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(More customer reviews)"Start-Up at the New Met," Vol. III is apparently the final installment in Paul Jackson's epic traversal of the history of the Met broadcasts. The book is fully worthy of the first two volumes.
I have heard many of the broadcasts Jackson covers - indeed, I remember hearing many of them when they happened - and for the most part I find his assessments astute and on point, even when our opinions diverge. Unlike most critics, Jackson has the luxury of writing as much, and in as much detail, about a singer's performance as he wants to. As a result, as in the previous volumes, we often get a blow-by-blow account of a singer's entire performance, both the big numbers and the smaller felicities along the way. I wonder how many people realize what an achievement is Jackson's to write page after page about singers, operas and voices - often the same singers, operas and voices many times - and yet manage (for the most part) to avoid monotony or a sense of repetitiveness or redundancy. Mr. Jackson has a rare imagination and command of vocabulary, and his writing is one of the treats of this series.
I also appreciate Jackson's lack of meanness and cattiness in reviewing these performances, even when dealing with singers that he obviously does not care for. His judgments are balanced and manage to be objective without concealing the obvious passions that motivate the author. One never has the feeling of an old geezer sitting on the porch wishing for Ze Oldt Days and bewailing the decline of vocal standards. Rather, Jackson obviously appreciates great singing wherever and whenever it happens, and while knowledge of the past informs his judgments, it does not cramp them. One gets the impression that he looks for as much to enjoy in a performance or a singer as he can. After the mean, shallow bitchiness that so often afflicts operatic discourse, particularly on-line, Jackson is like a breath of fresh air.
Another plus of Jackson's books is that they always give one a sense of the historical context of a performance. His chapter on the first season at Lincoln Center, and the travails of the new house, make for fascinating reading. It helps that Jackson apparently has had free access to the Met archives.
Photos are numerous and gorgeous. I haven't done a direct comparison, but it seems to me that there are more photos per page than in past books, and this is all to the good, for my taste.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. With this and the previous two volumes, Jackson has written one of the most monumental studies ever of singing and operatic performance. His books belong in any opera lover's collection. In my library, I regard them as indispensable and they have been, and will continue to be, a source of hours of pleasure and education. Thank you, Mr. Jackson.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Start-Up at the New Met: The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, 1966-1976
When the first two books of Jackson's groundbreaking chronicle were published, critics hailed them as "historical gold" (Denver Post), "a thorough and thoroughly entertaining history" (Boston Globe), and "an opera-lover's dream" (Opera News). In this new work, Paul Jackson expands his survey of the broadcasts by examining the decade that saw the move from the old house uptown to the technological marvel at Lincoln Center. There Rudolf Bing's final six years give way to four seasons of management turmoil until 1976, when James Levine was named music director and took hold of the Met's artistic future. 140 performances, beginning with the controversial opening night premiere of Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, are vividly recaptured by Jackson, a musicologist with an ability to combine narrative history with musical analysis and criticism. The legendary creations of Tebaldi and Corelli, Sutherland and Tucker, of Caballe, Crespin, Price, Bergonzi, Gedda and others are explored in depth. Conductor luminaries like Bernstein, Bohm, Krips and Karajan spell the efforts of more mortal colleagues. And Domingo and Pavarotti enter upon the scene that they will dominate for decades to come. Featuring 100 photos (the majority courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera Archives), this book will delight both seasoned devotees of the broadcasts and new listeners alike.
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