Joan Sutherland at Covent Garden - Midnight Gala - in aid for Darwin appeal fund -25 January 1975

[@alanhadley1286]

This is sheer vocal mastery. The brilliance of DJS voice is breathtaking. There isn’t a singer on the operatic stage today who could deliver such a vocally secure and thrilling performance. She has no equal.

[@jeffreymiller4814]

Wow! Mezzo-soprano Margreta Elkins singing the high-lying soprano part of the Lombardi trio quite successfully! Of course Mr. Bonynge kept the tempo moving.

[@delosmike2030]

Love how she supports that final Db straight down through the floor and it just seems to come from all around her. Stunning. For those who never heard her live, those high notes had a visceral impact on the listener. The inner inner ear would be set buzzing and one couldn't help but roar approval. I liken it to seeing a huge chunk of ice falling off a glacier - you just stand there awestruck and then have to go, "OMG!!!!" The only other female singer I heard like that was Nilsson.

[@ChrisStockslager]

LORD, I wish I could have seen her live! (Nilsson too) I imagine Flagstad had a similar "surround sound" effect - though obviously she didn't have the top notes of Nilsson, let alone Joan.

[@wotan10950]

I saw her quite a few times in New York, as well as recitals in Brooklyn and Buffalo, of all places. Her voice was unique in the sense that it got more brilliant the higher it went.

[@michaeltortora8563]

The Sutherland Live Sound was thrilling. I was fortunate to have seen her in many operas at The Met & Carnegie Hall. Carnegie Hall: Semiramide Orfeo Ed Eurydice (Haydn) Met Opera: Lucia Traviata Sonnambula Fille Du Regiment Esclarmonde Norma Don Giovanni Rigoletto

[@ahogbin2644]

Lucky you. I heard her at Covent Garden from 1980 in Lucrezia Borgia, Trovatore, Esclarmonde, Lucia and Anna Bolena as well as some concerts and her farewell to the Paris Opera. The sound was unique and seemed to envelope one. Her superb musicianship is still underrated though I think.

[@wotan10950]

@@ahogbin2644I saw her onstage from 1973 to 1987. But I’m not sure people underestimated her musicianship. The biggest complaint I heard back then - and still today - was the accusation that she didn’t portray any drama, especially compared to you-know-who! IMO, Sutherland was as dramatic as necessary, and you-know-who overreacted to compensate for a tattered voice.

[@wotan10950]

I think Dame Joan was prepared to spend the entire Christmas holiday up on that high note! Btw, the concertmaster sitting behind her, Erich Gruenberg, had quite a noted career himself.

[@BellaFirenze]

An acephalic nincompoop (@marcelbureau2753) wrote disparaging comments about Joan Sutherland's diction and "skipping notes." A ridiculous assertion from someone who, apparently, knows nothing about singing or the Italian language. As an Italian, I understand every word she sings. As a musician, I do not hear any notes she skips. Dame Joan Sutherland was in great voice and so were her colleagues.

[@AndreSchaap-tz1uq]

Ah, you are from Firenze ? I hope to be in Firenze on May 5 for the Maggio Musicale with Gatti. Are you in for a drink ? André🍸

[@brunoantony3218]

What you’re all here for: 13:17

[@marcelbureau2753]

Yes her vocalizing was superb and impressive! BUT singing is not only a musical instrument… there are words. Really incredible that she could make such a career skipping the words all together. All vowels are approximative and indistinguishable and the consonants, inexistent.

[@Twisterjoe]

It must feel so good to you to go to museums and look at Monet and complain to the curators that the water lilies don't seem to be very clearly painted.

[@walteranibal8425]

Montserrat Caballe cannot be understood at all in any of the languages she sings, and the vowels are all OOO, with the difference that Caballe singing is full of tricks and false notes, while Sutherland has no falsetto or tricks

[@nostoon4332]

Fix your ears. I can understand every word.

[@williammaddox3339]

Actually her diction is good in this performance.

[@marcelbureau2753]

Listen carefully from 38:42 for one minute: excellent operatic singing, the voice is free and the diction is perfect, the voice is well developed from top to bottom with rich and full low notes. The next minute following …. well this is Sutherland …