SHRILL THIN TOP NOTES??? I don't think so!

"The Head Voice, when its value is properly appreciated, is the most valuable possession of all singers. It should not be treated as a Cinderella, or as a last resort - as if often done too late and so without results, because too much time is needed to regain it, when once lost, - but should be cherished and cutivated as a guardian angel and guide, like no other. Without its aid all voices (voice registers) lack brilliancy and carrying power; they are like a head without brain. Only by constantly summoning it to the aid of all other registers is the singer able to keep his voice fresh and youthful. Only by a careful application of it do we gain that power of endurance which enable us to meet the most fatiguing demands. By it alone can we effect a complete equalization of the whole compass of all voices, and extend that compass. This is the great secret of those singers who keep their voices young till they reach an advanced age."
LEHMANN, Lilli, ALDRICH, Richard, How to Sing, Macmillan, 1914

[@nornsnornsnorns]

In the theatre, the physical sensation of Joan's top notes was almost overwhelming. Unparalleled brilliance

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

Thanks for reminding us!😊

[@PhilipKoch-i3o]

I went to get Sutherland's autograph on her book. At the Met. . When I reached the area to stand in front of Joan Sutherland, I almost cried. I think I did cry. I was looking at the voice of God

[@stevensmall6043]

In person her high notes were like a javelin hurl that pinned you to your seat. The High D in her Norma trio with Pavvorotti and Horne at Lincoln Center left me unable to speak.

[@wilsonwatt9283]

I heard Sutherland in many roles from 1968 to 1988 and never heard a "shrill or thin" high note. Her voice may sound so on live pirated recordings from the house but in person her voice completely filled and warmed the house. This is much like Nilsson, who always sounded warmer and rounder when heard live and who remarked often on this inability of recording to capture truly enormous voices like hers and Suitherland 's

[@Hako2004]

I know this, nobody who actually HEARD Sutherland's top notes make negative comments about them. In her prime, the size of her top was twice that of other high sopranos. Recordings can't do them justice.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

You are RIGHT!

[@CaptFitzbattleaxe]

There are some live recordings that are recorded with distant sound, but when Joan popped a top note, it feels like the entire theater fills with sound.

[@Zva26]

Despite her fabulous florid technique all the way up to high E natural, Joan Sutherland was actually a Dramatic soprano with the ability to negotiate coloratura. It was a huge voice and it enabled her (if she wished) to sing roles like Tosca and Turandot (which she recorded with great success). In her prime, she was THE BOMB!

[@jimbuxton2187]

Dramatic Coloratura. The high notes have a lift and a sparkle that a dramatic soprano doesn't possess

[@rosslarkin6742]

While our beloved Dame Joan was renowned for her divine high Eb, it appears to me based on the performances I have heard that the high Db was her primary bread and butter note. And this was particularly true as she entered the twilight of her career and those Eb's became more rare. But I cannot find reason to quibble over this as those final Db's and D's (even as late as 1989 from what I have found) were spectacular nonetheless. Her final Lucrezia Borgia in Paris back in 1989 ended on a high Db that could probably be heard from one of the dwarf planets in the asteroid belt.

[@robertmwoodley1502]

The final D was still there in 1990 in Sydney at her last complete performance, the Queen in Les Huguenots.

[@lucasitzia4871]

LOVE HER!

[@Shahrdad]

Sutherland's top register was unique, especially in the extreme top. It was as if she had stumbled upon a "fourth" register which resonated somewhere different form the rest of her voice. She often said that on the highest notes, she felt as if the sound was resonating and emanating from the back of her head. She also told the story of a recording session when the chorus was behind her, and one of the chorus members told her, "When you hit those high notes, it's as if you're singing backwards." If there was a part of her voice that was weak and colorless, it was her low register. The high notes were her glory.

[@rosslarkin6742]

I know exactly what you mean. I feel like the "fourth register" you mentioned starts at notes above high C. So Db6 and above seem to resonate a bit differently through the top and back of the head as she described.

[@robertmwoodley1502]

Com pared to the coloratura sopranos, especially of today, Sutherland's lower register was full and powerful. She sings Turandot on the recording better than many who sing it on stage, her lower register in Norma was amazing and her Esc;armonde is almost Wagnerian.

[@Shahrdad]

@@robertmwoodley1502 She actually sang, rather than scream, Turandot. The chest register was always her weakest part of the voice, but as you say, better than most today.

[@wotan10950]

I saw her onstage many times - at the Met, and also at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Kleinhans Hall in Buffalo. Even toward the end of her career, the agility and high notes never failed her. The voice was rich and warm. If she had any demerits, it was her diction and her memory of the words. And in one recital, she was apparently tired and went flat on a high note. But these errors were very rare; 99% of her singing was legendary.

[@Steinweg9]

November 1985, Anna Bolena, Chicago. Sutherland, Toczyska, Merritt, Plishka, Zilio, Bonynge. I heard the opening night broadcast on the radio, attended a performance with friends, and went again alone to hear the opera a third time. That evening, her top D at the conclusion of the Act 1 finale was unlike anything I was ever to hear in 30 years of operagoing and another 20 years of listening. The note began as a soft, very finely spun stream, like a weightless silk scarf turned to sound, perfectly placed. As it was held it became firm and increased in body and volume. It had landed on point, and she tremendously enjoyed sustaining the note until it morphed into a big, black spinning tornado before she released it. In 38 years I've never forgotten that feat, and I'm still in disbelief. That performance was not recorded. She projected that proper English auntie persona by day, with her Victorian taste and styling, but when she got onstage at night, the sound of music could turn her into an animal. She could thrill like no other, let no one tell you otherwise. Born November 7, she transmuted her intensely sexual Scorpio energy into music - and into buckets of money to boot!

[@gustavotbf]

Stupenda!!!

[@machovoce6826]

I've said this before, and will again: Her flawless technique was unparalleled, her top notes were miraculous in their size, opulence and beauty, but it was the glorious middle voice and her ability to use it to express perfect legato that made her the prima donna assoluta del mondo.

[@magicmonkichi]

Well what can be said...epic!...luv the Borgia clip at 1:30, you can hear Kraus tryin to keep up hehehehehe.

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

No one explains properly why her chest vibrates so much while the note should be concentrated on head. Perhaps, the head tone is mixed with chest resonance, what occurs more often in tenors voice.

[@hannahrubinstein63]

Vini Soaris The chest voice has nothing to do with the physical chest area. Chest voice is the sound created by the thyroarytenoid muscles, which are the main body of the vocal cords. That’s why it’s the most important part of the voice to develop, otherwise you aren’t even using most of your vocal cords’ surface when singing if you don’t have developed chest voice. Her chest here is moving down because she is exhaling. Tenors don’t do that at all, they sing in pure chest voice all the way up and they cover the sound as they get closer to the passaggio but they don’t sing above the passaggio too like women do.

[@magicmonkichi]

@@JoanSutherlandFan in an interivew with Horne she said something to the likes of "the body is a plinth, you use it to make the sound", which I think (as a flutist) is true, you use every part of of your body to make certain sounds.

[@magicmonkichi]

@@JoanSutherlandFan Also, I've noticed her chest pulsing on high notes at times. Which sometimes to me looks like the pulsing is at the same rhythm as her vibrato. The placement of the high notes are usually "comes out the back of the top of the head'' As Dame Joan once put it. But the source of the vibrato is much lower than that. Just a thought.

[@valentinovega5804]

Her high notes are light bright but resonant and powerful

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

I cannot think of another singer with high notes that are less shrill than Joanie's! Some people, of course, don't like high notes. That is a question of personal taste and such people would prefer mezzos or contraltos, but saying you prefer Ebe Stignani or Marilyn Horne to Joanie, though a legitimate expression of personal taste, is one thing, but to accuse Joanie of shrillness is over and above and beyond ludicrous. Thank you for this video! (I am way behind but I could not delay hearing this!)

[@Situnadei]

AMAZING !

[@eddyjohn1022]

Wonderful Cream laden round wonderful sound

[@Tenortalker]

Comments are often made on you tube by folks with a very limited knowledge of or experience of hearing live the singers they criticize . They should be ignored. Joan Sutherland was a stunning singer with a great technique that she worked on tirelessly throughout her career. The idea of her high notes being thin in anyway is just nonsense. Her voice darkened naturally as the years went by, but her high notes were still beautiful.

[@Knappa22]

I knew a woman who sang in the chorus in Covent Garden and she said that Sutherland’s voice was a phenomenon. It seemed to come out of the walls and engulfed everyone.

[@pauliberg3492]

divine , overwhelming , what a voice.

[@highbaritone]

Ha. Aren’t people amazing. Probably the best top notes ever. Bing said “her top notes drove the audience wild” I guess they just all loved shrilled top notes. No wonder she had such a short career and sold no recordings. ❤️

[@agnieszkakruszyna4625]

BUT she only sing these crazy high notes to show off! Totally unlike Mario Del Monaco, listen to his Vittoria from Tosca - dramatic expression was obviously most important for him! 😉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppSxk2x-oa-gqaM

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

I liked your irony, kkk

[@agnieszkakruszyna4625]

@@JoanSutherlandFan You don't see how great actor was Del Monaco? In Carmen finale he was deeply moving, especially in 2:04! 😂 m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZfYh6OsrNiHh6s And Joan was wooden, totally not even close to his mastery! 😛

[@agnieszkakruszyna4625]

@@tinibari456 Yes, he has strong voice... and only that. Where is music?

[@Tkimba2]

@@agnieszkakruszyna4625 in MDM, usually, nowhere to be found

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

I loved this post Vinicius!

[@deaded5040]

Random note: i always found it adorable how she curled her bottom lip for all her high notes🥰 its unique only to her. I've never seen it before or since

[@gustavotbf]

Golpe baixo, Vinícius! Tentaram destruir a imagem da Joan com estilingue e você vem com essa bazuca em forma de vídeo! Sensacional

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

Já estou me preparando para ler comentários contrários ao que se é óbvio, kkk

[@kennethvarner7694]

Saw her in 4 live performances in the 70’s-80’s❤

[@子建李-i5p]

Can her live voice fill the Metropolitan Opera？

[@agnieszkakruszyna4625]

Oh YES! Thank you! 😁 And you quote REAL VOCAL EXPERT, no blog of anonymous "vocal guru"! 😎

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

Yes, those gurus are doing a disservice disseminating bad singing costumes as 'coup de glotte', break of registers, pushed chest voice, chest on high tessitures as if it were correct or even healthy. And the persons believes, not so good.

[@agnieszkakruszyna4625]

@@JoanSutherlandFan Yes, it's the worst thing that people really belive them. If they kept their ridiculous theories only for themeselves, it would not be a problem, many idiots exist in this world, but they influence people who can even destroy their voices because of this nonsense. It's sad.

[@1UShawn]

@@agnieszkakruszyna4625 And you sing better XD XD haha, I can wait to hear you all :)

[@agnieszkakruszyna4625]

@@1UShawn You also here? Go back to your Mister's shit. And I am totally sure that your beloved Jeremy can sing better than Joan 😂

[@1UShawn]

@@agnieszkakruszyna4625 You are right :) he can... I still can wait to hear YOU sing :P

[@jesusmunoz2400]

La stupenda era maravillosa.

[@peterdevita6308]

The best ever - Love you Dame Joan

[@delibeslakme6451]

Sus agudos y sobre agudos, son los mas bellos que han existido, la perfeccion de la emision, denota una tecnica unica.

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

Well, it seems that the user "Anna-Maria" deleted her comment. It seemed to me that it was due to our disagreement in some respects, but as she herself was able to clarify (read below), her reasons are recorded.

[@Tkimba2]

@Anna-Maria I agree with you on this. We're talking about opera and singing... Some people are taking this too seriously to the point of becoming obsessed

[@hannahrubinstein63]

Anna-Maria I’ve seen what happened from the start and I support you 100%. Some people are nasty. The uploader shouldn’t have commented about your decision to remove your comment without knowing the context.

[@Tkimba2]

@@hannahrubinstein63 may I add that I like Mr Opera s channel and I think he is doing good to young students... But you can find sociopathic people there too. I've been called an idiot by a singer's fan just because I said that singer was flat(I insulted no one, not even the singer) ... A comment to which Mr Opera put a heart on. That was a bit disappointing.

[@hannahrubinstein63]

@@Tkimba2 I agree that this isn't nice at all. But still it's nothing compared to what this person does. I don't know if you have a facebook account but if you can see what she is writing on Silver's page or the screenshot of her comment that Mister Opera uploaded and his page you will understand the level of nastiness. Silver has some wonderful advanced students, especially that soprano who sings the aria from ballo in maschera, and she wrote some really irrational things about her. Thankfully the singer didn't even respond to her, and I hope she didn't even see these nasty comments.

[@Tkimba2]

@@hannahrubinstein63 unbelievable... I hope this stupidity ends soon. From what I've heard on his channel Mr Silver seems to be a good teacher indeed.

[@ygorcoelhos]

Honestly why are we even discussing this matter? It's like giving serious thought to the latest conspiracy theory fad or discussing the evidences of the latest ludicrous fake news. There is one thing that all critics (not all of them diehard fans of Sutherland) and audiences alike agreed upon: Sutherland had a huge and lush Hugh register and a large, opulent middle voice, particularly during her prime until the mid-late 70s. That is a fact attested multiple times by people who actually heard her live, and the recordings, despite their well known limitations, seem to confirm that most of the time, particularly her in house recordings. It is nonsense to keep talking about something that only the deranged "know all" nonentities of KZbin and the like insist on. Don't feed the trolls and don't take the stupid seriously. Lol

[@baritonebynight]

Nobody who is a singer or who knows singing believes that Dame Joan was anything but a superhuman singing beast!

[@djk1591]

amazing

[@eloyguevara9447]

la voz de la grandisima joan sutherland................................es indescriptible.................alucinante...........esa majestad.............imponente..............arrolladora.....................que eriza los pelos.................

[@iainmawhinney8867]

2:26 look what they need just to mimic a fraction of her power!

[@adelaidekeys5244]

How does she get her high notes so loud, though?! Once I get to C6#-E6, my voice thins out. Will it get louder over time?

[@joaocampelo3725]

Shaaaade 😂😂😂

[@miguelsalinas4143]

Sin Fuda la Mejor Doprano del Mundo!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@onigbajamo]

I can understand why people might think them shrill and thin though they are not.

[@shannonlewis8906]

Who accused them of being shrill to begin with?

[@mimilovelly8843]

More like thin in low and middle note

[@krowapaulinka4351]

Callas who?

[@natanaelgorrin9473]

Callas es la más importante y grande cantante lírica del siglo XX y la Stupenda lo reconocía.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Callas. The greatest soprano who ever lived.

[@eloyguevara9447]

@@natanaelgorrin9473 y callas reconocio que despues de oir a sutherland en directo.......jamas volveria a cantar...................las mismas operas........y mas tarde tampoco....................

[@marcelbureau2753]

Whoever said that was absolutely right !!! Of course the voice was small, thin and underdeveloped throughout the register from bottom to top because she had no chest voice at all. Chest voice is the fondation of vocal technique, without it, everything falls apart. We must not confuse loud noise that fills a big hall with good singing. Having no chest voice explained also her bad diction, no pure vowels (all the same awooawou all the time) and no articulation (no consonants). Simply unbearable!

[@gustavotbf]

Stupenda!!!