Lakme Battle Royale: Bell Song Coloratura 

Tetrazzini's agility was at times superhuman, but also she had recordings where she simply sang out of tune. I'd go with Callas for the sheer virtuosity considering the size of her voice, and the breadth of expression on every phrase, trill, run etc. I think Sutherland and Dessay win in the sense that this role fits them like a glove.

for people who really know Lakme, critics always recommend the one done by Mady Mesple, she's a truly french coloratura soprano, Mady has played Lakme all through her life. her voice fit the character the best, voice like a girl, sing like a bird. feel bad that not much people know about her, unless you really into opera world... anyway, love you Mady~!

Sutherland's ornamentation was Superb ! I've never heard another soprano sing this aria better than her !

I like dessay most because she is the purest and doesnt try to be fast... She really sounds like a bell and has the most beautifull high e with the wonderful crescendi... She doesnt use the aria as a showcase but gives meaning to the coloraturA... I really like it

I'm just speechless!!!! Callas sings this with such a color, strength and great power. I also adore Dessay and Dahl.

Maria Callas. Her E is the most powerful, thickest vocal chord, she sounded fuller, darker than others. And Joan Sutherland. Her trills were extraordinary and her timbre is beautiful..

Mady Mesple - infallibile. La Callas always with an insight and ever changing colours.

Love Luisa Tetrazzini and Maria Callas...two of my favorites!

lily pons' was so fast love the final note of mado robin i also loved the trill and crescendo of maria callas :-) joan's E6 is beautiful as her voice is dessays' performance is great too

all are wonderful singers, yet only three nailed it, each in her fabulous way: Callas with genuine musical magic, Sutherland with perfection and beauty, Dessay with finess and emotion. Bless You all.

the best is SUTHERLAND! OF COURSE! she's so wonderful. I can always rely on Sumi Jo, however, to give some of the cleanest coloratura, and although I'm not normally a big fan of Dessay, she also stood out to me. I wish she'd quit her huge acting obsession, and focus on the music, she has the goods to be an incredible soprano.

I Adore Sumi jo!!!

People should remember that later recordings - with up to date and improved recording techniques will always appear better. This isn't necessarily the case of course. Sutherland and Callas are the best in my opinion

I was a boy treble in Westminster Cathedral choir and LOVED trying to sing this! Now, I am a Baritone and well... I can't sing this! Papagano here I come LOL.... THANK YOU again for posting and putting this together... SO much fun!

I am not old enough to have witnessed _La Stupenda_ as Ms. Sutherland was known, but I did see Sumi Jo perform in roles twice at the Detroit Opera House. Hearing her do the Mad Scene from _Lucia_ (covered in blood) had me weeping . . . Of course, I was in a state of advanced temulence at the time. Afterward, I pretended that I knew these wealthy patrons and followed them back stage where I snuck to Ms. Jo’s dressing room. She graciously came to the door to autograph my Sumi Jo souvenir T-shirt. She was taller (and older) than I had expected. I’ve never worn the shirt, but I may be buried in it.

dessay is the most secure in this range and to my opinion has the best E natural. but for callas to sing this( and do it well at that) is incredible. She should be given honorable mention.

Joan sutherland is my favourite, she captures very well the emotion of the character. and her sound is perfectly focused but never shrill, always a beautiful sound and full voice. I think Callas and Tetrazzini are wonderful too.

Deassay and MAdo robin can go higher and hogher, but DAME JOAN is the only one who projected every freaking note of her range , she is the best example of breath support and voice projection

This competition is not complete without the magic voice und Staccati from Ingeborg Hallstein !!!! Best Lakme ever

I find Tetrazzini nice and very interesting to listen to, considering how old her recording must be. I wish it were in higher quality! In my opinion Sutherland is the best, her voice control and technique are so perfect and far by anyone else... and I just love her thrills. But Callas is great too, it's quite strange to hear a dramatic soprano with a so large and powerful voice like hers able to sing an aria like this, but she did it wonderfully. I also like Dessay and Sumi Jo.

I go with the only one from this list and recorded history who actually overshadows the orchestra with the gargantuan size of her voice and without any effort: CALLAS! It is very clear that she has by far the biggest, darkest and heaviest instrument from this list as she is the only authentic Abigaille, Gioconda, and Norma of recorded history yet her coloratura is very precise and she has an actual pianissimo trill, not all the other tin pot canaries do.

Sutherland owns this from a technical point of view. Callas wins in terms of dramatic interpretation, with her melancholic tone heralding coming tragedy.

SUMI JO was live too and she is the best... by the way natalie's last part was wonderful. but sumi is the best soprano ever !

Luisa Tetrazzini Luisa Tetrazzini and.... Luisa Tetrazzini!!!!!!

Im not trying to be a "la Divina" obsessed fan. But I do have to say. Maria gives the most color, and emotions when singing. There are so many different sounds to the voice in just that 15 second clip of her vs all the other women.

1. Maria Callas - What can I say? 2. Joan Sutherland - awesome trill, amazing E, beautiful 3. Mady Mesplé - Ah, Mesplé, beautiful like a laser beam. 4. Lily Pons - a little fast, great E 5. Mado Robin - Fantastic 6. Tetrazzini - Great 7. Sumi Jo - Very nice. 8. Tracy - Very good 9. Galli- Curci - No trill? 10. Dessay - Couldn't hear the E, never been a fan of her's, would rather hear Gruberova in her place.

Pons, Robin, Callas, Sutherland, and Mesplé are my favorites.

I dont know how you would describe it in musical/technical terms but it is as though Dame Joan is more relaxed with this than the others. She owns the space and fills it!Great expression without unnecessary use of force or tension.The french sopranos across the ages also seem to put in a good performance, currently N dessay and P Petibon do exceptionally well.

I cannot believe the Sutherland trill.

Can you imagine having this talent? when you wake up .....OMG

Sutherland and Pons handsdown, the best Lakme ever.

Love lily pon's speed!!! loved mado's trill! so original.

It doesn't seem that my tastes are that far off from others. Sutherland is my all-time favorite, and her version is lovely. I also love Lily Pons. And, Natalie Dessay seems to be very talented as well.

No one, ever, had that dazzling bell-like tone of Sutherland.

One thing that some of the more modern girls don't seem to understand is that ALL the staccati should sound like bells--STACCATI. Jo and Dessay don't get this at all and sustain far too much. Joan, with her much bigger voice, understood, and I must applaud Tracy Dahl for the same thing. Joan is, to me, the absolute winner, but let's give great credit to Callas for her beautifully accurate runs--and I am NOT a Callas freak!

Tetrazzini is great. Galli Curci has no trill. Pons can't sing the scales at the end. Robin is very nice. Callas is the only one who sings the aria as the sadness tinged song sung under duress. Sutherland is great, and doesn't transpose down here. Mesple is a textbook old fashioned coloratura, though her scales are sloppy. Jo is good too, though the E sounds flat. Dahl is new to me, but she's an excellent old fashioned coloratura. Dessay is also good, but has the smallest high E. I wish they had included Callas's 1952 live version from the concert where she opened with Lady Macbeth's first aria, then sang Lucia's mad scene, then Abigaile's letter scene from Nabucco, and closed with the Bell Song. She sang it with a voice of Wagnerian proportions, with hurricane force trills, and with the biggest high E I've heard from anyone.

The People who had heard Lakmé première said it was Mado Robin who sang like Delibes wanted it to be sung.

1. Mado Robin 2. Dame Joan Sutherland 3. Nathalie Dessays

Mado Robin fantastica como siempre!!!

1. Sumi Jo 2. Joan Sutherland 3. Lily Pons It's really subjective, and they're all wonderful. It's nice to be able to compare great singers so immediately. It is difficult, given the recording techniques of their day, to tell whether Tetrazzini or Galli-Curci had the vocal richness of Jo or Sutherland. Probably they did.

I have the Luisa Tetrazzini and Amelita Galli-Curci recordings of this on 78 and when played on a good Victrola, they are exquisite! Thanks for sharing this comparison! ...Truly the "Golden Age" of Opera!

You are missing an exceptional artist who performed this aria with great sensitivity and technical perfection. Pierette Alarie. Sutherland's tempi are strangely sluggish in this piece. It's all about technical mastery, agility and bravura.

By far, Sutherland. Her staccati were the most bell like. And no one can touch her high E natural. The yound Sutherland had the biggest high notes, just like Callas.

loved sumi Jo! loved the harshness to callas' version! they were ma two best

Ugh. So true. Sutherland just owns this, with Mesple a close second. Dessay did this very precisely, but didn't particularly impress me. Amelita Galli-Curci was quite interesting actually. The disappointment for me was Sumi Jo, because I heard even less warmth in her voice in this one than usual.

I don't know how you guys determine who are better singer of this song. For me, I will evaluate based on my own acoustic analysis. Sorry for my bad English. Luisa Tetrazini : Okay with diction and harmonics, but the last high note was weak in harmonics and lost is diction. Galli-Curci: Clear diction and pretty rich in harmonics, for me her voice is quite beautiful, but unfortunately her last high note was quite weak in harmonics but better than Tetrazini Lily Pons: Same comment as Galli-Curci. Mado Robin: Clear diction and also rich in harmonics, finally she was able to maintain her harmonics well at the last high notes. Therefore, so far it is better than the previous 3 singers. Maria Callas: Clear diction and very rich in harmonics, her last high note was stupendous with strong singer's formant. The best! Joan Sutherland: I have no idea why my spectrogram showed her fundamental frequency as noisy but I think it was because of the crazy trills. Anyway, okay with diction and harmonics just as Mado Robin. Mady Mesplé : Same as Joan Sutherland, the fundamental frequency went noisy. Sumi Jo: Okay with diction and harmonics, but her last high note didn't do so well. Tracy Dahl: Okay as Mado Robin. Natalie Dessay: Okay as Mado Robin but her last high note didn't do so well too just as Sumi Jo.

When young Sutherland sang this aria it sounded like Divine Play.....a "leela". The pure joyous delivery of a bird. To ordinary sopranos it just sounded like hard work.

Lilly Pons and Natalie Desaay owns this aria

Dame Joan is perfection...... !!

Callas. With so much expression and the coloratura precise.

Dame Joan speaks to me.

How interesting Callas makes this coloratura! 1. Callas 2. Tetrazzini (beautiful, perhaps not bell-like)

it also depends on the recordings, i have a different callas recording which sounds amazing. but this one goes to dessay who is BY FAR the most effortless and musical. Sutherland of course a close second, her version is very delicate.

All of them are extraordunary artists!!!! Wow!!!! I guess I am happy to be a tenor (it is almost impossible to sing this kind of coloratura for any human voice!!!) I liked very much specially Pons, Callas and Sutherland (also Sumy Jo was great).Bravooo!!!...thank you so much for this!!!!!

Mado Robin,Lily Pons,Natalie Dessay,Maria Callas,and Joan Sutherland. but,where Silvia Voinea?

And so many sopranos SCREAM the last note, big difference in vocal control and delivery.

Sutherland had the best trill especially on the high B natural before the biggest high E natural I've ever heard, Tetrazzini had some pitch problems. And the high E at the end was small and a bit flat. 1. Sutherland 2. Mesple 3. Pons

Where is Ingeborg Hallstein! None of these has "it"! :P

the best pitch and the final note is for mesple...Sutherland have the best trills...Tracy Dahl is so good...sumi jo is the forza... and Dessay is the interpretation.

What a contest...!! Dessai and Sutherland in a dead heat with Pons in third but only a whisker behind.

I personally don't care about beautiful staccato when the overall performance is robotic. Robin's trill is very weak but her performance has more personality. It's a personal preference.

I'm a sucker for the sopranos that really nail the trill. Callas is so effective, but her trill is never really a trill - but dramatic nonetheless. Dessay has such beauty but no real trill. Sutherland is awesome - but that's not live, is it? I wasn't familiar with Meple but she really sings it effectively and NAILS those trills- Real deal.

@AdvocateToTheAccuser Yes but I think it is amazing that Callas can do this aria in the first place... I mean she could also sing Brunhilde!!! And the scales are cleanest in her rendition, in my opinion, as well as the last high E, which I think is more in tune and better sustained (and definitely more powerful) than Sutherland's. My favourite is Mady's!

I’ve listened to over 50 recordings and Dessay is the reigning Queen of this aria. This is well known. Sutherland sings beautifully, but Natalie understand every nuance.

Mesple. Sutherland. Tetrazzini and Dessay tied for 3rd. Honorable mention to Dahl and Jo and Galli-Curci.

"Callas", simplemente la mejor, por algo sigue siendo "La DIVINA"

Wow. I managed to read all comments, quite interesting points of view! I prefer Callas (most dramatic voice, not the best for this piece) and Sutherland (her voice fits like a glove for this piece). But Dessay and Sumi Jo get honorable mentions!

Yes, Sutherland is the only one who got it ALL right. Pitch inaccuracies are rampant in some of the older singers but at least Tetrazzini and Galli-Curci do not have high E's that pierce like a knife. Some of the singers sound downright aggressive at times like Sumi Jo. What fire Mesplé and Robin were running from in their roulades is a mystery. It is a pity that most of Callas' rendering is missing because her character, la jeune hindoue (in Italian), actually has expression.

JOANNNN SUTHERLAND rocks my life!!!!!! the greatest... love her!!!!! this contest just proves it. EVERYONE should also check out the diana damrau version of this aria. its really worth listening to.

Las notas altas finales que he escuchado que me parecen mejor logradas son las de Lily Pons y la Sra, Shuderland. TODAS FANTÁSTICAS porque se necesita domino de técnica para abordar tal complejidad en el canto. GRACIAS.

Lily Pons owns this aria for sure

Dame Joan has the best trill by far. She also seems to be, along with Dessay (and I'm no big fan of Dessay), the most sure of the notes.

Dessay absolutely knocked it out the park .. perfect cadence & intonation...& the only one who faultlessly held that last note the longest. Callas was a good second followed by Sutherland & Pons. Bravo

Just watched, Agreed. It's amazing!

IMHO: Lily Pons owns this one. Followed by Joan Sutherland, Sumi Jo and Natalie Dessay.

Mi favorita en el Air des Clochettes(Aria de las Campanillas) es Natalie Dessay, pero no se puede omitir a la gran Maria Callas, a Joan Sutherland (hermosas notas y coloratura aqui), así tambien Mady Mesplé (que interpreta de maravilla el dúo Lakmé, lakmé c'sto, c'stoi) y creo que Tracy Dahl no esta tan mal. Pero tanto Tetrazzini (una de las mejores en la sonambula) y Galli-Curci, Lily Pons y Sumi Jo, o son muy rapidas en la coloratura o no usan las mejores notas (algo fuera de tono).

Bella exquisita música excelsas voces!!!mis preferidas callas y shouterlan,,todas Maravillosas!! Gracias por compartir, gracias por compartir el arte, gracias!

Ingeborg Hallstein and Rita Streich... for the clarity of their voices and beautiful enunciation.

I enjoyed listening to these ladies. I love Callas, but preferred Sutherland to her in this. Sutherland's voice was truly pure. Also, up there for me was Sumi Jo, a singer I'd never heard before.

Well I really liked all of them, my all time favorites are: Callas (because I adore her), Sutherland (the recording for Decca), Mesplé and Dessay (who adds to the aria her own personality). Could not decide who's the best singing this particular aria... it is really hard to score perfect with l'air des clochettes. Bye!

Callas sang "Bell Song" LIVE. And it was awesome! She did sang it down1/2 a key though. Nevertheless, Callas was also awesome. I suggest RU-vid Callas' "Bell Song"!

You forgot Silvia Voinea.. go and check it out please ..

I just adore this song, whoever compiled this he/she is a genius. Ur really spoiling art lovers like me and opera wannabes lol

Maria has a tendency to flat more, but she does have a heavier voice. I do do like her slower vibrato at the end. :)

In my opinion Joan Sutherland has the most beautiful tones. Always sweet, never sharp. Natalie Dessay is a pleasant surprise ! Hans NL

@NEBESHIKU thank you your reply whether it's positive one or negative one ;). i fully respect your opinion. but i can not help saying that this piece was not made for dramatical voice. because the charactoristics of French coloratura piece in 19th centuries is not to deliever dramatical feelings, but for the showcase for coloratura technique. this kind of tradition started from Grand Opera in early 19th centuries. so i can say Clément Philibert Léo Delibes the composer's thaught must be totally

Luiza Tetrazzini is the only one here who sings in harmony with the music and is not trying to overshadow it to "show" her voice. So in terms of aesthetics she is out of the competition. Others maybe have greater voices but they are overdoing instead of collaborating with the music.

Yes.

I believe Callas has an earlier version that is better with perfect high notes.

Thank you for the video. Wooo, I guess we should listen the whole aria to have a better judge, but in this video, for me: Dessay, Dahl, Joan Sutherland, Mesplé and Callas.

i don't want to compare sutherland to callas.. i love the both of them in different ways, callas' emotion, vocal power and amazing musicality. sutherland's Ringing voice, amazing coloratura and trills and pure tone... the best opera singers!!! may they rest in peace! they are both singin together with pavarotti and di stefano

love this aria!!! all the singers are amazing but I prefer Sumi Jo, she sounds so clear!!!!

and Sutherland's E was quite doubtful!

@bellini7verdi Concuerdo en que la gran Joan Sutherland es insuperable, por su habilidad en la coloratura y dulzura; sin embargo si se trata de naturalidad y expresion, es Natalie Dessay (mi favorita en este personaje) quien sobresale, por la sutileza, a diferencia de otras expuestas, quienes parecen corretear las notas exageradamente. Maria Callas, mi soprano preferida, es magnifica como en la mayoria de los papeles que abordó, pero a diferencia de muchos otros roles, el suyo no es el mejor.

que trino el de Sutherland!!!

I correct myself. 1.Sutherland 2.Pons 3.Callas 4.Mesple

muy bueno son voces muy hermosas

Well I was sure I was going to choose Sutherland, exact chromatics and shimmering trills, by far the closest to an actual trill from a piano (etc) But then Mespie had the most graceful ends to the notes, which is difficult to not have them sound chopped or screamed, esp. But Dessay had the best dynamics... so, in the end I guess my favorite is still Sutherland. Thanks for posting!

Despite all my admiration for Callas, I must admit that Sutherland clearly owns this battle.

La Stupenda!