows a masterhand. Milanov with her rare beauty of voice was one of the most communicative. In this opera she demonstrates the virtues of a Verdi soprano. Sved big voiced and and reliable. He was marvellous as Telramund in the 1943 Met performance of Wagner's Lohengrin.The glory is Bjorling's Riccardo,the embodment of youthful ardour.Bjorling EMI Classics references opera arias Vol 1. Sleeve 4.RIGOLETTO: (LIVE,recorded December 29th 1945). Warren,Bidu Sayao,Jussi Bjorling cond Sodero.He made his Met conducting Met Debut in 1942 and was on the staff for 5 years.Brazilian soprano studied with Jean De Rezeke.She made her Met debut singing Manon in 1937.Her Gilda shows off the warmth of her singing and the portrayal of a vulnerable girl.The part Rigoletto shows off Warren's voice in all its fierce beauty,sensitivity and blazing top notes.Bjorling in radiant voice.The Gramophone 2009 states"that it is a superb performance".Bidu Sayao masterworks Hertiage vocal series CD. Sleeve 5.FALSTAFF:(LIVE,February 26,1949)Warren,Resnik,Valdengo,Elmo,Albanese,Di Stefano,Lipton cond Reiner,whose mentor was Hungarian Nikisch,who was the only role model for Furtwangler.Who also inspired fellow Hungarians, Szell,Solti, Dorati,and Frenchman Monteux and Swiss Ansermet.A speedy rendition and probably one of the best operas in this set. All the cast are at one with one another.It was considered an extraordinary ensemble led by Warren in the role of Falstaff,with what we would call a dream team. Olin Downes called "Warren the Worthy Center of this performances. he made Falstaff a human and appealing character". This opera had a great impact in the 1948-1949 season. Sleeve 6.SIMON BOCCANEGRA:(LIVE,January 28,1950)Warren Astrid Varnay, Tucker, cond Fritz Stiedry, a one time assistant at the Vienna Court opera to Gustav Mahler,who had fled Germany in 1933 and reached USA in 1937.Varnay is known as a great Brunnhilde in the Ring;hear her in Keilberth's 1955 Bayreuth Ring Cycle and the 1953 Krauss Bayreuth Ring Cycle.It is a suprise to hear her in an Italian opera,she is quite good.Tucker's singing in this opera must be the finest of his entire career.He was a Met artist for 30 years. Sleeve 7.LA FOZRA del DESTINO:(LIVE-recorded November 29th,1952).Milanov,Tucker,Warren,Cond Fritz Stiedry."By the end of the First act,the audience was subjugated by the magnificent singing,above all Zinka Milanov".This is the opera that Warren collapsed and died in March 4th 1960 while singing in this opera.However,I cannot understand why the producer did not use the 1943 recording of this opera. The 2009 Gramophone raves about it."There has never been quite so electrifying a Forza as Walter's vital,brilliantly excuted reading. The revelation of the performance is the Leonora of Stella Roman,an underrated soprano brought to the Met in 1941,who yields few points to such notable interpreters of the part as Ponselle,Milanov and Tebaldi. Pinza and Tibbett make up the main roles of the cast." Sleeve 8. MACBETH:(LIVE- recorded February 21.1959)Warren, Rysanek,,Bergonzi,Hines,Cond Leinsdorf.Rysanek's Lady Macbeth is beautifully vocalized and yet very dramatic. Warren gives one of his greatest and most impressive performances. Bergonzi is a lyrical Macduff and Hines a noble Banquo. There is plenty of drive in Leinsdorf conducting. Sleeve 9. NABUCCO:(LIVE-recorded December 3,1960). MacNeil,Rysanek,Siepi,Fernandi, Elias cond Schippers.He was American and died in 1977 at the age of 47. The cast is good except Rysanek who was exceptionally fine in Macbeth.She seems to have vocal problems and only comes right at the end of the opera.A pity. Sleeve 10. AIDA: (LIVE-recorded February 25 1967) Price,Bergonzi,Bumbury,Merrill,Hines. Cond Schippers. All I can say it is a dream team. With Price and Bumbury at their peak what more can you ask for. Here is another Aida for collectors of old recordings. Recorded Milan 1928or 1929?.Pertile, Dusolina Giannini, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, Orch Del Teatro Alla Scala di Milano,cond Carlo Sabajno. Giannini was born in Philadelpia of Italian parents. In 1929 seven years before her debut at the Met she was chosen to sing in this Aida.Steane writes that she is very good indeed.Pertile was a favourite of Toscanini,vastly admired by Serafin.The two Cds are on Phonographe.Cedar restoration.I hope you enjoy this set as much as I did. REFERENCES:Blyth,A.(Ed) Opera on record.1979.Hutchinson of Australia. Christiansen,R. Prima Donna,A history.1995.Pimlico. Gruber,P. The Met Guide to recorded Opera.1993.Thames and Hudson. The Gramophone classical music guide 2009.Haymarket. Lebrecht,N.The Maestro Myth.1997.Pocket books. Steane,J.B.The Grand Tradition 1900-1970.1974.Duckworth.