Dame Joan Sutherland delivers a Magnificent Leonora (with the D6) 

Even in her, so called, " Declining years", she put today's sopranos to shame...

I never ever have heard such perfect trills. Very subtle and musical rendition. I do not like to compare the interpretation from different singers. Everyone has her unique and often beautifull expression. Callas dramatic and strong; Sutherland soft, dynamic and with subtle colours; Caballe pure beauty of tone and "con gran sentimento". It is their gift to render a special and unique performance. They are so good, because they are unique and do not imitate the others.

Whereas Callas's "D'amor" is filled with emotional desperation and pathos, Sutherland's is dream-like and tender. The high D-flat climax exemplifies that very well.

La Stupenda e Divina JOAN SUTHERLAND. Adoro questa cantante.

One thing I can say about Dame Joan, is that she could almost always turn in an amazing Leonora until the very end of her career. It suits her voice perfectly. The trills, tender soaring passages (the high C and C#,) even her diction is good here. Considering how late this is in her career, it's phenomenal

How beautifully, how expressively she phrases...something she has never been given adequate credit for.

The trills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brava!!!

How big is a singer’s voice? There’s a world of difference between the sound of the great voices in the theater and those same voices as recorded. If you have only heard a voice in a recording, then you have not really heard all that that voice is capable of. Many of the most aggressive comments on RU-vid seem to have been made by people who only know the voices in question in their recorded form. A huge voice is not necessarily a loud voice. In the theater, the great singers simultaneously produce at least two different sound phenomena: one is the “loud” sound picked up in recordings, the sound you hear in the theater when the singer in facing you. The other sound is the “huge” sound: the sound which produces the sense in the listener of being surrounded by sound, as if the voice were everywhere and not coming only from the stage. I heard Sutherland several times in the ‘60s, and both the “loud” and the “huge” aspects of her voice were very well developed then. I’m sure I’m not the only one who sensed during those performances that I was in the presence of not just another great singer, but was in fact experiencing a unique, once-in-a-lifetime wonder of nature.

I saw sutherland a number of times in Sydney and this production was the most beautiful i ever heard her voice.

A treat to be able to see as well as hear. Thank you.

Her trill is unrivaled.

In my opinion this is one of her best vocal and dramatic performances in the 1980s. She sommehow sounds fresher in this 1983 performance than in other Leonora performances of hers even in the 1970s (with the notable exception of her excellent San Francisco performance in 1975). I think this role while not perfectly ideal to her late voice offers several great opportunities to show the best advantages of her voice (this act 2 finale is a particular highlight), so she wisely decided to sing it even if the voice was of course declining. Her ease and rhythmic accuracy in faster passages and in ornaments (absolutely perfect trills and much more) reveal the detailed beauty and propulsive rhythm of Verdi's music in a way that many singers simply can't. Her legato in "D'amor sull'ali" is also very remarkable, demonstrating that in her good nights she could deliver a cantilena with ideal flow and evenness.

I would have payed good money to see her perform live.... now I can, without paying! Shes absolutely breathtaking in her deliverance of any part she plays!!!

WOW! Never heard such Leonoras before! Fabulous!

Anche dopo tanti anni di carriera la voce della stupenda era perfettamente intatta! Se avesse risolto completamente la pronuncia Italiana non ci sarebbero più le battaglie dei vecchi o nuovi fans di altri soprani... Era dai Tempi della Tetrazzini che non si sentiva una voce e una estensione(anche di repertorio) di questo livello! E poi é stata molto longeva vocalmente da poter mantenere tutti i suoi (durissimi) cavalli di battaglia per tutta la carriera che é durata oltre 40 anni... Come persona era buona e dolce anche con i colleghi... Chi ha talento (quello vero) rispetta e ammira anche quello degli altri! E ne aveva così tanto che non aveva bisogno di dire cattiverie come alcuni e inutili leoni da tastiera.. Ebbi la fortuna di ascoltarla piccolissimo (alla mia seconda opera come spettatore) in una delle sue ultime apparizioni italiane(credo 82 se non vado errato) l'avevo solo ascoltata nei dischi ed anche se la sua presenza scenica un po' mi deluse sento ancora accarezzarmi l'orecchio dai suoi splendidi acuti! É proprio vero gli artistiche vanno ascoltati in teatro per poterli giudicare il disco (anche quello live) non potrà mai riprodurre le condizioni uditive di un teatro! .... Quando c'era lei sapevi che sarebbe stato uno spettacolo divertante e appagante! Manca a tutti! La grandezza dell'artista e la grandezza della persona..

That D6, WOW!

For me this kind of music is THE PROOF THAT G-D EXISTS. What else could explain such perfection of the text. the instrumental music and THAT voice ?????? This applies to most pieces in this collection, most notably Alcina....

Joan Sutherland's voice is pure beauty

We should also be talking about the excellence of the tenor, Kenneth Collins.

D'amor sull'ali rosee cantata con tenerezza sommessa da una simile voce è un'esperienza esaltante

For my this is first in the word .Glori

BELLEZA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joan is performing here with the Australian Opera in the small Opera Theatre under the sails, now named after her. You can see how small the stage is. An easy sing after all those big houses in Europe and the US. And she's in her home city so she probably felt pretty good!

Sydney - 1983. Joan was magnificent in this performing.

Bravo Dame Joan Sutherland!

Bravo! Bravissimo! I admired her in the roles she was wrong for because I believe one must embrace the roles that you are wrong for and she did that with Leonidas. I saw her last one at the Metropolitan Opera house with Luciano, it was a disaster, but no one cared, it's JOAN.

Magnifico..¡¡

D'amor sull'ali rosee- Verdi's Casta Diva :)

Cosa si Può dire di una Vera studiosa e Artista così completa?... Chapeau!!!!

My goodness... "D'amor sull'ali rosee"💎💎💎

Perfection!!!

I always thought Leonora was the perfect role for her. It demands perfect technique, and it's rather static -- which is what Sutherland delivered. I saw her in Trovatore (in New York) as late as 1988, and she was still magnificent. In 40 years of operagoing, I never thought of Sutherland's voice as smallish -- it was actually a big outpouring of sound.

The Icon

como me gusta esta mujer...........................madre mia...........................ES MAS QUE FANTASTICA...............................MAS QUE ESTUPENDA............ESTUPENDISIMA.............EN SUS MULTIPLES ROLES.....Y A TODAS LAS EDADES HASTA SU RETIRO......................ES UNA VOZ SOBREHUMANA.................IMPONENTE..................COMO DECIA EL GRAN PAVAROTI............MARYLINE HORNE............Y MONSERRAT CABALLE.......Y KIRI TE KANAWA.............LA MEJOR VOZ DEL SIGLO..............Y DE TODOS LOS TIEMPOS.....OPERISTICAMENTE HABLANDO....................LA FARAONA DEL BELCANTO...........................

that would be Jonathan Summers there! Bravo!

Magnifica,sempre

Bravooo...bravísimaaa

De toute beauté !

Joan wasn't a great actress, but gosh could she sing! Incredible!

So sad to hear this. Dame JOAN was incredible in her prime. HER middle voice is gone but I love her STILL! sincerely Arnold Bourbon Amaral

Leonore Sutherland

Il canto

Grandios!

This was MUCH better than I had expected her to sound so late. The wobble that tormented her after 1975 somehow seems to have faded away, even if just one evening. But did you listen to the Miserere? She just doesn't have the low notes to pull that off. And the following cabaletta [Tu vedrai] is done in a way that doesn't sound at all like Verdi, at least to me. All in all, a commendable effort.

I can't stop laughing at Manrico's costume. He looks like he dressed for a Fanciulla XD His bro on the other hand looks mighty hot in that uniform.

Yay Ken Collins!

Thomas Condenzio made a comment about meeting Joan Sutherland at a book signing in Washington, D.C. I was there too, and wrote about it for my blog here: mcwort.blogspot.com/2010/10/great-voice-stilled.html

While I truly believe the only reason she sang the role because she thought "oh, there are plenty of trills here, let me sing it" the trio and the duet with the count (vivrá) were in fact good.

I love Sutherland, she's certainly on the top 5 best sounding voices of recorded history, but somehow I've never been able to enjoy most of her attempts at Verdi roles. She's was a great Gilda and I've heard some fantastic Sempre Libera renditions. But this one feels like a miss to me. I don't know if it's the quality of the sound at this point or the atitude (she's a bit self-indulgent with the tempo here), I just feel like she doesn't get Verdi's intentions. Leonora might be one of Verdi's heroins closest to Bel Canto (which was where Joan shone the most), but there's a certain artistic rigour that may be needed for this that she doesn't seem to hit.

I'm glad you like most of Sutherland's Il Trovatore Leonora, but I remember years ago finding it so funny how much you hate her act one cabaletta for the extra trills.

La Stupenda es admirable aquí ya pasaba los 50 años de edad y su voz se mantiene hermosa, la técnica perfeccionada, un legato magnífico, sus agudos cortantes, aunque me parece sus trinos bastantes exagerados para el rol que cantaba, tiene intencionalidad dramática, pero no es Verdi lo que está venerada artista cantaba y no interpretaba, le falta algo y aquello de llegar al alma. Yo la amo, pero me pasa eso y en este rol ella no está acorde, lo digo con todo respeto. Brava la Stupenda.

Quick Question: When can I expect some Sherrill Milnes or Leyla Gencer?

She never had the voice for such a role..

MAGNIFICENT!!! (although choreography wise lame)

TBH they didn't stand a chance...she just turned around & drowned them out

Who are the men?

Absolutely astounding. It really doesn't sound Verdi at all, though.

Ma quanto cantano male gli altri

Loved Joan Sutherland, despite the muffled diction, and thrilled to many of her performances in London, but, sadly, she is just not a Trovatore Leonora. She simply does not understand who this character is, nor how to bring her to life. She has all the high notes and trills, but the role is so much more than that. Wonderful voice, but Leonora is not Lucia.

I feel like she got a high larynx here

"Sutherland never had a voice to sing Il Travatore...?" Rubbish! She certainly did.

Not my thing - Sutherland as Leonora, I mean.

Sorry but if you hear her "D'amor sull'ali..." and Callas' one, that's cement compared to porcelain.

Un leggero che canta drammatico di agilità: ottima tecnica ma fuori repertorio.

Lei canterà anche bene ma il resto del cast fa pena, è uno dei peggiori trovatori in circolazione!

She could be wonderful.. but her diction, and that mushy sound.. do not fit a Verdi Opera where there is a plot and stuff happening.. This is what is fundamentally wrong with Joan.. Her lower and middle voice are totally manufactured.. the top is lovely.. but this is so far from Callas.. who actually interpreted music and the text.. Not the role for Joan as far as I see.

She was great singer but she never moved me emotionally, find her somewhat boring and her acting is not the best. I have seen her live in Norma and andriane lecouvrer.

Calante,sorry