Joan Sutherland's Mad Scene from Lucia Di Lammermoor (MET, 1961) [Remastered Sound]

Joan Sutherland's first MET broadcast some days after her MET debut on November 1961! I have personally remastered the sound!! Hope to enjoy!! I kept the whole commentary by Milton Cross!! A Historic night!!

[@IheartKISS]

i would've been shaking, screaming, crying and sobbing my eyes out hysterically with tears of joy, happiness and gratitude while listening to the audience's explosive response and taking lots of curtain calls and hugging all the of the cast.

[@barrymalkin4404]

How wonderful to hear the beautiful speaking voice of Milton Cross. His precise and enthusiastic commentary breaks the 62 year time barrier and makes you feel you're right there in the Old Metropolitan Opera House enjoying this historical broadcast. Rest in power Mr. Cross and La Stupenda.

[@sydneyr.cauveren7857]

Dame Joan remains the unequalled phenomenon for all time. If she's not the greatest coloratura soprano that ever walked the planet, name one better (because you simply cannot!)

[@MrMin316]

Love your comment,but she was dramatic coloratura soprano. And yes she was the greatest.

[@danielbonning]

How wonderful 🌹❤

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

This was great. She really was PERFECTION. I loved hearing the commentary during the applause...

[@paolopecchioli9793]

Insuperabile❤😊

[@delosmike2030]

This is Sutherland's 3rd Met performance. The audience simply can't BELIEVE the perfection they're hearing. Perfectly even scale over 2 1/2 octaves, huge volume, a perfect trill, coloratura technique second to no one on the planet and committed acting, thanks to her Zeffirelli staging from London. Except for a handful of performances by Callas, LUCIA was owned by light sopranos at the Met - Pons, Peters and Mattiwilda Dobbs. What must this 1961 audience have felt when the Sextette was capped by Sutherland's stentorian top note, not mention the astonishing vocalism in the Mad Scene? Incidentally, days before this broadcast, Sutherland sang a concert version of SONNAMBULA at Carnegie Hall!

[@aliciarealp]

¡¡Insuperable "La Stupenda"! ¡Muchas gracias!

[@saralagojimenez7258]

MI DIVA.

[@MrMin316]

How to crush underfoot all the sopranos that came before and after in one fell swoop. ❤️La Stupenda! And the ovations…😲

[@annettefallon1652]

Anna Moffo was said to have been in awe of Sutherland's supreme vocalism after she heard this Lucia!

[@fabriziogarzi9892]

Beh...prima lo ha fatto la Callas e molto bene.

[@jaykauffman4775]

Better than the commercial recording of the same year. More involved and better diction

[@richardholmesmusic2128]

I agree, but the difference the diction was the ridiculous practice at Decca in the 60s of recording voices (at least BIG voices) as if they were behind the orchestra. It’s like listening for diction in a huge cathedral.

[@jaykauffman4775]

@@richardholmesmusic2128 then why is the diction of other singers in the recordings just fine. In her awful first Gilda for Decca there are hardly any consonants at all and she consistently sings behind the beat. You can’t blame that on the acoustics

[@mariocarfora5814]

❤️❤️❤️

[@aetion]

Ήταν ένας από τους καλύτερούς της ρόλους! Ευχαριστώ, φίλε μου.

[@blessOTMA]

They had waited nearly two years to hear her and nothing receives adulation like a promise more than fulfilled.

[@blessOTMA]

It's incredible, but the Met used a decades old production for Joan's debut! Even though by that time she had blazed a trail of glory around the world. Joan ,of course, rose far above such nonsense. Creaking floor boards could not detract from her stunning performance.