The 53 years old Joan Sutherland, singing a very very exciting and fast version of "Ah Non Giunge" from La Sonnambula in New York's Avery Fisher Hall in 1979!! Just listen at 1:25 her 9 High Eb sung in Staccato!!!
@@crazyorganist1609, Callas aveva altri meriti, sicuramente superiore ma con la Sutherland sono state le piu' grandi cantanti del 900...e anche oggi non esiste l'eguale.
If there were nothing remaining of Joan Sutherlands' work but this one performance she would still be known as one of the greatest singers of all time...
STUPENDOUS! In my opinion, this was done just a little too fast - even for her - but she really was something very special! A true dramatic coloratura soprano. I think she looked lovely also. What a great concert this was!
I completely agree! In an interview i think in ‘78 Bonynge said at this point in her career the voice was becoming just a “touch sluggish”, his words not mine, so he sped up the tempi in a lot of things trying to keep the soupplesse of the voice. Regardless, she sounded marvelous!
Amazing vocal performance, and I always enjoy the fact that she's so secure technically that you can just relax and feel the cheerful, careless nature of this aria with no worries. Her voice, as always, sounds very opulent, homogeneous and unmistakably unique - but I'm surprised that here it sounds more youthful than she usually sounded in 1979, it really conveys some girlishness and a more lyrical sound. And that after more than 30 years of singing career! I think this rendition is perhaps a bit too fast, but a fast tempo in this cabaletta definitely DOES FIT the mood of the aria, which is about extatic joy, girlish cheerfulness. It certainly was not made to sound very "melodramatic" nor very "deep". It's an aria to convey joy, playfulness, a sense of catharsis and unbridled happiness. And a fast tempo highlights that in the music. I'm way too tired of all the comments that basically amount to "everyone before and after should've sung/conducted this very same piece in the very same way exactly as my favorite performer did". That's too boring, unimaginative even. These scores are the work of geniuses exactly because they always can bring us something new depending on the performance. There is room for many different interpretations that highlight different aspects of the score, otherwise we'd all die in boredom since these operas are performed hundreds or thousands of times. Everyone has his favorites, but I appreciate hearing other takes on the same score very much.
The sound filled and enveloped the listener in astonishing acoustical brilliance. Heard her in NORMA, BOLENA, FLEDERMAUS, and in concert. Without parallel.
She sounds like she's trying to the the Indy 500-------------and gets away with it. Even at breakneck speed, she mows down those notes like a singing shark. I didn't expect she sang so spectacularly in 1979, but from Sutherland, I'd expect no less.
To all these so called critics of opera singers .Did you achieve world fame like Joan Sutherland or Maria Callas etc. It is pathetic to hear the couch criticism from these so called opera fans. Wake up it is bloody hard work to become such a famous singer.
ABSOLUTELY! It makes me laugh to hear people say things like "Its too fast" . What they mean of course is that they are used to it at a specific speed, but mostly they have NO idea what they are talking about. No real artist would ever say such a thing. www.johnpascoe.com www.john-pascoe-artist.com
Every week one of you bdi say stupid shit like this that we all know will fly out the moment you're faced with singers you don't like. You don't need to be a singer to have a valid opinion or we might as well do away with composers, conductors and instrumentalists among others.
Sutherland, Sills and other stratospheric sopranos brought back the high flying seemingly improvisational, though carefully worked out, element to bel canto. She got her intended effect, to thrill, trill and drive the audience mad, as only she could!
TOO BE ABLE TO SING AND HIT THE HIGHS YOU HAVE TO BE BLESSED WITH A GIFT ONE OF THE GREATEST OPERA SINGERS OF OUR TIME SHE COULD SING ANYONE OFF THE STAGE THERE ARE STILL 2 LEGENDARY SOPRANOS STILL WITH US TODAY LEONTYNE PRICE & MARILYN HORNE
Simply fabulous. Breathtakingly stunning. Interesting that some of the ornaments are simplified at the end. But she compensated with the stacatti Eflats.
She did shorten the cadenza, which she sang complete in the studio the next year. Maybe she didn't think she could do it live at the end of a long evening? Still her only real competition is herself fifteen years before.
@@ThomasDawkins88 I'm sure she could have sung it easily. Sometimes in the 80s though they did simplify passages a little, especially in concert. But still the greatest voice I ever heard in the theatre!
Oh my goodness;too fast or not;thus has to be one of the most electrifying "live" performances ever recorded!Dame Joan not only had a BEAUTIFUL voice ,it was a very BIG sound as well and to think that she had to hold it in check as it were to be able to produce the fine coloratura that this aria demands;Will there ever be another "La Stupenda?"
Yo creo que está Gran Dama del canto operístico fue y será única en abodar este tipo de repertorio además puso y elevó a gran escala a muchos compositores cantando brillantemente su repertorio para mí será una de las llamadas y elegidas voces del mundo operístico desde Madrid un admirador y seguidor de esta destacada y brillante interprete
It was!! I heard her live from 1980 in her Covent Garden performances and the recordings don’t convey the all-enveloping quality of the voice. The Eflats in Lucrezia Borgia and Lucia were astounding in the 80s.
Enormous in amplitude. I heard Nilsson, Price, Sills, Arroyo, Caballe, Rysanek and many other in the house. Only Nilsson could match the volume, but never the beauty.
Wow! That staccati was simply the note didn't get quite right on so she did the staccati to get the thin edges working. Basically, it was a "save". Good for her!
@@OperaMyWorldno singer would purposely chose as it doesn’t quite fit musically. It’s a vocal tool to get the voice to vibrate without pressure. I’m sure she did it at the rehearsal too for the same reason.
But she kept up with it, because she could, producing a much more exciting result. I've heard slower versions with other sopranos; this is far superior to any of them.
Un gran despliegue de pirotecnia vocal sin duda, pero cualquier parecido con la partitura de Bellini salvando la melodía general es pura coincidencia 😵😵 Lo fastidiado es que esta afamada cantante creó escuela y hay quien prefiere imitarla a toda costa y consigue un pobre resultado, mientras que los que cantan esto mismo atendiendo a la partitura y a sus posibilidades al final gustan más. A fin de cuentas, Joan Sutherland, guste más o guste menos, no hay más que una, imitarla es una temeridad (salvo las legítimas parodias que se quieran hacer en clave de humor).
Callas did a crescendo from pianissimo to fortissimo trilling on E6 in this aria ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-btzPevKYeN8.htmlsi=iQksFpOwi29WWCNi
Purtroppo la nota e' staccata perche' ha preso malissimo il Mi bemolle e per "salvare il salvabile" astutamente ha trasformato una clamorosa stecca in un passaggio ardito. Solo una grande si puo' permettere questo.
Tomba 2, avendo ascoltato nel 1980 dal vivo 7 recite di Lucrezia Borgia a Roma, tutte le sere "sparava" il Mib che era una cannonata (non come quelli della Devia..) con delle vibrazioni che davvero i cristalli dei lampadari oscillavano...le recite erano bellissime, ti puoi immaginare poi l'emozione di avere la Joan per 15 giorni tutte le sere davanti che ti canta a quel modo..i trilli...e la dizione era buonissima, non come dicono i cretini. Il "clou" della serata, la cifra, poi era sto Mib conclusivo che tutti attendevamo con ansia...sempre perfetto e poi cadeva a terra planando. Era perfetto, era perfetta, era Joan Sutherland! Con la Callas e' insostituibile. Il Mib lo ha salvato picchettandolo..mica tutte sono capaci. Una grande prodezza tecnica che solo una grande tecnica permette. Ciao Tomba 2.
@@onigbajamo Bel Canto is the Art of Singing, with all the technical proficiency on display. Singing in Bellini's time was about entertainment, and that included scales, arpeggios, staccati, trills...everything. Bel Canto is "beautiful singing" but not careful or conservative singing... the audience wanted vocal fireworks.
@@joshuamcpherson007 i don't see where i said that. read to understand, not to argue. it's funny you should talk about bellini's time though, since he had a lot to say/write about expression rather than just showing off. funny that.
@@onigbajamo You don't see where you said what? Bellini didn't describe vocal pyrotechnics as"showing off". He understood they were an essential part of the florid singing, and an integral part of Bel Canto singing. I am a trained singer, and my earliest studies included Bel Canto style as presented by Marchesi and Lamperti...who wrote the book "The Technics of Bel Canto".
I totally disagree. This is a concert performance, and is meant to entertain the audience with the art of singing. Sutherland is not in character as Amina here, there are no sets or costumes, just a singer and an eager audience...hoping to hear something extraordinary...and they did.
@@jenylogan1 I am a singer. I know from personal experience, that singing music in costume and in character is very different from standing in place on stage. Same thing with a recording studio...."de-humanizing'" as Sutherland said. Having other singers in character and costume, moving and emoting, helps everyone immerse themselves in the drama.
Yo en cambio siento una gran emoción cuando la escucho, además de una admiración enorme. La conocí en el Teatro Real de Madrid, ya muy mayor, asistía a un palco como una más, saludó a todos los que se acercaron a ella.
I’m a huge fan. A big one actually. But I can admit that this isn’t her best. Not because of tone, lack of agility, or control.. but simply trying to keep up with the orchestra and her dork of a husband playing this entirely too fast. For what she had to deal with, she did an excellent job.. If it had been slower, as written, it would’ve been perfect. ❤️
She was a genius on her own at her Met début and her Norma in Vancouver was astonishing. But the longer she sang with Boing-Boing, the worse her voice sounded.
A beautiful voice, but the tempo is so fast that it does no wright to the music...... as often the notes always sound the same. Which in a way is a huge compliment for one of the best female voices ever recorded, but for me personal it lacks the true belcanto sound and drama with which Maria Callas did sing. She really brought soul to the role......
I thhink this is perhaps a bit too fast, but a fast tempo in this cabaletta definitely DOES FIT the mood of the aria, which is about extatic joy, girlish cheerfulness. It certainly was not made to sound very "melodramatic" nor very "deep". It's an aria to convey joy, playfulness, a sense of catharsis and unbridled happiness. And a fast tempo highlights that in the music. I'm way too tired of all the comments that basically amount to "everyone before and after should've sung/conducted this very same piece in the very same way exactly as my favorite performer did". That's too boring. There is room for many different interpretations that highlight different aspects of the score, otherwise we'd all die in boredom since these operas are performed hundreds or thousands of times. Everyone has his favorites, but I appreciate hearing other takes on the same score very much.
@@henkhartman3048Yes, she was clearly pushed to her limits here, not the best tempo for her especially at this time in her career (by 1979 she had been singing heavy prima donna roles for more than 25 years), but IMHO she pulled it off remarkably welll.
The tempo is actually too fast for her so that the ornamentation is imprecise and the diction unintelligible. It's a nice enough sound, but if you want drama in this type of music, it's inevitable that you have to turn to the work of Maria Callas. Listen to her 1957 live recoding from Cologne. Callas had a much 'bigger voice' than Sutherland (Callas started out as a Wagnerian soprano) but managed to scale it back in music like this. Her diction was usually better too. There are degrees of competence in this repertoire.
I adore Callas more than Sutherland! She was a better Amina than Joan! Basically for me she was the Best! BUT WHY to comment for Callas in a Sutherland Video? That’s bad taste!
You got it exactly backwards. Sutherland started as a Wagnerian, not Callas. And Callas sang "loud." That's not "big" - but such concepts are wasted on YT graduates.
@@stefanodepeppo Whatever your theories about the reason for the staccati, there was no "cracked" note. I don't think the word means what you think it means. I am a veteran singer, and I know very well what a cracked note is...the note does not phonate AT ALL... complete interruption of the sound. I heard every Eb in this video, so they phonated normally.
![Joan Sutherland - "Ah Non Giunge" [9 High Eb Staccato] (N.Y., 1979)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
