O beau pays - Joan Sutherland 1981

From the George London tribute concert in 1981 hosted by Beverly Sills.

[@nathandavis3002]

She was in spectacular form on this occasion! She sounds (and looks) many years younger than she actually was at this stage. One of her best performances from the 80s. The interview is adorable, thank you for including it.

[@photo161]

Yes, as you suggest, JS's voice is beautifully lined up here. and the upper register's pianos are floating out with an especially exquisite luminosity. I believe that if this brief arietta were all that survived of her singing she would still be accounted as one of the greatest singers of all time, so impressive do I find this lovely performance. La Stupenda indeed! And yes, the two "girls" were so charming together...

[@roberthead2408]

She is so Australian and I love it, “I’m going to have a bash”!

[@baritonebynight]

Very rare to see these two greats together. Sills had recently retired from the stage and Dame Joan would go on another nine years. Very different voices, very different kinds of singers...both were great in their own ways. Can't compare the two no matter how many want to.

[@lastupendajoansutherland]

Well said!

[@wotan10950]

Absolutely correct! I saw both of them many many times, sometimes in the same role, obviously at different times. They were remarkably different, equally valid, and as Thomas Schippers once said, "We're very lucky to have two extraordinary sopranos at the same time singing this incredibly difficult repertoire."

[@vanmusician]

Her superb accompanist is Eugene Kohn, who was an asst. conductor at the Met. He conducted Faust for Edmonton Opera when I was chorusmaster there. He was also accompanist for Callas' master classes at Julliard.

[@sydneyr.cauveren7857]

When it comes to dear Dame Joan, new superlatives are hard to find.

[@domi2020]

What a wonderful human being… so humble and thankful, will give anything to hear her first Donna Anna with George London!

[@brunoantony3218]

Joan Sutherland looks so radiant and rested here. The voice is incandescent as usual. She’s my fave of them all but I’ve always gotten a lot of pleasure from Beverly Sills especially her Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux and Anna Bolena, I keep both on my phone.

[@hester1955]

Sutherland wonderful as always - and an exceptional accompanist.

[@delosmike2030]

Sutherland is in startling voice here. I am blown away by the magnificent playing of Eugene Kohn - he transcends the piano reduction and really gives Dame Joan an orchestral backing and with excellent tempi at every point, especially setting up the final section. Crisp, electric playing. You can tell how pleased she is by how quickly she takes a bow and then RUSHES over to him to have him join her.

[@acitipo]

Ah La Estupenda!!!! La voz más hermosa de la lírica!!

[@katimwong2623]

9 years later Joan farewell to the operatic stage with the same role. Amazing voice and technique!

[@davidallen508]

This is stunning ; beyond glorious ! Dame Joan looking beautiful and sounding sublime.Heartfelt thanks for this posting. 💕

[@ahogbin2644]

Thanks so much for posting the entire clip. I had never seen the preceding interview. I heard her sing this aria at a Covent Garden concert in 1981. Quite spectacular.

[@joshuamcpherson007]

Thank you so much for this post! How amazing to see these two together, and obviously very friendly with one another. Sutherland's performance of this very difficult piece is astonishing, especially so considering she was nine years from the end of her career.

[@chrisfinlay3274]

astonishing!

[@operasingersstorehouse5311]

I’ve never thought I’d see them together. And on such good terms! As most of their repertoire matched (not always justly so, if I may) I had always thought they were sort of rivals. Great document, thanks!

[@wotan10950]

Both ladies took pains in their respective autobiographies to say that the rivalry was in the mind of the critics and some members of the public. Bonynge said in his recent picture book that they were on quite friendly terms. It's true that some of the repertoire matched, but each had big successes in roles that were NOT shared (Sutherland-Esclarmonde, Sonnambula; Sills-Baby Doe, Manon, Devereux).

[@andreagazza7611]

Due IMMENSE ARTISTE due Straordinarie BEL CANTISTE ❤️

[@jondavwal13]

She sounds incredible for 1981. Like she turned back the clock for one day.

[@lastupendaboy]

She sounded like this, better until the late 80s…

[@cadoh8143]

Fantástico. Não havia visto ainda ela contando a história com G. London.

[@BicicletaCaminito-ul7ul]

Una maravilla , opinion mia la mas grande de las sopranos que oi .

[@crazyorganist1609]

She was so humble. Obviously good friends with Sills. She sounds radiant

[@baritonebynight]

They were friendly but never good friends. Dame Joan and Ms. Horne were good friends however.

[@joshuamcpherson007]

@@baritonebynight Sutherland's dearest operatic friend was Renata Tebaldi. She had few opportunities to cultivate more with Bubbles, mainly it was geography and busy schedules.

[@sutherland9]

@@joshuamcpherson007 I believe that Sutherland's dearest operatic friend was Margreta Elkins who lived downstairs when Joan & Richard Bonynge lived in Cornwall Gardens in London. They also sang together very often. Sutherland was also very close with Marilyn Horne. I don't think that Sutherland and Renata Tebaldi saw each other very often; Sutherland did not spend much time in Italy after the mid-1960s. There is nothing in Sutherland's autobiography to make me think she and Tebaldi were close friends

[@joshuamcpherson007]

@@sutherland9 Sutherland stated that Renata was her "dearest operatic friend". I would have assumed Elkins, who Joan had known since her early days in Australia, or maybe Horne, but that's not what she said. Sutherland blowing multiple kissing in the direction of Renata following a concert performance says a lot. Les Avants, Switzerland, was the Bonynge's primary home later in their careers. Obviously Switzerland shares a border with Italy, so visits by car, or train, would not be a problem.

[@johnpickford4222]

Hydreigion: Of course La Stupenda is friendly with Beverly Sills: Sills retired and Sutherland would go on singing another 9 years. I doubt that Sutherland did this, but she might have had a chart with all of her contemporaries and when, like Sills, they retired, posted their name with “And another one down!”

[@rugby8-Philadelphia]

Thank you so much for posting this! I saw her in concert in April 1981 and she sang this - with Richard at the piano 😎😎😎

[@nwdixieboy]

Of course she was marvelous with this on The Art of the Prima Donna in 61 but I like the piece better with her much bigger/ fuller voice here in her 50's. I can't imagine anyone other than early Callas doing this as well as Joan did.

[@Eiswirth1]

No one else ever did do it as well.

[@MiguelArcangel-zi7xd]

Su voz es única, NADIE, se comparó en belleza.

[@BellaFirenze]

On Nov. 4, 1981, a few friends of George London gathered at the Kennedy Center to pay tribute to the great bass-baritone, who has been seriously ill since 1977, and to raise funds for his medical expenses. It may have been the greatest array of operatic talent ever assembled on a single stage: not only such singers as Nicolai Gedda, Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, James King, James McCracken, Tatiana Troyanos, Shirley Verrett, Justino Diaz and Ruth Welting, but also conductors Julius Rudel and Mstislav Rostropovich, who played piano accompaniment on this occasion, and singer turned impresario Beverly Sills, who was the ideal hostess. But most of the evening comes across as remembered from the live experience, and the high points of the program remain high points. Besides Gedda's and Stilwell's performances, they include James King singing the "Prayer" from Wagner's "Rienzi," McCracken singing "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot," Carol Neblett singing "L'altra notte" from Boito's "Mefistofele," and other arias sung by Ruth Welting, Rockwell Blake, Tatiana Troyanos and Justino Diaz. Besides being a tribute to a great singer, this evening showed the camaraderie and professional respect that great singers can have for one another. It was a superb antidote to stories of conflict and temperament that are not untrue but less than the whole truth. Ultimately, it is impossible to pick favorites in an evening whose least pleasant moments (probably the flattened high notes of Leonie Rysanek in "Dich teure Halle") are still endearing in their faded glory. Here is Beverly Sills performing the aria. Carnegie Hall: 5/14/69. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6G7e6qtn6xmadk