Search - Vincenzo Bellini, Antonino Votto, Nicola Rescigno :: Bellini: Beatrice Di Tenda

The REAL Sutherland

Jamie Guille | UK | 01/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disk, in my opinion, provides us with the very finest example of how Joan Sutherland REALLY sounded on stage. More than any of her artificially ballanced studio recordings, this one allows us to hear how her voice expands and fills the air as it rises up the scale. The microphones were clearly a long way away from her and give the listener a much more realistic "audience" perspective. A voice such as hers doesn't "happen" 6 inches from her face, it blooms right out there in the music hall and overwhelms the listener with this "wall" of sound. An outstanding recording considering its age (1961) and of much better quality than many other "live" Sutherland performances. Here is Sutherland at the peak of her powers, and given the circumstances surrounding this performance it is a wonder that she could sing at all. The afternoon before, she had received a call to say that her Mother had died suddenly, but determined not to let anyone down, her eyes full of tears and churned up with emotion, she came out and sang. Her tone is pure and dreamy throught, the highest notes are spectacular as ever and she was supported by an excellent cast in Bellini's unjustly neglected masterpiece. Even with all the coughs and splutters from the audience and the odd creaking floorboard I find this recording far more enjoyable than the 1966 Decca studio."

Masterpiece!

Jamie Guille | 11/30/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beatrice di Tenda is perhaps one of the most underated Operatic masterpiece of all time. The music is absolutely beautiful. And Sutherland singing of the taxing dramatic coloratura role ever more beautiful. A must have!"

Like you are there

Dr. F. J. Augustus | Woollahra, NSW Australia | 06/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This extraordinary live recording is the one I listen to over and over for Sutherland's wonderful live sound. It was the first time New York heard her, her first partnership with Horne, and by the sound of the audience, a thrill-a-minute show. You know when the coughing stops to sit up and take notice...this voice is a miracle. I heard her often in later years. The 'wall of sound' is the only way to describe her huge voice when it was working well, and here is a chance to hear the voice young, fresh, very alive, thrilling in attack and range, and for me the imperfections of the recording only add to the magic and excitement. She doesn't go for the big one at the end of Act 1, and it's the better for it - you know it's live and you live it like you're in the front stalls. The men record poorly, but the ensembles sound good, crowned of course by herelf. It makes the studio version of 66 sound limip and rather dull except for the young Pavarotti in great voice. The Puritani from Palermo in 61 has a similar thrill, but here the men record well, but the recording renders Sutherland thin. This Beatrice is the closest I have found to what she really sounded like. I love it."