Jimmiography
In celebration of James Levine‘s 40th anniversary at the Met, the company is releasing two massive collections of previously (mostly) unavailable material conducted by the maestro. Highlights include video performances of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride (Teresa Stratas, Nicolai Gedda, Jon Vickers, Martti Talvela), and Der Rosenkavalier (Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos, Judith Blegen, Luciano Pavarotti, Kurt Moll).
The DVDs also include highlights from historic concerts in 1982 and 1983 featuring five legendary names, Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, Tatiana Troyanos, Plácido Domingo, and Sherrill Milnes. The 11 historic performances on the 32-CD set range from early 1980s innovations like the Parade triple-bill to the world premiere of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby from 2000.
The two sets comprising “James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met” will be available on September 21.
11 Titles on 32 CDs
Berg: Lulu. Christine Schäfer, Hanna Schwarz, David Kuebler, Clifton Forbis, James Courtney; April 21, 2001
Berg: Wozzeck. José van Dam, Anja Silja, Ragnar Ulfung, Richard Cassilly, Dieter Weller; March 8, 1980
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini. Marcello Giordani, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Kristine Jepson, Peter Coleman-Wright, John Del Carlo, Robert Lloyd; December 27, 2003
Berlioz: Les Troyens. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Deborah Voigt, Ben Heppner, Dwayne Croft, Robert Lloyd; February 22, 2003
Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande. Jeannette Pilou, Dale Duesing, Jocelyne Taillon, José van Dam, Jerome Hines; January 22, 1983
Harbison: The Great Gatsby. Jerry Hadley, Dawn Upshaw, Dwayne Croft, Susan Graham, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mark Baker; January 1, 2000
Parade (triple bill)—Satie: Parade / Poulenc: Les Mamelles de Tirésias / Ravel: L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Ainhoa Arteta, Danielle de Niese, Earle Patriarco, Ruth Ann Swenson, Wendy White; March 16, 2002
Schoenberg: Moses und Aron. Philip Langridge, John Tomlinson; February 20, 1999
Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress. Dawn Upshaw, Paul Groves, Samuel Ramey, Stephanie Blythe; April 19, 2003
Stravinsky (triple bill)—Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps / Le Rossignol / Oedipus Rex. William Lewis, Florence Quivar, Franz Mazura, Gianna Rolandi, Philip Creech; February 25, 1984
Wagner: Lohengrin. Ben Heppner, Deborah Voigt, Deborah Polaski, Hans-Joachim Ketelsen, Eric Halfvarson; March 21, 1998
12 Titles on 21 DVDs
Berg: Lulu. Julia Migenes, Franz Mazura, Evelyn Lear, Kenneth Riegel; December 1980
Berg: Wozzeck. Falk Struckmann, Katarina Dalayman, Wolfgang Neumann, Graham Clark, Michael Devlin; October 2001
Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles. Teresa Stratas, Håkan Hagegård, Marilyn Horne, Gino Quilico, Graham Clark, Renée Fleming; January 1992
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro. Carol Vaness, Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Allen, Ruggero Raimondi; December 1985
Puccini: Il Trittico. Renata Scotto, Cornell MacNeil, Vasile Moldoveanu, Betsy Norden, Jocelyne Taillon, Gabriel Baquier, Italo Tajo, Philip Creech; November 1981
Smetana: The Bartered Bride. Teresa Stratas, Nicolai Gedda, Jon Vickers, Martti Talvela; November 1978
R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (Virgin Classics release). Deborah Voigt, Natalie Dessay, Susanne Mentzer, Richard Margison, Nathan Gunn; April 2003
R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Tatiana Troyanos, Kiri Te Kanawa, Kurt Moll, Judith Blegen, Derek Hammond-Stroud, Luciano Pavarotti; October 1982
R. Strauss: Elektra. Hildegard Behrens, Deborah Voigt, Brigitte Fassbaender, James King, Donald McIntyre; January 1994
Verdi: Don Carlo. Vasile Moldoveanu, Renata Scotto, Tatiana Troyanos, Sherril Milnes, Paul Plishka, Jerome Hines; February 1980
Weill: The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Richard Cassily, Ragnar Ulfung, Cornell MacNeil; November 1979
In Concert at the Met (Highlights). Plácido Domingo, Tatiana Troyanos (February 28, 1982); Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne (March 28, 1982); Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes (January 30, 1983).
I keep waiting for someone to start bitching in earnest about gems not included, duds included, or simply the price, but all seems to be sunshine on parterre.com for a change. That’s worth $500 all by itself—you are, all of you, warm, intelligent, and delightful people.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to the Fund To Buy LMM His Own Copy Of James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met.
Oh good, can we start the sniping now? I’ll go first.
Actually, I over the moon with this. I do wish, however, that the Bluebeard/Ewarthung telecast were being released on DVD. AS we’ve recently discussed, it was a joint vehicle for Levine/Norman and would have fit in nicely with all the other 20th century works. Considering that they’ve officially scrapped that production, it would be nice to have on DVD.
Did the MET ever present this production for any other soprano or was it just done with Norman?
It was never revived.
I believe Norman was spelled at one performance of the BLUEBEARD only so that the standby could go on. Norman still sang ERWARTUNG that evening. Now why can’t I remember who the alternate was? What use am I?
Katherine Ciesinski sang one performance of Bluebeard.
I’ll second that. I used to have an off-air VHS of that production and it was quite something.
Well, I think to put this into a kind of perspective, this huge grab bag of performances is designed to show off Levine’s range and also the tremendous scope of his achievement over the last 40 years.
He may now seem to be no longer in the best of shape physically and also I think he has withdrawn a bit from active participation from the artistic happenings of the MEt but that doesn’t really change the history of his time at the MEt.
Personally I think his greatest achievement was the building of the Met orchestra into the amazing ensemble it is today. I was actually present at Jimmy’s debut back in 1971 with Bumbry doing her first Met Tosca. Who knew back then what he would achieve?
But let me paint some background. At the time, the Met had some star conductor power, Solti, von Karajan, and Berstein all made occasional appearances but none appeared very often. Perhaps the biggest name in the conductor ranks (at the Met that is ) back in the 60s and 70s was Bohm. He was considered a merciless taskmaster with an iron will. But you know what? The orchestra never played for Bohm with the accuracy that they mostly sustain today. Bohm would conduct Fidelio, I saw that a number of times with Bohm leading the orchestra and the horns ALWAYS goofed up. The playing always had mistakes.
Today the orchestra is a highly polished machine, obviously they play different for different conductors but the base level is very high. I remember listening to Thielmann conducting Frau Ohne Schatten back in the early years of the decade and thinking the sound the orchestra produced had an incredible beauty, Bohm was famous for Frau and he made miracles with a somewhat scrappy orchestra but the sheer sound was far more beautiful under Thielmann. And I give Levine credit for this.
So this is all a celebration of one of the greatest achievements accomplished in the entire Met history. There have been great singers, great conductors, and great productions but has any one individual come close to the magnitude of what Levine has achieved?
And this in spite of the fact that there have been conductors that had made a bigger impact with individual pieces ( sprinkled throughout Met history including the Levine years.)
So I think the ideal way to look at this package is to see it as a kind of testimony to a truly great achievement and I salute Levine for it.
The news of the release of the ‘Mahagonny’ telecast jhas made my day, month, year. I cherish this performance as the one that opened my mind and eyes to opera as music drama.
I taped the telecast on my old Beta recorder in 1979, but have not been able to watch it due to damage (I’ve searched the Internet for anyone who repairs Beta tapes and converts them to DVD, to no avail).
I don’t really need the other DVDs and can’t really afford the whole set, so unless they release individual performances soon after the launch of the complete set, I’ll watch to see if someone who buys the set sells off what they don’t want.
Thanks LaC for this wonderful news!
Also – don’t forget – Pesaro webcast of Demetrio e Polibio is on right now (14:00 EDT)
You never asked Betsy, Miss Turra.
Or Baritenor, for that matter. Betsy, we should talk, maybe try to work up a trade.
Sorry to mislead you, Baritenor. My reference was that The Bird has the facility to repair tapes and dub to disc, etc. I don’t happen to have that particular DVD (in fact, I’ve been looking for it for years.)
I do happen to have a copy. Its in crappy condition, though, and with a DVD coming out, it’s probably moot. I was more interested, as I always am, in finding trading opportunities.
Bout time for the Mahagony release- I agree. I’ve seen clips- It’s VERY 70′s
Oh, golly, there’s a Don Carlo. With Milnes. The gods are good.
But where’s the one with Millo-Verrett from ’86 apparently it was on *fire*
To be fair, this will be the Met’s second Don Carlo DVD of the same production. Was the Millo-Verret telecast or just on radio?
Aside from the 1950 opening-night telecast, there have been only 2 Met Don Carlo telecasts, 1980 and 1983. The latter is the one that has previously been available, so I am glad to see the former (my preferred one) turn up. There was no Millo-Verrett videotaping. It’s rather extraordinary to have two of the same production in any case, as kashania said. (Though it also happened with Otello, with only a year’s gap.)
After a couple hours’ consideration, the main omissions I regret (as such a round-up is unlikely to happen again) are the Così with Vaness and Bartoli, and the Lombardi — the latter would have emerged on its own by now, I would have thought. And the only inclusion I could live without is that miguided Bartered Bride. But these are not remotely complaints! No doubt many like what I don’t, and vice verse, and this is just an extraordinary collection.
Orlando -
I’ve got that Cosi and would be willing to work out a trade.
Well, let’s get things straight (as straight as we can considering present company) This Cosi is not necessarily with Vaness and Bartolis as much as it is with Vaness and Mentzer with Bartoli playing Despina. Hadley at this point was a little whinny, but I remember it was a decent performance.
Lindoro, having watched it recently, I’ve got to say that it’s actually a very fine performance of the Opera. I’m no fan of Bartoli, but she is really on fire as Despina, and she is absolutely hysterical in her two disguises. As the notary, she adopts a very flat American accent that is sidespliting. Some of her best work, ever.
So in fact it is with Vaness and Bartoli, no? Given an ensemble cast of six, I picked two names — in fact of all the years the Met has done this opera, the presence of Bartoli as Despina serves handily to distinguish this one from the others. But it’s true, it may possibly turn up on its own someday (as might the second Figaro).
Yes, but given how the sisters are usually named side by side and how Bartoli has done all 3 roles, anyone would be inclined to think that Bartoli performed Dorabella to Vaness’ Fiordiliggi; so the clarification is on point.
If anyone had said the telecast is with Hadley and Bartoli, the initial reaction would be to think of a performance in which Hadley sings Ferrando and Bartoli does Fiordiliggi, which is not unheard of given what we know of her performance history with the opera.
There are two of the same production of Rosenkavalier — 27 years apart!
Unfortunately the tenor is not Domingo, who would have been perfect for the role at this point of his career.
Weren’t the Otellos Jon Vickers in the first, and Domingo in the second one?
And Milnes was Jago to Domingo’s Otello. During the “Met Celebrates Verdi” broadcasts several years ago, they showed clips of Jago’s Credo and the “Si per ciel” — both were extremely exciting. Cruz-Romo was the Desdemona. I’d love to have this on DVD but I can see the reasons why it won’t be released. The Met already has an Otello DVD with Domingo (with Fleming) and they just released the Vickers/Scotto broadcast from the previous year.
At least the Domingo/Cruz-Romo/Milnes broadcast is well represented on youtube.
Domingo is simply thrilling in the duet:
Domingo was perfect in the 1983 Don Carlo but his Posa, Louis Quilico, drained all the emotion out of every scene he was in.
each one of those telecasts has a weak link: In the earlier one is the tenor, in the latter one is the baritone and to a certain degree Bumbry.
Really? I liked Quilico’s Posa. And Bumry too (even with a couple of errant high notes in “O don fatale”).
I liked Quillico, don’t get me wrong, but Milne’s Posa was just out of this world (and for some reason I felt Quillico was a bit dry of voice and somewhat stiff as an actor) and Bumbry at this point could get through the role (nothing to sneeze about) but I find her phrasing and her overall singing a litle under what was being done by Domingo and Freni on that night.
I might need to pull that DVD out again and see how my recollections stack up to reality. I might be way off base.
And likewise, I’m going to pull out that Giulini Don Carlo and listen to Milnes’s Posa. I’ve always been a fan of his but Posa never struck me as a great role for him (though he had all the notes). Let’s compare notes in a week, shall we?
WOW! Philip Creech’s Fisherman in Le Rossignol… I never thought I’d hear that again.
Seriously, this is a beautiful tribute to Levine and what Gelb does best.In the MET press release, producer and all around good person John David Sacks brings up an important point that I hope bears out in the new releases: this is not compressed sound, but the real McCoy. That should be very interesting for many of these titles.
Excerpt From the MET press release:
“All performances have been digitally remastered and are presented in state-of-the-art sound in the new releases. Jay David Saks, who has been the Met’s music producer for 30 years, oversaw the sound restoration for the sets. He wrote the following appreciation excerpted from the liner notes.
During my 30 years at the Met, it frequently came into my mind that many Met radio broadcasts—the really great ones—should somehow find a place within permanent documentation for listeners’ benefit, rather than only in their original, fleeting one-time broadcast existence. In particular, my thoughts centered upon James Levine’s own broadcast performances. Because his opera repertoire is so vast and his genius so great, one could assume that many of his broadcasts were of such standard as to define not only the repertoire within these broadcasts, but his own personal artistry and collaboration with countless superb singers and his great Met orchestra and chorus during his unparalleled encompassing tenure at the Met.
Further, it often occurred to me that for decades, until Peter Gelb joined together satellite radio broadcasting and the Met in recent years, the limiting technology of prior radio quality meant that although the musical values within these broadcasts were often superb, the quality of the sound for listeners was not. It seemed to me, therefore, that perhaps some day not only would Maestro Levine’s live performances be highly prized if released on CD or other high-quality technology, but opera listeners could, often for the first time, hear these performances in their same original state of sonic quality that those of us who had participated in producing these broadcasts knew and heard within them at the very moments they left the Met for the airwaves.
So now, we have that very opportunity in these releases, which I had long hoped might someday come to exist. These selected performances present many heretofore unreleased broadcasts in the very best preservation and restoration, and thus with as true fidelity of sound and performance as can be accomplished. No greater satisfaction for someone in my profession could possibly exist.”
And picking up on an earlier discussion thread of who Levine’s favourite singers were, it’s pretty clear from this selection that Scotto and Stratas were two.
Considering who the Met’s diva du jour is, Levine could have done much (MUCH) worse and not much better, really…
Well, I think it’s disgraceful the Met has never released the 1998 Figaro on DVD. Or the 1996 Cosi, for that matter.
I spoke with a cast member of the 1998 Figaro after a performance here in SF and he said that a certain mezzo has to sign off on the DVD release and she has chosen not to do so much to the chagrin of the rest of the cast who really want it released.
. . . and if you pick at the scab long enough you uncover Dr. Jonathan Miller who ticked off said mezzo over a certain interpolated aria, although the New York critics were also . . . well . . . “critical.”
Two telecasts I missed and would very much like to see are the Terfel Giovanni and Falstaff. Not much chance of those rising to the surface, I fear.
And on the same line, I seem to remember that the Jon Vickers Samson (Handel) was filmed and sort-of aired, in the sense that it waa not much publicized but if you had friends in the business you got a message that if you turned on your PBS station at 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, it might be there.
Wow, I didn’t know that about the Samsom. I’m guessing the performance they filmed had Te Kanawa rather than Vaness as the Israelite/Philistine Woman.
I saw this but don’t remember it too well. (I think there may have been a heavy dinner before it with some wine; not always the best set up for being attentive at the opera)
In any case, I’d like to hear/see this again.
Betsy, the Terfel Giovanni was released, wasn’t it? The one with Fleming in Zefferelli’s production? That’s been out for a while now.
And as for his Falstaff, I didn’t even know they filmed it. I’m still waiting on the Salome he did with Mattila, as I believe she was in far better voice in 2003 than in 2009.
I thought it was siegfried jerusalem…?
Perhaps it came out while I was on the verandah.
The Met Database knows nothing of a Samson (as opposed to Samson et Dalila telecast. That Handel production traveled several places; maybe one of the other producing organizations telecast it at some point?
Nor does there seem to have been a Terfel Falstaff telecast.
I’m sure not going to argue with the Met; nice to know I don’t have to fret about finding it somewhere. It’s also nice to know the Falstaff doesn’t exist. I knew I hadn’t seen it and I kept wondering why.
Betsy -
Terfel Giovanni can be found here.
http://www.amazon.com/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart-Kringelborn-Metropolitan/dp/B003MSYXMS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1281497822&sr=8-2-spell
It appears, however to be out of print. A shame, for it’s quite good. I think it’s available on the Met Player for like 4 dollars (for a one-time viewing).
Wasn’t that Handel Sampson telecast with Vickers from Chicago Lyric and not the Met?
((((((((((((:- I must have been thinking of the NYCO Street Scene.
Which was from Houston. (loooongg street)
There actually was a NYCO Street Scene, which I wish would appear one day commercially. I’ve seen only 5th-generation dupes of the telecast. It was a wonderful performance showing the best of the company at that time (Mauceri; Schauler, Malfitano, Kays, Chapman, etc.).
Apologies for the OT post.
Here is Margaret Juntwait’s current facebook status:
I know it’s only August 10th, but the excitement of opening night here at the Met is building. They’re teching Rheingold on stage; I’ve snuck in to the auditorium – wow.
Do we have any spies????
Juntwait should spend some time learning how to pronounce Fasolt and Alberich.
Let’s hope these titles are available individually. Some of them are virtually must haves in my book. I will be adding a lot of titles to my 40th birthday list and my Christmas wish list.
Cruz, you taking noes?
Noted. You’ll have to post the list where I can see it.
Consider this the posted list.
Gentlemen, that goes double for me. If anyone feels like helping out a poor, struggling singer/director/student, my birthday is October 19th and Chanukkah begins on December 1st this year. Thanks in advance!
As a professional fundaiser in the opera business, I hereby offer my volunteer services to administer the James (“Jimmy”) Levine Fund for the Cher Public. Please stay tuned for the P.O. Box to which you can address all donations (cheques only please, made out to “cash”).
AND his Rinuccio in Schicchi AND his Young Servant in Elektra! It’s a Philip Creech bonanza! (His other two telecast performances are already available separately, so we have the entire oeuvre.)
I remember rumors of a Levine/Creech assignation. My friends and I always thought that was the only reason he sang at the Met. We referred to him as Phillip Screech.
How funny! I heard the same thing in the late 70′s and early 80′s in NY.
That’s when i heard it too…….I remember the Manon lescaut with Scotto/Domingo and Creech sang Edmondo…….we found him dreadful.
I once mentioned his nickname to a guy who turned out to be his brother (different last name). Talk about “foot in mouth”.
and thought he slept his way into the role with maestro….
From a 1983 TIME magazine article:
“Another charge is that Levine plays favorites with singers, overusing some voices while ignoring others. “Levine’s love affairs with certain voices are total,” complains a Met singer. “When he finds a voice he likes, he uses it over and over.” Like any other conductor, Levine has a roster of singers he finds congenial, among them Soprano Teresa Stratas, Tenor Placido Domingo and Baritone Milnes. Sometimes, as with veteran Diva Scotto, their voices are long faded but still histrionically effective. Sometimes they are not up to major-house standards, as with Tenor Philip Creech, whom Levine has pushed beyond the limit of his modest gifts. But his commitment to certain singers has paid off in the development of several young Americans who are potential stars, among them Sopranos Leona Mitchell and Kathleen Battle. And his tireless work with the Met orchestra has…”
Re. #20
I’d be a bit more fair with Levine and say that he also values singers with high musicianship, e.g., Scotto and Domingo. He also loves opera, and I mean he loves it for real. He enjoys singers who live it and bring it alive, e.g., Scotto again, Rysanek, Stratas.
Does he has any favorites nowadays?