Joan Sutherland Great Singing at 60! (Il Trovatore, 1987)

Act 4
00:00 D'amor sull'ali rosee;
06:48 Miserere d'un'alma già vicina;
11:42 Tu vedrai che amore in terra.
Live in New York
December, 1987

[@marcallen4532]

Past her prime she was better than most! Amazing!

[@user-gt7xs1fc6g]

Her continued willingness to push her interpretations further using her slightly changing vocal resources was marvelous. I saw her the year before this series of performances at the Chicago Lyric in "Anna Bolena" and she brought the house down with the power of her performance both vocally and emotionally.

[@claesrobertnyman]

The Voice of the Century, no doubt!

[@aprendizercomygor]

This is one of the best performance of her late career and by all means one of the most beautiful interpretations of Leonora at least in the last 40 years! It is a huge feat of Sutherland's that her singing in its twillight was just as amazing as the singing of some of the best sopranos of the century (just not her former unbelievable self).

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

I agree with you!

[@Sam_Lee_]

One of those most precious moments in the history of music. I consider it such a privilege that I lived during this time when great opera was revered as it should be.

[@wotan10950]

I saw both Sutherland and Pav many times, but not together, other than this Trovatore. Her last two operas in New York were Puritani and Trovatore. Her singing was still quite amazing (and the NYTimes critic, Harold Schonberg, said that the Act IV aria brought back memories of the young Sutherland). At the Puritani performance, everyone thought she'd transpose the high variations and notes down. She did avoid E-flats, but everything else was still there, and of course the public went nuts! The Trovatore performance I saw was also amazing, and I think she was more comfortable because it requires more cantabile singing than coloratura. She was quoted at the time as saying, "Dearie, I'd be just as happy to dispense with all the agility!"

[@ryan.engstrom]

Holy smoke Dame Joan! She sounds amazing!!

[@goscinnydyrygent]

interesting to read these comments. I heard two performances in this run, and what i remember is thinking "ok, the time has come, because for the first time you can't really hear how good she used to be." But hearing it now, after the ones who have come along since......well, as they say, "better a singer past her prime than one who will have no prime"

[@herrbrucvald6376]

She had wanted to retire at this time. There is such emotion in this great interpretation, perhaps partly because she knew she was at the end of a career and applied it to the feelings of loss felt by Leonora, and we certainly do not care if the high C-sharp gave her trouble. Sutherland = divine

[@alfvillanueva]

Despite her age, her singing is astonishing, the role fits her like a glove!! Thanks for sharing !!

[@terrance7220]

Wow simply amazing and she sang the d flat she didn’t do the easy way!

[@richardholmesmusic2128]

61, not 60. And lest we forget, she sings the cabaletta "Tu vedrai" UP a half-step.

[@Beyondthekind]

5:38 i never heard power like this before. She is diva

[@65attila]

She was one of the super greats. Brava.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

Stupendous! I remember hearing this the day it was broadcast live from the Met - and my friend and I were very impressed that she could still produce so much voice...To think that she was 61 here with that kind of power...incredible!

[@meltzerboy]

I was at the Met for one of her performances of the opera with Pavarotti. It was NOT one of Sutherland's favorite roles, largely due to the crazy staging and production, the so-called raked stage, which made it very slippery for the performers. And the critics were not kind in their reviews of Sutherland's singing. As for me, however, I found Sutherland and Pavarotti both amazing, and the music revealed her dramatic vocal ability very well.

[@wotan10950]

@@meltzerboy You’re correct that she loathed this particular production. But she adored the role of Leonora, which she mentioned in her books and interviews. It was a perfect role for her because it needed the entire arsenal of bel canto, and it’s a rather static role, and she quite enjoyed standing still and letting her voice speak for itself.

[@williammaddox3339]

@@meltzerboy Apparently on opening night she was not in good voice. She sounded good during this entire broadcast. This matinee performance was her last operatic appearance at the Met and during her curtain call, the audience nearly blew the roof off of the opera house.

[@bellini7verdi]

esta mujer siempre me ha enloquecido.........................su voz.........es de una intensidad.................inabarcable.....................de una belleza sublime.........................un preciosismo....vocal.....sin parangon......y una fuerza............sobrenatural..............natural......................que estremece............................

[@crazyorganist1609]

Role really suits her. Today's soprano could never match her. Ever

[@kbhprinsesse]

I'm a huge fan of her, but I've never felt the role suited her. Her trills are magnificent, even at the age of 61, chest register was too undeveloped.

[@LaDivinaLover]

@@kbhprinsesse reminder that what you hear in recording is not reflective of what she would’ve sounded like live. Her chest voice was adequate.

[@kbhprinsesse]

@@LaDivinaLover It's fine to have an "adequate" chest voice when you sing Lucia or Amina or Lakmé. It isn't for a role like the Trovatore Leonora. You need the real thing.

[@eloyguevara9447]

la cantante de opera......................la artista......................la gran señora............................la unica capaz............................por naturaleza propia..................de ser.................la voz mas extraordinaria.....................y poderosa........................de todos los tiempos...........................................que lo examinen en las grandes universidades de todo el planeta del mundo....................y ....veran.......e oiran......................un sonido unico.....................................imposible...de volver a repetir..........................aparte de su compostura..........interpretativa y fisica.................................es algo inaudito...................un crisol......................de emociones.......................mas brillantes que los diamantes................mas poderoso que el uranio.........................aqui esta en juego lo estratosferico...........................................ni una atomismo.........seria comparable......................................

[@wotan10950]

I was at the Met for one of the performances in this series, the only time I saw both Sutherland and Pav together. Shirley Verrett was also in the cast, so it really was a Star Performance! They were all great. (Funny story - after the performance, we were on the bus to go home, and a bunch of old ladies were lauding “Ray Morrison.” My wife and I didn’t know Ray Morrison, so we asked, “Who is she?” They replied, “She was the gypsy.” Sure enough, Morrison was listed in the playbill as ‘A Gypsy.’ But we pointed out that THE GYPSY was Shirley Verrett; Morrison probably had two notes in the whole opera 🤣)

[@richardholmesmusic2128]

Oh, that's very funny! Ray Morrison was a friend of mine, who unfortunately died quite young. I think he would have guffawed a big Southern laugh if he had heard this. BTW, the Old Gypsy, as it used to be called, while a very small role, does have 25 notes--but the whole role takes 10 seconds to sing.

[@wotan10950]

@@richardholmesmusic2128 After all this time, I stumbled on your comment! So go figure -- I thought Ray Morrison was a gypsy woman! All these years later, I discover that he was a man!

[@herrbrucvald6376]

more moving than the box studio set perhaps. her engagement w/ the text in the Miserere 9:07 -- 'Sull'orrida torre,/ ahi, par che la morte/ con ali di tenebre/ librando si va!' -- is particularly exquisite. [Over the horrid tower, /ah, Death seems/with wings of darkness/to be poised!]

[@eloyguevara9447]

impresionante............................el encanto..................de su voz...........magistral..................................bellisima....................el poderio hecho belleza................................es lo maximo..........................

[@asdrubalperez1507]

I saw one of her trovatores in Covent Garden, with Bonisolli and Obratzova, and she was brilliant. (early 80`s).

[@josecarrerastema8654]

Fantastica

[@robertnyman905]

Amazing!

[@KarlaMatus79]

Thanks for sharing all this recordings with us, Amazing Joan

[@highbaritone]

This is truly amazing. As was her singing with Pavarotti in the Galla they gave at the Met around this time. Again thank you for your posts.

[@cadoh8143]

Maravilhosa sempre!!!!!Lamento ter sido a Marton e não a Sutherland a ter o dvd lançado do Trovatore do MET, de 1987.

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

Lamento muito. Porque essa foi sua última apresentação no Met.

[@cadoh8143]

Bravíssíma!!!

[@yoramchaiter3569]

I find Joan singing in this broadcast superior to her recording of the opera with Pavavrotti. Is the whole broadcast available? Can you please upload it? It is much better than the later video with Eva Marton.

[@alexanderzaphir721]

Age is only a number ,when you know ,how to sing... Ask Ernestine Schumann Heink ,as well

[@bellini7verdi]

DE FABULA.....................

[@rosekokose2031]

😊😊😊❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

[@rosacelani9866]

Grande

[@Beyondthekind]

3:10

[@MisterSoprano]

Oh, to be fair and honest - the last part, "cabaletta" is far better the then first two parts, here I do belive her!

[@operafan9162]

61 Not 60

[@MisterSoprano]

Tehnicaly great, but I don't feel Leonora, I don't cry with her, I don't suffer with her ... I stay cold.

[@dougbarker3019]

Turn on your heating.

[@shannonlewis8906]

@@dougbarker3019 🤣 righto

[@tiagocosta8648]

You're right. Joan Sutherland sings very well, but she doesn't perform.

[@kbhprinsesse]

I agree. I really love her, but her Leonora has never really "done it" for me.

[@johnpickford4222]

@MisterSisterSoprsno: That you can’t empathize with the character based on the music is YOUR fault, not Joan Sutherland. You should 1) do more to educate yourself and 2) No be so honest about your considerable failings in a post celebrating Joan Sutherland!!

[@charlesrhodes1358]

I find this rather droopy. And her vibrato has loosened quite a bit. Not a credit to her great career.

[@michsturge671]

For GOOD reason these TROVATORE's of hers at the MET were not well received.....Here's an excerpt of a typical review......Joan Sutherland simply ought not to have been attempting this role on this stage at this time of life. Everyone I know who knows her likes Dame Joan; one of her friends must tell her that the time comes when an artist whose stock-in-trade has been voice rather than musicianship or expression or dramatic force must hang it up. At best there were a few phrases in the penultimate scene that were not actually unpleasant to hear. Otherwise it is cruel, but true, to say that if your neighbour sang as Sutherland sang on November 21, you would ask the janitor to tell her to stop.

[@JoanSutherlandFan]

The fact is that whole production was terrible. I believe the mezzo was fired after that season. Joan hated that production as well.

[@cadoh8143]

Not well received, BUT the audience aplauded with enthusiasm!!!!

[@wotan10950]

The production, which I attended, was not well-received. But Sutherland got very good notices in the New York Times, pretty much saying that when she sang the lyric parts of the role, decades melted away from her singing. As an attendee, I can tell you firsthand that the public went berserk with ovations! So tell your janitor to stick to toilets, not opera reviews.

[@liedersanger1]

Maybe Nov. 21 was a very off night. This Saturday afternoon in December was a great event. Even if I have other favorites in this role, RESPECT.

[@highbaritone]

She was hanging it up. This was her final role at the Met. Not sure why you chose to pass this along.