The Metropolitan Line: David Breckbill welcomes the chance to hear classic exponents of the great Wagnerian roles in performances recorded live at the Met

The Metropolitan Opera boasts a rich history as a source of recorded performances, from the Mapleson cylinders at the dawn of the 20th century to the ‘Live in HD’ telecasts and DVDs of today. The extent of the Met’s commercially recorded and released legacy can be found in a recently updated discography, but probably the most significant segment of the company’s recorded history resides in recordings of its many decades of broadcast performances. Ironically, however, the Met itself has long viewed such source material as commercially off-limits. Now the Met has at long last entered into a partnership with Sony Classical to distribute selected broadcasts, at reasonable prices. This review considers the first two Wagner releases in the new series, alongside two recent unauthorised editions of earlier Met performances that provide interesting perspective on the authorised recordings.