James Levine’s 40th anniversary with the Metropolitan Opera will be celebrated with two special boxed sets of 21 DVDs and 32 CDs, James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met, to be released on September 21. The two sets contain 22 complete performances, 19 of which have never been previously available in any format. All titles have been digitally remastered in state-of-the-art sound.
The 21-DVD set features 11 complete operas including Smetana’s The Bartered Bride from 1978 with Teresa Stratas, Nicolai Gedda, Jon Vickers, and Martti Talvela, and Der Rosenkavalier from 1982 with Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos, Judith Blegen, Luciano Pavarotti, and Kurt Moll. The DVDs also include highlights from historic concerts in 1982 and 1983 featuring such performers as 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 (including Satie’s ballet Parade, and the operas Les Mamelles de Tirésias by Poulenc and L’Enfant et les Sortilèges by Ravel) to the world premiere of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby from 2000.
The collection also highlights operas that Levine has made central to his work with the company, such as Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu, each of which is presented in two different versions–one on DVD and one on CD – featuring artists such as Falk Struckmann, Katarina Dalayman, José van Dam, Anja Silja, Julia Migenes, and Christine Schäfer.
