1962 & 1982 Joan Sutherland - I Masnadieri Cabaletta

[@Eiswirth1]

The '62 version is like no other voice in operatic history: technically on a level beyond anyone else, beautiful tone, power with control and shimmering vocals. The '82 version features a slower vibrato (unavoidable with aging) and less spectacular fluency, but still technical perfection and peerless trilling. No other singer has ever thrilled me like she has.

[@emma41093]

WOW!!!!!! 20 years later and her voice hadn't really changed (in a bad way that is). Such glorious singing. Brava La Stupenda!

[@DCFunBud]

Spectacular! L'universo e tutto amor! R.I.P., Saint Joan!

[@herrbrucvald6376]

the picture w/ tiara is absolutely out-of-this-world. she was a very beautiful woman.

[@ClintonBunyoungwww]

Both spectacular!!! Just no words…

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

BOTH ARE INCREDIBLE!

[@simonkawasaki4229]

STUNNING!!!! She was truly the Jenny Lind of the 20th century!

[@ahogbin2644]

This was the kind of music in which she excelled. Even in 1989 she was fantastic in a concert in Newcastle in which she sang this aria. The last time I heard her in the theatre.

[@chrisfinlay3274]

i was also at that concert, the one with the bomb scare and evacuation of the theatre! i have a very good recording of the evening.

[@alextudor43]

la stupenda !

[@christineannemarsden]

As you would expect her younger voice is a little lighter but both are superb! Lightness - flexibility and spine tingling brilliance!

[@Shahrdad]

I think her younger voice is more silvery and brilliant, but no smaller or lighter. From the mid 60's, she artificially darkened her voice for roles like Norma, and I think lost something precious in the process.

[@christineannemarsden]

Thank you for your comment Shahrdad - I shall have to listen to even more of her recordings with an eye (& ear) on the date of recording! She had a wonderful instrument of a voice?

[@Shahrdad]

Christine Marsden She did indeed. I heard her last in 1986, and even at that age, the voice was magnificent. At first, it was cloudy and wobbly, but as she kept singing, her voice got younger and younger. I think she began darkening her voice around the time she began singing Norma. I rather suspect she wanted to create and darker, more "meaningful" sound similar to Callas's famous middle register. And I also suspect that this might have led to the premature wobbling in the middle register while the upper register remained bright till the very end.

[@ThomasDawkins88]

Both excellent. The biggest difference is that in the later one she sounds like she's actually TRYING here and there instead of just being able to open her mouth and out comes the most glorious sound. But such is the difference between being 36 and 56! Diction is a bit better later on, and that final trill is as good as anybody could ask for.

[@debbiewoodburn6786]

One of a kind. The incomparable Joan Sutherland. La Stupenda.

[@debbiewoodburn6786]

Simply sublime.

[@thomasdahlen2158]

Brava,la Stupenda!Forever Great. Vi ses

[@Eiswirth1]

Your opinion. IMO, Sutherland was far greater than all of them.

[@65attila]

Stunning Joan

[@MrKvarner]

Perfection!!!

[@cinziavidali411]

Stupenda cantante, per sempre grande

[@RodolfoLimacbx]

Joan in 4 words: *VOICE, CONTROL, SCALE and TRILLS!*

[@CaptFitzbattleaxe]

@emma41093 Agreed. It's astonishing how her voice never declined, but only aged (at least, that's my perception). After her '77 Lucrezia Borgia, I think her 1982 I Masnadieri is her best past-prime recording. A lot of echoes of the young Joan plus a stellar cast.

[@alfredoloyola921]

brava. joan!!

[@hermanneckert6966]

It's so wonderful!

[@magicmonkichi]

This makes me happy ^_^.One of my favorite cabaletta's every~!...twice!~ ^_^ Amazing, those trills make me crazy XD

[@hugothebear]

I am sure she would put her longevity down to long and thorough training and years of work, a great lady. Also very interesting to hear recordings at her earliest days in 1950's essentially sounding pretty much the Joan we love and remember. Lucky audiences who heard her in those early fresh years too.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

Both have their advantages! Both are better than anyone else on EARTH could do! The younger one of course, is like a computer in its stunning perfection. The older one is a bigger heavier voice. It must have been very interesting to hear it in the opera house!

[@stevenkeller8042]

Get the complete recording on Decca george prentice. I just checked Amazon and they have them listed for as low as $11.99. Anyway, you won't be disappointed -- apart from Dame Joan, Franco Bonisolli gives a marvelous performance with several remarkable high C's. The score is available free at Petrucci Music Library. This piece was written for Jenny Lind and is the perfect vehicle for Sutherland and Bonisolli.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

Steven Keller I Masnadieri IS a wonderful role for Joan.....and it has a High D in it too that she sings....though later on she sings it as a very FAST "roulade" or as I call it: a "Fireworks display" lol

[@stevenkeller8042]

It's a great role for Sutherland george prentice. Could have been written for her! 😃

[@Shahrdad]

The early version is the gold standard in this cabaletta. This role was written for Jenny Lind, who was renowned among other things for her trills, and I doubt Lind could trill better than Sutherland. The latter version is not as good the earlier, but it's still better than anyone else's. Her only competition in this piece is herself.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

Shahrdad I agree with you 100%

[@Shahrdad]

george prentice now that I’ve heard Lisette Oropesa sing this, I would say she is better than the latter Sutherland version, though Sutherland early performance remains unbeatable.

PERFETTO....GREAT .....COMPLİMENTİ.....BRAVİSSİMA.....

[@TheRicharddeacon123]

She was sensational.

[@65attila]

Sutherland and Caballe are both great singers with pluses and minuses. Why beat up on them when they have given so much joy? Of course it is our right to criticize.

[@paullewis2413]

No question that the first is Joan at the peak of her career.. The second is surprisingly good given that by the 1980's the voice had darkened and in general taken on a somewhat mushy sound devoid of the early brilliance that was so extraordinary.

[@charleswebb8230]

The best I ever heard Caballe sing was the LP set of Donizetti,Verdi & Bellini rarities. Not so rare now of course, but brilliant singing. I also heard her in Cardiff... Amazing! Henry Webb.

[@bellini7verdi]

FASCINANTE......FASCINANTE........FASCINACION VOCAL PURA........EL SUEÑO DEL SER HUMANO AVANZADO.........UN SER SUPERIOR SOLO PUEDE HACER ESO...........UFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF........UNA PASADA ..........HUMANA.....

[@sable54]

What I've always found most interesting about comparisons between her recordings made years apart is that the performance does not essentially change. When she prepared the aria with her husband, it was locked in place; there were no interpretive alterations, so second thoughts about phrasing. She learned it, performed it magnificently, and that was it. Unlike Callas, whose thoughts about an aria were constantly evolving and where a multitude of differences in interpretation could be found from one performance to another, Joan's version was set in stone. This is not meant to be a criticism of her, since her art is of the highest caliber imaginable.

[@SuperMelvyn]

Two stunning renditions, the second just a fraction more effortful and less shimmering but the trills still amazingly good and the coloratura still fluent and precise. But try Caballe too...

[@Shahrdad]

The problem with Caballe and this repertoire is that she never could trill. She could make a braying sort of facsimile or a trill, but no true trill, which Callas and Sutherland could do for days.

[@SuperMelvyn]

Yes, but let'snot miss what she COULD do, spinning lovely legato with sumptuous tone which could also go on for days!

[@Shahrdad]

True. My issue with her sometimes was that she would distort the music and ignore the markings in order to showcase her soft high pianissimos.

[@PrinceOberon87]

@@Shahrdad I hate when she did that

[@WilsonWatt-q2e]

The difference is the difference between a young woman first embracing her abilities and a mature woman who knows that this will not last forever. Interestingly, both of them are emotionally justifiable for the situation in the opera.

[@operaanimelover369]

To me, the version of the 1960's is the best one because her vocal clarity was far more evident and this decade along with the 1950's and the early 1970's were actually Sutherland's best years.

[@TheVaughan5]

Though still remarkable, the later performance is not as incredible as Joan in her prime in the early 60`s. Of course there is no soprano on earth today that can come anywhere near either such was the brilliance of this unique artist.

[@BellaFirenze]

The only one who comes close to these performances is Lisette Oropesa.

[@germanquintero10121946]

EXQUISITA

[@_UzTank_]

goood

[@BaroneVitellioScarpia1]

I prefer the 1962 recording.

[@diegotissini5977]

Eccezionale!! Meglio di così penso sia impossibile cantare. Di fatto però non si capisce una parola, anzi nemmeno una sillaba. Avrebbe potuto benissimo cantare anche in turco :-)

[@enthusedtosing9655]

Awesome, I must say though that the added stuff is beyound useless

[@kennethpiotrowski312]

As much as I admire her voice, in the later version she seems to be laboring and the swift lightness is gone.

[@gianerajohn436]

Beautiful vocalizes. Astonishing even. But who really knows what she is saying? She can produce a wonderful sound but she can’t dominate her instrument into diction and enunciation. That’s why she was a marvelous singer but not a marvelous artist.

[@bertoluccio]

I have never liked Sutherland. Her timbre is so unpleasant and the chest voice is so poor and insufficient. Preffer Caballe even her voice is not perfect, but rich and warm.

[@marr6920]

Caballe can't sing this role, she does not have a trill.

[@bosiewilder4945]

Poor Caballe really struggles with this.

[@marr6920]

+Bosie Wilder I wouldn't say struggle, but she never had a trill, so yeah...

[@yehweita]

Caballe doesn't really have Ds

[@horacioballint675]

TOTAL AGREE WITH YOU MR. PETER BAYTCHEV. Me too dosen't like that lady and YES I PREFER CABALLE TOO!

[@horacioballint675]

LA DIVINA CABALLE IS PERFECT IN THAT CABALETTA.. I don't like this lady from Melbourne... bluhhhhhhh!.... Viva La Callas, La Caballe e La Zeani.. the true divas of the opera!

[@donatolicia3107]

ma statt cett

[@donatolicia3107]

grande dame sutherland

[@williammaddox3339]

Who is from Melbourne? Melba? A singer who was a level or two above Caballe. Sutherland was in another level from Caballe and Melba; she was from Sydney.

[@violasofianisio3539]

Va è questa è una cazzata

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

Horacio Ballint She is from Sydney