Dame Joan Sutherland sings Stuarda's Finale with interpolated high notes and End Eb6

[@heesimv]

She infected me!😱😂 I went to the opera as a child sometimes, so my parents knew.... and bought a ticket for „Lucia“ for me. (With Kraus!) I was shocked when she started singing and looked around in the audience to find out of there were speakers - it was such a „thick“ sound, so rich and pure - too sweet maybe (?), but always with a very big expression, less „theatre in the voice“ (Caballé loves this) - I understand the critics, but „live“ it was never boring! One of the most exciting voices ever for me. She did Cleopatra too in Hamburg - spectacular and much more „decorative“. But her Lucia was unique singing. Later all others tried this in Hamburg - Moser, Ghazarian, Deutekom, Scovotti, Koszut, Scotto etc. .... And H. Uhrmacher (with Pavarotti), there’s a clip on KZbin. Sorry, I write too much!😂

[@heesimv]

In case somebody wants to hear that: => Hildegard Uhrmacher Lucia

[@Twisterjoe]

Theater in the Voice- yes. As you say her instrument was rich and sweet, as if it were an Elizabeth Taylor in every role. She had to find ways to make the beauty sound reasonable. She couldn't become a less beautiful voice just because of a setting. Many people seem unable to conceive of human emotions in their archetypal form as if carved in marble, but Michaelangelo and Bernini knew exactly how to do it, and no one ever accused them of being less emotionally sincere because they portrayed human experience carved beautifully in marble. So many people today seem to think that it is better acting to take an archetypal character and make it so personal that it no longer appears to be even equal to the medium of the opera. I once showed a student a modern performance of a scene from Norma contrasted with Caballe, and instead of accusing Caballe of bad acting for standing still and singing, and praising the "acting" of the modern Norma, she said that the modern woman looked like the kind of person "that sort of thing happened to", while Caballe was the kind of person it shouldn't have happened to. SO who portrayed the more accurate Norma? My student, new to opera, understood immediately that there was no tragedy or story of worth unless Norma was a noble creature caught in circumstances and betrayals.

[@davidgordon8313]

Dame Joan's talent was incomparable. Her like will never be heard again.

[@musicloversingable]

Beyond compare. Beautiful, spectacular, and exciting. One of the very best there has ever been.

[@DSR299]

For me, this is the finest interpretation (and interpolation) of the finale aria of Maria Stuarda. When Dame Sutherland sings both high D's at this time, they are as clear and un-strained as a soprano can get when singing these very high notes. I often imagine what Donizetti himself would have thought upon hearing a recording like this. I'm so glad to have found this sample.

[@4knuckle]

La Stupenda, indeed! My all-time favourite!

[@magicmonkichi]

So good, with or without the interpolated high note! With Dame Joan there was always a sense of security in the voice/technique.

[@LohengrinO]

more than one note

[@Twisterjoe]

That security is what I remember most about her singing in the theater. One could relax and hear the music instead of wondering if she would survive an aria by grabbing at a vine on her way over the cliff in one mighty heroic act of desperation (on the part of the singer, not the character).

[@blessOTMA]

Yours is an astute observation. Because one can rest in the beauty and power of that voice, we can soar with it.

[@paulinereid5226]

Such beautiful, pure, secure, effortless singing. No one like her. Singers nowadays cannot hold a candle - not even the better ones, like Netrebko and Garanca

[@UIdoc70]

Netrebko even on her best days, which are well in the past, will never be in the same stratosphere as La Stupenda

[@linnaeusshecut3959]

My god, that was in-house! I thought such interpolated high notes were done only on recordings.

[@cestmoi1262]

Dame Sutherland to me is the GREATEST.

[@octaviohernandez18]

Not only the finale..from the beginning to the end...ecstasy!

[@MariaBasilio-d4k]

Contemporânea de Maria Callas, Sutherland tinha também uma voz poderosa e profunda.Para mim, são as melhores!❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@elsaasta5164]

.... Beautiful Dame Joan Sutherland... Thank you dear Lohengrin0 💖💖💖Elsa

[@jeanmarcblanc2903]

Ici, comme souvent, elle est sublime.

[@gadenkrotis540]

Completely gorgeous ... spectacularly good!

[@nicolaus2010]

Maravilhosa la Sutherland

[@KathrynARyder]

She interpolated two high D naturals, not an Eb. But the Ds were stupendous!!!

[@LohengrinO]

I hear an Eb6 at the end though

[@SilfredoSerrano]

@@LohengrinODid you try with a piano? There is no way there can be an Eb as it would clash with the D.

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

One of the best I’ve heard of her in bel canto. It’s a D at the end.

[@fbbomber]

Meravigliosa dame joan❤❤❤

[@ygorcoelhos]

Very dramatic performance, indeed. She sings with an intensity that doesn't fall into the trap of self-pity and overt histrionics, because that isn't what Stuarda would've done there, it's a tragic, dramatic moment, but one which she wants to go through with dignity, pride and strength. Bonynge's conducting is also marvelous here (yes, it is). I really feel like a great fierce woman that could rival Elizabeth II is going to the scaffold, not some poor romantic heroine As much as I love Gencer, Caballé and Sills in this role for different reasons, Sutherland is the one that really convinces me as a regal and authoritative Scottish queen - though in that self-restrained, somewhat stiff and tough "British" way - , and I'm not sure if it's because her voice was per se darker and thicker, and the higher register so powerful, but she does sound like someone powerful, proud and ambitious (just listen to her "Nella pace del mesto riposo", no sweet Lucia there!) enough to make Elizabeth I fear her. The interpolated high notes here in my opinion are tasteful, they really did enhance the drama and didn't come off as just show off (which unfortunately I think Sills' ornaments and Caballé's extremely dragged long pianissimi sometimes sounded like).

[@LohengrinO]

I love this excerpt exactly because of the interpolated notes or the transposed upward phrase that accentuates Stuarda's agony

[@ryan.engstrom]

I will always love her. People who bash Dame Joan can eat my shorts! Now a question, how would she have been in Roberto Devereux? ;)

[@LohengrinO]

if by Devereux we mean that thing Gruberova sang dame Joan would have been Spectacular in it... about the real Devereux probably she did well for not singing it

[@vxhorusxv]

I think she would’ve been a terrible Queen in Deveraux. She never did anger well and Elizabeth I is such a complicated character with anger and bitterness flowing in so many directions that it just wouldn’t have suited DJS. Listen to her Turandot and Norma for all the evidence on that you need. It ultimately would’ve been too beautiful to be a true reflection of the character. And there are a couple of really vital dives into the chest that she almost certainly wouldn’t have done. And let’s not discuss Gruberova in that role either.

[@LohengrinO]

@@vxhorusxv I never discuss Sutherland interpretively... I meant vocally, no chest

[@arnoldamaral7406]

Lohengrin O Yes I agree. Dame Joan would have to be a Bi-polar high riding SOW & SHE was correct in not doing it unless she was outing R. B.🤑.OUR Dame Joan was too much of a lady to portray such a vindictive all kinds of crazy H have no fury like a woman scorned. LA Stupendas voice was too beautiful for the part. Sills voice was more suited for THE MEAN QUEEN. I JUST love Dame Joan in her prime what a voice 😍 . Thank you Theo per usual. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@antoniodifebio443]

Fantastica,x il pubblico d'oltreoceano e i parrucconi della Lirica

[@franckranaivo666]

❤🌿🌻🍋🧸🌼🇻🇦✝️🇻🇦🌼🦁✒📃📚🌿❤🌺💐🌸🤮⛑🌸😇🌼🇲🇬🫂🇲🇬✒📃📚💒🎶🪢🍋🦊🪅🌸🌼✒📃📚🧸🌻🌿🍋❤😊🍋🪢🇻🇦✝️🇻🇦🪢🍋🌸🌺💐🌻🌿🙋‍♂️

[@IuvenisMex]

I love Ms.Sutherland’s version! If I am not mistaken, Mariella Devia sang this too with the interpolation at the end too! And both are fantastic!!

[@LohengrinO]

I love Marala Davaa as well enormously

[@papaki88]

@@LohengrinO hahahaha 😍😍😍

[@NLidar]

@@LohengrinO Are u Coloraturafan? :D

[@NLidar]

@@LohengrinO Elena Moussaka :D

[@Zva26]

Not that it really matters. but it's a top D at the end. I've got an electronic digital piano (a Yamaha Clavinova) and it's always in tune. Also, the score indicates a top D as well. Still a magnificent piece of singing that dumbfounds the listener.

[@highbaritone]

I should stop reading comments when you post Sutherland. The haters come out in force. It’s sad for me , as I love the ones they love as well. I get all your points, and maybe I am a bit biased with Joan as it was another word I heard in the rehearsal room as a young student. But I also heard several other loved greats in the same time period. Each one had something the others came off second best. But they were all wonderful. God, I was lucky. Finding your channel is the icing on my cake. No matter what terrible things you say about them sometimes. 🙏🏼

[@LohengrinO]

ahahahahha I do worship them even when I mention their flaws... my aim is always to point out that when someone falls in love with a certain singer he finds her FLAWLESS... (that is happening right now with the Caballe fans so I have started all over again pointing out her endless flaws!) But I do worship them all as for the Holy Triad Callas, Sutherland, Caballe,,, what can anyone say other than that they will always be Immortals

[@highbaritone]

Dear Lohengrin, Thank you for responding to my slight overreaction. Ha! The real haters can't wait to hate. I'm sure many have emotional problems and I should let it go. Thank you again for the work you do. You bring a great deal of joy and knowledge to many people. I also enjoy the comments of some of your followers. Unfortunately, I was just too young to hear Callas anywhere near her best, but you have enriched my understanding of just how phenomenal she was. Thank you again. ❤️

[@jordipanadesribera6890]

Tota l’elegància i bon gust que mereix aquesta composició.

[@vxhorusxv]

Very rarely do I think of Dickie as an exciting conductor - “perfectly adequate” is often what I think of him - but this was beautifully conducted!

[@LohengrinO]

I think of him usually as entirely wrong not perfectly adequate... tempi wrong, transformation of fast bel canto passages to dancing pieces etc

[@NLidar]

@@theon9575 The same vocal coach who practically ruined the vocal legend that was early Sutherland by telling her to omit all chest voice or challenging passages so she could sing with a middle-voice wobble until she was 65? Please. He was the reason for some of her worst vocal and career choices.

[@arnoldamaral7406]

N. Lidar WORD GIRL FRIEND. SUCH A FREAK SHOW🤓 INDEED. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@LohengrinO]

@@NLidar not so sure he ruined her or allowed her to keep that phenomenal t op for all those years... probably the second... choices of life.... nevertheless I find the above excerpt Spectacular!!

[@NLidar]

@@LohengrinO Joan had moments that made my heart stop. This excerpt is one of them! The vocal production is like a bazooka, and that if she let a little more loose the audience would be deaf.

[@antaxerxes3138]

Sutherland is GOD

[@ygorcoelhos]

May I ask when and where did this performance take place? She's so great here, it'd be really amazing if you could eventually post the audio recording of the whole performance in your channel or something like that. ;-) Thank you very much in advance for any additional information about it!

[@LohengrinO]

I never post entire performances: 16/11/1971, San Franscisco

[@nathandavis3002]

Oh I wish she had done Roberto devereaux... She would have been so perfect as Elizabeth the first, what with her innately "queenly" style (plus the queen in that case who would be in the conductors podium :D) she said in interviews that she was offered it many times but didnt take it because she wanted to "avoid the bette Davis look"

[@LohengrinO]

well if by Devereux we mean the thing Gruberova sang dame Joan indeed would have been spectacular :D

[@nathandavis3002]

Oh certainly not... I mean the REAL devereaux

[@nathandavis3002]

If Madame sills could sing it, and to such acclaim, imagine what la stupenda could have done with it? Perhaps in the early 70s, as with THIS recording.

[@jmiller05]

@@nathandavis3002 I don't consider Sills' Devereux that referential tbh...

[@LohengrinO]

@@nathandavis3002 not sure yet Sills sang the accurate Devereux...that role is considered the most difficult Assoluta role which practically means lots if not tons of chest voice which neither Sutherland nor Sills ever had

[@azaefatal949]

This is high D, not Eb

[@eberlinpascal2837]

Ce n'est pas la voix que je préfère ,mais je reconnais en Sutherland une technique fabuleuse et dans ce rôle comme dans Lucrezia Borgia,Esclarmonde,et le Roi de Lahore ,elle est inégalable !

[@Bacchusmbt]

Mein Gott, I hope she didn't end on an Eb6, the final aria is in D major! Did Schoenberg compose that Maria Stuarda?? 😂😂

[@TitoManlioCerioli1373]

MERAVIGLIA insuperabile perfezione anche se il gusto delle interpolazioni a mio giudizio è eccessivo, comunque come al solito non si capisce una parola di wuello che dice purtroppo!

[@juanmorales569]

Lohengrin O I am blown away by this post. I find the high notes indeed spectacular and the interpolation incredibly dramatic. I however always have trouble with DJS's slightly (here) muffled diction. I believe you have commented previously the for you Caballe's Stuarda is the one you liked best. I'm interested in acquiring her Stuarda recording. Can you or one of your knowledgeable followers help me in deciding which of Caballe's Stuardas I should get; the one with Jose Carreras or the one with Shirley Verrett? and Thank you for teaching me to appreciate DJS's talent I've practically accepted it kicking and screaming but now I understand and I actually appreciate it as being beyond compare in its own class. Thanks again

[@LohengrinO]

dame Joan screaming? never in her entire life... even her loudest note could never be described as scream... I would buy definitely a Stuarda Caballe preferably before 1975 and also dame Janet Baker's with Rosalind Plowright... I would buy the two Filmed live performances that I have posted in my channel. Stuarda is a Centrale role, a famous Donizetti Centrale Role where 90% of notes lie in middle voice that is why Caballe was spectacular as Stuarda

[@juanmorales569]

@@LohengrinO No, no I'm the one kicking and screaming because I simply never liked her I found her comical looking and not believable as an actress. It is thanks to you that I've come to recognize her talent and left my stupid prejudices aside. Thank you once again

[@LohengrinO]

@@juanmorales569 she had the face of a Giant Marble Statue... very Imperial... and in her early years VERY beautiful in her unique way... she became funny when she tried to copy the dramatism of Callas onstage... one should never copy but try to find her personal truth, it is ALWAYS better than any copy that comes out awkward... dame Joan will live forever along with La Callas and Montsy and probably ALL the singers I post in my channel

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

Lohengrin O haha you’ve become rather kinder about her over the years!

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

Juan Morales the best Baker stuarda is a live recording with Veesey as Elizabeth. It was released on CD and is sensational. (Shameless self promotion: I have clips on my channel)

[@micaelklein1799]

Pourquoi je n'accroche jamais avec Dame Sutherland. C est tellement mécanique, parfait certes mais sans surprise et sans variété de tons, de couleur....belle technique c est tout.

[@ygorcoelhos]

Lots of people have been thrilled and moved by performances of hers like this one. Maybe you are just one of those who think "drama" is singing a Bel Canto Scottish queen as if she were some Santuzza or Elektra doing some antics. lol

[@purtigodo]

Santuzza di Lammermoor

[@gabrielefontana908]

Insuperabile!! IMPAREGGIABILE

[@felipe711]

*El gran problema de Sutherland fue poner notas y coloraturas donde no había.*

[@ygorcoelhos]

Wow do you really think so? Then you must find listening to Sills, Gruberova, Devia and Deutekom almost unbearable, my friend... lol Sutherland was pretty tame compared to all those.

[@LohengrinO]

Sills Sills... Gagnon was practically re-writing the operas for her :D

[@franckranaivo666]

❤🪢🌼🌸🌺💐🌻🌿🇻🇦✝️🇻🇦🌿💐🌻🌺🌸🍋🪢✒📃📚💒🎶🦊🌼🪅⛑🍋🌸🪢📃🇲🇬🫂🇲🇬💒🎶🎨🇻🇦🦁🦊🌻🌿💐❤😊🍋🌺🌸💐🌻🌿🌼💒🎶❤😊🌻🌿🌸🙋‍♂️