Blackout
Don't expect Met HD telecasts to show up on your pay-per-view channel anytime soon. According to the Associated Press, theater owners protested that the release of the telecasts to the In Demand service only 30 days after theatrical release would take revenue away from their broadcasts.
"At least five of the Met's operas this season are to be released on DVD under an agreement with EMI Classics," the story goes on to note. Which five, La Cieca wonders?
"At least five of the Met's operas this season are to be released on DVD under an agreement with EMI Classics," the story goes on to note. Which five, La Cieca wonders?
POSTED at
12:45 AM
43 Comments:
I suspect these will be:
Macbeth
Fille du Regiment
Peter Grimes
Manon Lescaut
Romeo and Julliette
maybe Hansel instead of Manon, but i think Mattila will be a better choice. Tristan is out of competition because of the not that old dvd wiith heppner/eaglen.
The 1980 Manon Lescaut with Scotto / Domingo in this same production was just remastered and released a year or so ago, so I doubt they would release another DVD of it. Or would they? My bet is the same list above, but with Hansel and Gretel. Nix to the Boheme as well since the Stratas / Carreras version is still out there.
Was there any truth to the rumors that the Met was going to release more of the old Live from the Met telecasts on DVD? I'd sure like to see the Don Giovanni with James Morris, Gabriel Bacquier, Joan Sutherland, Julia Varady in the old Eugene Berman sets; that was from the late 70s, I think. Can't remember who else was in that.
I'd also like to see that Dialogues with Regine Crespin's last performance, with Jessye Norman, Maria Ewing and good old solid, Betsy Norden - she must surely have set a record of some sort for most telecasts.
they are releasing the boheme. R+J not so sure about actually. I think hansel instead of manon
This was already announced, back in October. The five DVDs will be:
Hansel and Gretel
Macbeth
Manon Lescaut
Pete Grimes
La Boheme
The full Met press release can be found here:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/press/detail.aspx?id=2663
I really wish they would release Tristan. The former DVD was just not a very wonderful Wagnerian experience due to Eaglen's ungainly Isolde. Voigt is more of nn artist than she is and I think it is she who deserves the release. Oh well...I probably shouldn't carp about this, but I'm just saying that between Eaglen and Voigt, I'd take Voigt's slimmed down Isolde any day of the week.
dnitzer--
Don't forget those two splendid Commonwealth artists on that 1979 telecast:
Don Ottavio.............John Brecknock
Zerlina.................Huguette Tourangeau
Of course, there were no better choices available anywhere.
Make that "1978", sorry.
The memory of Tourangeau's interpolated high E natural in "Batti, Batti" distracted me.
Netrebko is doing Romeo and Juliette with Villazon at Salzburg next summer, right? I think we'll probably get a DVD from that (which may be why we aren't getting one from this broadcast). One can hope it will be a better production.
The best thing about the TIMES story was hidden in the last 2 paragraphs, the info that the paper learned of this misstep by its familial hero Mr. Gelb by virtue of some shlepper e-mailing them from Pittsburgh...
To whit
"In an e-mail message to The New York Times this week, Mark Abramowitz, a software engineer in Pittsburgh, called attention to the abandonment of the in-demand broadcasts.
“I was looking for it in the listings,” he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “I actually wrote to the Met and said, ‘Hey, what happened to this?’ They told me basically what I told you: ‘It’s kaput. Maybe next year,’ they said.” "
Talk about Giuliani-style "transparency"!
I mean "et Juliette." Duh.
Where did she put the high E and how did she get up to it???
we got Huguette Tourangeau because she was Joan's plaything at the time. She wasn't cast for her vocal ability as much as for her oral ability,
I still long for the release of the Scotto Trittico, though I am guessing the next historical releases will be the Don Pasquale with Sills and the Tosca with Verrett and Pavarotti, (The MET's got to cash in on those two dead celebrities while we all still remember them)Would also love to get the CARMELITES with Crespin though I have to admit the performance (except for the staging of the final scene) with Silja from LA SCALA is truly wonderful also. I also think we may eventually get the DON GIOVANNI and the CAV/PAG with Domingo in both roles with Troyanos and Stratas, also suprised they haven't released the ROSENKAVALIER
I also would be shocked if the evil galactic masterminds of DGG would ever assent to a release of Romeo et Trebs from the Met, not when the full traumpaaaaaaaaaaar treatment is due for this summer and, what's more, in a nice, Germanic production from Salzburg. After all, that must appeal more to their Austro-German core constituency which must make up the bulk of their sales.
No biggie as far as I'm concerned, as the Met production is on the shitty side, pardon my French; I can say that, having witnessed it live as well as through the simulcast. Sadly, these same evil masterminds will also probably veto any Treb-ful DVDs from other locations, e.g. the excellent ROH Trav the other day, or even the similarly great Don G from last summmer (great mainly because of Schrott of course). Or, even more annoyingly, the absolutely superb ROH Cosi from this summer (Garanca is also exclusive to same evil galactic overlords).
A joke!
c.f. her ARIAS FROM FORGOTTEN OPERAS, now on CD, to hear how Huguette ascended to E natural.
Apart from those mentioned, I would love to see the Broadcast of Hoffmann with Shicoff, Morris and Troyanos as Giulietta in the Otto Stank production, which, for once, doesn't suck. It may be Shicoff's finest hour. I'd also like to see the Erwartung-Bluebeard double bill with Normann, and how about that Mattila Salome?
I wonder how this will affect the PBS telecasts?
In Guleghina's site, is confirmed that her Macbeth will be a DVD.
I wonder too why they don't release 'LaCenerentola" with Vargas and Bartoli, or 'I Lombardi' with Pav and Ramey. Don't Forget that great forza with the same 'Stifellio' cast: Domingo, Sweet, Chernov...
Hope Mattila's Salome comes first anyways...
the cenerentola probably won't be released for two reasons, the houston production with bartoli is already out and I don't think the MET had a great relationship with her. The Lombardi probably will not be out because again the MET does not have a good relationship with Flanegan who replaced Millo in the telecast. Mattila's SALOME was due to be released last March according to internet sources, Have a feeling they don't know how to market the snatch scene. Remember the warnings on the Malfitano SALOME with Rysanek and Estes, about the dance with her NICE AND EASY dyed kitty
also still in the MET vaults is the ARIADNE AUF NAXOS with Voigt and Dessay
also a WOZZECK I believe
Hi paddypig:
I haven't seen the La Scala DIALOGUES - what about it didn't work in the final scene?
I'm not too disappointed about the pay-per-view cancellations. The way I see it, we still have all these great cinecasts (with repeat showings) and at least one guaranteed broadcast on PBS. Remember those times when we were lucky if PBS broadcast a single Met performance for the entire season?
As for releasing older performances on DVD. I'll also vote for that Diaologues. It featured Crespin's Met farewell, Norman in her prime, Ewing before the vocal decline as well Quivar and Norden. I also like that staging very much. I'd love to have it on video.
I also second the person who mentioned the Kanawa/Troyanos/Moll/Blegen Rosenkavalier. I just love that performance. Everyone is in top form.
And I'm still waiting for the Mattila Salome -- one of the most devastating things I have ever experienced.
I believe JDF is under some exclusive contract so that's why there is no imminent release of either Daughter or last year's Barber (total bummer, as that was a great show, but I did record it off PBS). There will be a DVD, however, of of the recent Liceu production of Centenerola (with JDF and Joyce DiDonato). I would love to see a good production of Iphigenie en Tauride available - there is only one, and it's not well-rated.
I'd love to see the 80's Lulu, with Julia Migenes-Johnson (subbing at the last second for Cancellation Queen, Teresa Stratas), Franz Mazura, Kenneth Riegel and Everlyn Lear as the Countess. It's a traditional production of the then-new complete 3 Act version. My VCR copy looks like it was about the 400th generation of the original.
Also: the Behrens Elektra from 1994, with Voigt, Fassbaender and Hale.
in the LA SCALA Carmelites the nuns do not go off stage to be beheaded by the guilotine, they just sort of lay down on the stage in place as the sound of the guilotine (sp?) goes off in the orchestra. it is visually very disturbing as the precision of the orchestra and instantaneous death it suggests is totally destroyed by each nun just laying down in place on the stage
I heard a rumour that they weren't releasing the Mattila Salome, but were going to film the remount of it, and release that instead - does anyone know anything more about this?
Opus Arte seems to be releasing a lot of DVDs lately (or maybe I'm just noticing now). Gallery HD has been broadcasting some of there stuff, and they themselves have been posting 1 minute video ads on Youtube. The Hoffmann is an amazing production visually, although Maria Bayo is mediocre and shrill as Antonia and the tenor is a little, well, he looks insane.
krunslav: Ah. Now I feel dumb.
Hi Paddypig- mate I have to whisper something in your ear- don't believe all you hear- the scuttlebutt about Joan and Hugette or indeed anyone else comes from the same place as Richard Gere's gerbil- from some ol queen's wishful imagination. Believe me, I know. Regards.
I would love to see a good production of Iphigenie en Tauride available - there is only one, and it's not well-rated.
I agree wholeheartedly with Anonymous here; as a teaching resource, I'd like to have a reasonably straight/traditional/whatever production of the opera to show students, and the Met's production this year would have been lovely, and I think would have filmed well.
re: gere's gerbil. While he may not have married a gerbil. I knew a doctor who had dealt with him many times at St. Vincents who said if RIchard Gere's friends did a better job of trimming their fingernails he wouldn't have been in the hospital as often as he was. While certain people claim the rumors about certain celebrities aren't true, where there is smoke there is usually fire. The same people have also insisted that Levine doesn't share Michael Jackson's interests or that Tom Cruise is really straight. I have known enough people on the inside also. and sadly I know that too many people think that a suggestion of outing someone is such a terrible thing to do. Insecure straights and self hating queens are usually the ones who get uptight when you suggest a celebrity who is closeted might be gay. Next you will tell me that Ricky B was a womanizer.
Paddypig, you are not funny. Even if those rumors are true, we don't care. Speaking of "I don't care", I'd also like to get Ghosts of Versailles on DVD. It certainly wasn't a masterpiece but some part were très jolies, Stratas was moving and I'd like to see again how Gino Quilico was before starting a new career in crap.
ALEX-was I trying to be a comedian??, You may not care, but alot of people seem to care, otherwise magazines like People would have been out of business years ago.(and listen to all the gossip about Netrebko's sex life we have had on this blog) so speak for yourself instead of using the royal "we." (even if you are a queen) (now that is funny!)
Paddypig- your information is as good as the "Doctor" you know, who doesn't seem to be bound to his oath of "patient confidentiality".
The rest of your post is equally outrageous- to repeat even more twaddle and gossip and then have the hide to suggest that "where there's smoke..etc- when you yourself started the fire, is a almost a sick joke and hardly justice.
As a gay person you might also reflect on the fact there are many queens out there (self included) who are not so insecure, that they feel it necessary to run around indulging in slander about other people and their private lives.
Additionally offensive, to many people gay and straight, is any suggestion that there is some "morality" in publicly "outing" someone.
When done in our names by some misguided fool, it is even worse.
Just because we are gay does not mean we all have to indulge in acts that are tantamount to moral bankruptcy- in fact, there is every reason to think that we of all people, given our history, should know better.
I have to say, while interested in the relationship-web of who is dating who, etc, when it comes to what people are into sexually, I could really care less, and I don't understand why people revel in "knowing" that someone likes to stick lightbulbs or other up their butt. (and just for the record, I'm not referring to you specifically pp - it's a general phenomenon among my acquaintance.)
I have seen friends act like they are vindicated in a sincere social cause because someone has "proof" that the gerbil story is true, and I just don't get it - why does anyone care? I HOPE he's not sticking gerbils up his butt, because that's animal cruelty, and if he's a buddhist and believes that everyone has been reincarnated so many times that we've all been each other's mothers, then I think he needs a little Freudian analysis, but other than THAT, who cares???
It's not the same as talking about Nebses love life - as I said, the RELATIONSHIPS between people inform a lot about the world they are living in and who they are, and because we all want to know what makes these great artists tick, it's natural that we would want to understand more about them.
And in terms of Jimmy's supposed pederasty, it seems a little like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster to me - where are all these "boys"?? Are we really supposed to believe that not a one of them has ever actually come forward to tell their story?? What, are they all buried under C-level or something???
sadly Ruxton, you need to learn to read my post more carefully before another rant, read my post carefully, why is it slander to suggest that someone is gay? (self-hate in OZ?) I did not attack you personally, but you seem to find it necessary to attack me as the poster.Calling me a fool is really offensive, I have listened to these tirades from self hating queens before when the subject of who is gay or who is not gay has been brought up on this web, and when it is one of the sacred cows (like Sutherland) some of you really get your knickers in a twist. (Many people had the same reaction when Rock Hudson was outed or when the stories of Cary Grant, Tyrone Power or Marlene Dietrich became public) You don't have to like my post, but don't call me a fool. Your manic anger is a bit over the top. As for Levine, the stories about him have all originated at the MET itself, including his having been under house arrest and wearing jewelry from the Martha Stewart collection over a year ago. I worked at the MET myself for awhile and know enough people who work there to feel confident in the stories I have heard. They have not originated in bars or clubs or on the web. So pleae go ahead and rant at me some more, I do find it amusing. Don't hurt the roos while you are at it though
regarding the 2004 Mattila Salome, it was floated for a bit on DGG website about year later as an upcoming DVD release, but then vanished. Clerks at Tower said for months that they heard it was in the can, but the release kept getting pushed further back. I wrote the Met a couple months ago and asked "what is the friggin' deal?!" and they responded with a bland "we regret that for various reasons, there are no plans at this time to release this production on DVD" letter. I imagine this is for various reasons... Karita for one hated certain aspects of the production (all that drinking she felt undermined the severity of the drama), neither Diadkova or Jerusalem ever had a good night, there was a revival lined up just a few years down the road with powerhouse Finn Juha Uusitalo as Jochannan... Now with the HD broadcasts in motion, it makes no sense financially to release the old tapes. Pity, since they really were white hot evenings with Mattila and Terfel!
sugar mezzo, I agree with you, I really don't want to know what people do in bed either. This all started when I suggested that the reason we got so much of Huguette Tourangeau in the 70's with Sutherland was because they were an item just as Schrott and Netrebko were rumored to be an item or the way so many young sopranos were Domingo proteges. Our friend from Oz brought up the gerbil story, which was even spoofed on television in a brilliant episode of IN LIVING COLOR. I don't care who does what with what, but as you said, the relationships are often interesting. Let's face it Gheorghou and Alagna's relationship had definitely had an effect on the opera scene in the past 15 years just as the power couple of Bonynge and Sutherland had a momentous effect on the opera scene in the sixties and seventies. I just always find it amusing when you bring up the topic of someone being gay how so many people, even on a gay chat line such as parterre box get so uptight. I enjoy your posts by the way, you are one of the few posters left on this blog who discuss the opera world itself. Have a great day
No Paddy- it is you who should read the posts better- I was NOT calling you a fool. I said that many of us not only find the idea of "outing" someone offensive, it seems even worse when it is done in "our names" by "someone" (who is a misguided fool for doing so).
Don't give yourself so much credit mate- spreading salacious, malicious gossip is not "outing" anyone because outing is based on a truth.
Spreading gossip is just nasty and distasteful and I stand by what I said- as a gay man, you should know better. Just look at your own words
- "I worked at the MET myself for awhile and know enough people who work there to feel confident in the stories I have heard."
- oh really? Do you really think that working at the Met and knowing and hearing lots of people's stories makes something more credible?? It doesn't- it just means you've heard more gossip.
In a court of law, if you were on the stand you would be torn to shreds for saying that.
Anyhow- doesn't matter. I've made my point and I can only be sorry you choose to continue to try to justify something that is plain wrong.
your anger is funny,and you take this so personally, are you Joan and Ricky's son???
Sugarmezzo, lightbulbs are a gay's best friend. I especially enjoy the little Christmas lights. Sometimes, I stick with single colored bulbs, but sometimes, I like the multicolored lights. My ass twinkles far more now than it did back in the days when I did great big booty bumps. And it brings me back, as always, to "Penetrating Wagner's Ring". Seriously, folks, we don't have to agree with each other, but do we really have top get so harsh. I don't really like saying "we", because I certainloy would never claim to speak for anyone else (except the myriad voices in my head), but I have been witness, and party to, some of the worst flaming (and not the good kind) on this site. If someone wants to gossip, and you don't want to, well, okay, don't participate. None of the rumors are new; how many years ago did I hear about Levine and Phillip "Screech"? The gerbil story is really old. And people have come forward. Paul Baressi, former porn star (gay and straight) stated, back in 1990, that he had had sex with John Travolta... for two years. What I'm more concerned about is when la Cieca will post a clip of Deborah Voigt crossing over? Because I, for one, cannot go another moment without hearing the world's greatest Wagner/Strauss soprano tackle "Spoonful of Sugar' from Mary Poppins. Or not. La Cieca, where is it? Huh? I need another crossover fix!
Holy Joan Sutherland-Bonynge, relax ladies.
AAAAAaaand, back to Opera.
That is a shame about the Mattila Salome - I was backstage for a few performances, and there were stage managers who had worked there for 20 years with their headsets off, holding their faces in their hands saying it was the most amazing thing they had ever heard.
But I understand her issues with some of the staging - boy, but she's great though.
So, then it makes sense than that Salome DVD is not going to be released if there's a better chance to get it in another run, next season precisely! As far as i know, Uusitalo is a great voice, as well Kim Begley as Herodes , and the young Joseph Kaiser as Narraboth (Just checked MetManiac site, and this guy fails very rarely!)
This time would be great to have the chnace to see that production in widescreen.
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