Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel
The charm of the Met'sHansel and Gretelproduction is well-known in New York where the popular Christmas season performances are greeted by audiences and critics alike.  "Nathaniel Merrill's storybook production cheerfully evokes a magic world of woodland sprites and candy dreams." "The gently descending angels are lovely, and the witch flies quite gleefully...." And while children are certainly attracted to the operatic version of of the famous fairy tale and have long constituted a large part of the audience at the Met, Englebert Humperdinck's music, so lush and sophisticated yet disarmingly enchanting, has a loyal following of adult devotees as well."Hansel and Gretel... is not just a children's opera, although the many children in the audience seemed enthralled, and quite reasonably so,"New York Timescritic John Rockewell observed.  "This is also an artwork very much for adults, with the entire apparatus of Wagnerian music drama brought to bear on a German fairy tale." Critical reaction to the Christmas 1982 performance with Frederica von Stade and Judith Blegen was enthusiastic: "One couldn't find any singers in today's operatic scene who could play Hansel and Gretel more convincingly, or sing them more enchantingly." And "Rolsalind Elias was a broadly comic Witch," equally admired for her "expert vocalism."This presentation ofHansel and Gretelis sung in English and was taped during the December 25, 1982 performance at the Metropolitan Opera. No material was taken from rehearsals, other performances, or remake recording sessions.  104 minutes.