Dame Joan Sutherland (1926-2010), OM, AC, DBE, died at her home
in Switzerland on 11 October. 2010. Without doubt she was one
of the greatest singers of the twentieth century.
In mid-February 1959 London’s Royal Opera House saw her give
one of the most remarkable debut performances, The role was
Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. The production,
by Franco Zeffirelli had been specifically mounted to showcase
her skills. It was a sensation and lead directly to her worldwide
exposure. She excelled in bel canto, becoming known as
La Stupenda. She was quickly signed up by Decca with
whom she recorded many operas over the following thirty years.
Most of them were conducted by her husband, Richard Bonynge.
He did much to help her develop her singing skills. She
came to dominate the world’s lyric stages including all the
major houses.
The commercial releases by Decca duplicate many of the items
presented on these two collections. The recordings derive from
live performances at the Sydney Opera House where she debuted
in Les Contes d’Hoffman in 1974. She was to appear on
that stage most years after that during the European and American
closed season. As with all live performances there are the pluses
of added vibrancy and the minuses of applause and stage noise,
albeit slight. Some may find these aspects disturbing. What
the collection does provide, however, and which makes it particularly
valuable, are alternatives to her various Decca recordings.
In the case of the recordings from the 1970s, when Sutherland
was in good voice and had given extensive stage performances
her interpretations benefit enormously. This is very evident
in the excerpts from Norma, recorded in 1978, (CD 1 trs.6-7
and CD 2 (CD 2 tr.4) and Lucrezia Borgia of the previous
year (CD 1 tr.1 and CD 2 tr.3). This also serves to emphasise
that the two discs, which claim the interpretations are appearing
for the first time on CD (some are available on DVD) are to
some extent complementary in that excerpts from the various
operas are from the same performances.
I mention the Norma performances and stress that these
recordings find her interpretation at its finest. Of her two
Decca recordings, one was made too early and the second, partnering
Pavarotti, and with Caballé a curiously uninterested Adalgisa,
too late in her career. I was lucky enough to hear her interpretation
in London around the time of this present performance and alongside
Marilyn Horne as Adalgisa. It was an experience of vocal and
interpretive excellence which I have rarely had equalled in
the intervening years. Yes, there are and were quibbles about
diction and softened consonants, but the sheer beauty of the
sound, its size and the emotions she could invest were astounding
and more than compensation. Although her many performances for
Decca sometimes involved her fellow Australians that was the
exception whilst here it is the norm. Reading the names and
looking at the biographies serves to remind me of just how many
distinguished soloists at Covent Garden and English National
Opera hailed from the other side of the world.
Unlike conductors, age takes its toll on singers with a loosening
of the voice, often also associated with the intrusion of vibrato
and even a beat. This is evident in Sutherland’s later recordings
for Decca, notably that of Elvira in Ernani, a recording that
sat in Decca’s archives for a decade before its issue in 1998.
That slackening begins to become evident in the recordings here
from the mid-1980s and can be heard in loss of legato in Il
Trovatore, made in 1983, (CD 1 trs.9-10 and CD 2 tr.8). In compensation
there is still that unparalleled trill to die for. By, the time
of the recordings of The Merry Widow the unsteadiness is more
pronounced, but the Vilja lied, sung in English is still memorable
(CD 2 tr.9).
Date of recording among those 1980 performances is not a reliable
indicator of her overall vocal condition. Much depends on the
repertoire. Whilst the 1984 Adriana Lecouvreur, a favourite
role, shows some compromising of the voice she conveys the young
girl to perfection (CD 1 tr.5 and CD 2 tr.5). Her interpretation
is full of subtleties. The 1986 extracts from La Fille du
Régiment are full of fun (CD 1 tr.3-4 and CD 2 tr.2) are
full of the fun that characterised her Covent Garden debut in
the role over a decade before and gain from the evident enjoyment
of the audience. As I have indicated the Lucrezia Borgia
extracts catch her in fine voice with a full pure-toned
singing with a particularly fine declining gentle phrase at
the conclusion of Era desso il figlio mio (CD 1 tr.1).
The Lucia di Lammermoor excerpt, dated 1986, belies her
age. Much the same applied when she shared the stage with Bergonzi
at Covent Garden a couple of years before that. Together they
showed a later generation what bel canto was really about
(CD 1 trs.14-15 and CD 2 tr.2). Collectors will be particularly
interested in the extract from Poulenc’s Dialogues of the
Carmelites which Sutherland did not otherwise record (CD
1 tr.5).
The recordings are all of good standard and each booklet comes
with libretto and English translation for each item. A brief
introductory essay relates Sutherland’s career to some of the
extracts.
Robert J Farr
Volume 1 (465 687-2)
Gaetano DONIZETTÌ (1797-1848)
Lucrezia Borgia
Era desso il figlio mio (Cabaletta). Act 2 scene 2 (Finale)
[5'06]
rec. 8 July 1977
La Fille du Régiment
Mais, qui vient?... Au bruit de la guerre [4'03]
Quel beau jour [3.45]
With Gregory Yurisich (Sulpice)
rec. 9 August 1986
Lucia di Lammermoor (Mad scene)
Eccola!... Il dolce suono [13.43]
S'avanza Enrico! [7.30]
Clifford Grant (Raimondo); Robin Donald (Normano); Malcolm Donnelly
(Enrico)
rec. 8 February 1986
Francesco CILEA (1866-1950)
Adriana Lecouvreur
Del sultano Amuratte.. .Io son l'umile ancella. Act 1 entrance
[4.44]
With John Wegner (The Prince of Bouillon). Graeme Ewer (Abbey
Chazeuil)
rec. 15 September 1984
Francis POULENC (1899-1963)
Dialognes of the Carmelites
My daughters, I wanted to save you [2'28]
rec. 15 September 1984
Vincenzo BELLINI (1801-1835)
Norma
Casta Diva [6'07]
Fine al rito [ 5 05]
With Clifford Grant (Oroveso)
rec. 1 August 1978
Johann STRAUSS II (1825-1899)
Die Fledermaus
Eight lonely nights.. .To part is such sweet sorrow! [4'04]
Robert Gard (Gabriel von Eisenstein). Monique Brynell (Acide)
rec. 10 July 1982
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Il Trovatore
Che più t'arresti?.. .Tacca la notte placida [6'53]
Di tale amor [2.06]
rec. 2 July 1983
Léo DELIBES (1836-1891)
Lakmé
Par les dieux inspirée.. .Où va la jeune Indoue, Fille des Paria
( Bell song) [4' 17]
Là-bas dans la forét plus sombre [4.20]
Clifford Grant (Nilakantha)
rec. 18 August 1976
Franz LEHÀR (1870-1948)
The Merry Widow
Love Unspoken [3'36]
rec. 23 February 1988
Volume 2 (472 094-2)
Gaetano DONIZETTÌ (1797-1848)
Lucia di Lammermoor
Chi mi frena in tal momento? (Sextet) [4'14]
Richard Greager (Edgardo), Malcolm Donnelly (Enrico), Clifford
Grant (Raimondo), Patricia Price (Alisa), Sergei Baigildin (Arturo)
rec. 8 February 1986
La Fille du Régiment
Les bonnes âmes du pays ...
Le jour naissait dans le bocage Act l (The Singing Lesson Trio)
[10'46]
Heather Begg (The Marquise of Berkenfield), Gregory Yurisich
(Sulpice)
rec. 9 August 1986
Lucrezia Borgia
Com è bello! [6'36]
Robert Allman (Don Alfonso), Graeme Ewer (Rustighello)
rec. 8 July 1977
Vincenzo BELLINI (1801-1835)
Norma
Deh! Con te li prendi ... Mira, o Norma [11 '34]
Margreta Elkins (Adalgisa)
rec. 1 August 1978
Francesco CILEA (1866-1950)
Adriana Lecouvreur
Una volta c'era un Prinicipe ... Poveri fiori [6'44]
Judith Saliba (Mlle Jouvenot), Jennifer Bermingham (Mlle Dangeville),
Christopher Dawes
(Poisson), Jeffrey Black (Quinault), John Shaw (Michonner)
Members of the Comédie Francaise
rec. 18 February 1984
Johann STRAUSS II (1825-1899)
Die Fledermaus
I wonder if she really is Hungarian?….The melodies of my homeland
[5.18]
Monique Brynnel (Adele); Michael Lewis (Falke), Anne-Maree McDonald
(Ida)
rec. 10 July 1982
Léo DELIBES (1836-1891)
Lakmé
Viens, Mallika Act 1 (The Flower Duet) [6.36]
Joan Sutherland (Lakmé), Huguette Tourangeau (Mallika)
rec. 18 August 1976
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Il Trovatore
Siam giunti ... D'amor sull'ali rosee ...
Miserere d'un'alma già vicina. Act 3 Scene 3 (Recitative, Aria
and Scene) [14'48]
Robin Donald (Ruiz), Kenneth Collins (Manrico)
rec. 2 July 1983
Franz LEHÀR (1870-1948)
The Merry Widow
Let's all now waken memories ... Vilja (Recitative and Aria)
[6'34]
rec. 23 February 1988
Joan Sutherland (soprano) 
