Donizetti: Anna Bolena. Beverly Sills, Julius Rudel [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

G. Donizetti (Composer), Julius Rudel (Conductor), Beverly Sills (Performer), Stuart Burrows (Performer), Paul Plishka (Performer), Shirley Verrett (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Beverly Sills, Stuart Burrows, Paul Plishka, Shirley Verrett
• Conductor: Julius Rudel
• Composer: G. Donizetti
• Audio CD (April 10, 2001)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00005AWIL
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #294,880 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Is The Only Anna Bolena You Need To Hear, December 10, 2002

A Kid's Review

Although the Donizetti revival of the 60's and 70's used great talents of such singers as Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland and Montserrat Caballe, Beverly Sills was the grandest of them all. She was as good an actress on the operatic stage as Maria Callas, and sang more beautifully and in superior dramatic vein than Joan Sutherland. It does not take a genius to realize how great a soprano she truly is. In her role as Anne Boleyn, she makes use of dramatic and coloratura flair, providing the listener with a dynamic, vivid performance that rouses our sympathy in her final moments- a twenty minute aria-finale in which she goes mad and is lead to the execution block. The overture makes use of dramatic moments, particularily the music used at the end of the opera. Act I is full of bel canto melody with drama and sentimentalism, especially in Anna's aria "Come Inocente Giovine" in which she reminisces about her first love, and her voice is full of nostalgia and pathos. This same sentiment appears again in her "Cielo, a mie spasimi lunghi", which is a variation on the melody "Home Sweet Home" that becomes a short trio. Shirley Verret gives her best performance, other than her Norma, in the role of Jane Seymour. Her powerful voice, capable of beauty and strength, is evident in her duet with Anna at the end of Act 2 and in her aria "La Mia Fama". The finale is impossible to miss. In this recording, the sound of church bells and festivity is heard as Henry 8th prepares to make Jane Seymour his wife. Anna, imprisoned in the tower, loses her mind and sings a mad scene that is ancestral to Donizetti's greatest opera, Lucia Di Lammermoor. Anna believes she is about to be married to Henry 8th all over again, and that she is not going to be executed. But when she discovers that Henry is going to marry Jane Seymour and that her own execution draws near (a couple of victims in the conspiracy that Henry accuses her of are killed, mainly Anna's servant and musician, Smeton, who is in love with her), Anna becomes insane. She returns to her sanity only to realize her end is near, singing the taxing coloratura/dramatic aria "Copia Iniquia". Donizetti made his mark with this opera and was welcomed in the Italian stage, namely Naples and San Carlo. The music is as rousing and touching as the ensembles and finales to every act. Impressive recording. Beverly Sills said herself, when she recorded this in 1975, that Anna Bolena was her most easiest role. A lesson, she says, to sopranos tackling the role.. it is very easy to sing the flowing, sentimental arias and recitatives of Anna's character and there is enough time in the length of this opera (three acts, three cd's) to get warmed up for the more difficult finale-aria.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WHAT A VOICE, August 16, 2001

By	Gordon maydock "steinway77" (Charleston) - See all my reviews

This is Sills at her best, the best of her Donizetti queens. Her approach is completely different from Callas's and she makes a strong case for her interpretation. Oh, and the voice . . . Superb. Lovely. Unmistakable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SILLS GOES FOR BROKE -------- AND SHE TRIUMPHS, April 17, 2006

By	L. Mitnick (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I, being a great admirer of Callas, Caballe', Sutherland, and Sills, cannot understand why people so vehemently bash one of them in favor of the other. This does nothing to further the interest of music, and it reduces great operatic singing to the level of ice hockey. "Anna Bolena" is an opera that requires a very special type of soprano. It is, essentially, a florid bel canto opera for a considerably heavier voice than that associated with such bel canto heroines such as those encountered in "Puritani", "Sonnambula", and "Lucia". A great "Anna Bolena" should also be able to command Norma and Rossini's "Semiramide". Beverly Sills had a basically small voice, and she herself has admitted repeatedly that her undertaking Donizetti's Three Queens (Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Elizabeth in "Roberto Devereux) probably shortened her career by a decade. She was, of course, right. She certainly makes Anna Bolena a convincing vocal creation, and she sings with great conviction and involvement. But even so, there are moments when you know that she's pushing her resources to the virtual end of their endurance. She manufactures low chest tones that are completely out of allignment with the rest of her voice, and some of her top notes are nothing more than pitched screams. Of course, her passion and sincerity compensates for a lot of these deficiencies, and she emerges with a great success. I respect Sills, and have always felt that she was a little undone by her publicity machine, as well as the constant shadows of Callas, Sutherland, and Caballe. Truth to tell, all three had voices far more suited to these heavier bel canto roles. I'm not going to enter any fray and state any opinions here. Beverly Sills put forth a tremendous amount of skill and effort into roles like Anna Bolena, and she paid a vocal price, as one can hear on this recording. Still, I wouldn't be without this performance. Shirley Verrett is an outstanding Jane Seymour (she certainly could have sung Anna Bolena!), though I'm not sure that she and Sills blend all that well together. Whatever the case, let's give all these great sopranos a break and stop bashing them. My message to the bashers is: Callas, Sills, Caballe' & Sutherland have BEEN there and made it. What have YOU accomplished?