Customer Reviews

Donizetti: Anna Bolena / Sutherland, Ramey, Mentzer, Bonynge

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Dame Joan was 62 at the time of this recording. However, I would take Dame Joan at 62 over singers half her age anyday. Her sound isn't as fresh as it was ten or twenty years earlier and the flexibility is slightly diminished. But think about who we are talking about here. Dame Joan singing with diminished resources is still a heck of a lot better than most. Her voice did darken with age, but I would not, under any circumstances, say that Dame Joan's voice was ever ugly. Even up to her very last performance in 1990, it was still that special Sutherland sound. She was able to make many people very happy by performing well into her mid 60's. This recording is an example of just that. Dame Joan's interpretation of Bolena is tragic and emotional and I'm glad that she added it to her repertoire before she retired. Sutherland was more successful at comic roles early in her career, and she was admittedly never a born actress such as Sills or certainly the great Callas. However, as she got older, her interpretations matured as well. dame Joan would not be as convincing in this complex role if she had done it twenty years earlier. Vocally she would have been great, but there is more to it than that. Listen to Act II when Seymore confesses to Anna. At first, Anna is FURIOUS, then full of sorrow, and finally at peace and forgives Seymore (though I think she is secretly thinking ha ha ha you can't even be mad at me now which increases your suffering all the more!) all within ten minutes of music. Sutherland is emotionally perfect here, maybe not as fresh sounding as twenty years ago, but to me (an opera singer in training) opera should be more than just the most beautiful sound possible. Past her prime, sure, but still beautiful nevertheless, ABSOLUTELY!

Note: One of the previous reviews is incorrect. There is no E flat in alt at the end of the mad scene. The end of the mad scene is transposed down a full step top accomodate Dame Joan's diminished resources. You instead get a glorious D flat in alt. Dosent' bother me in the least however.

This CD was recorded and released to coincide with Sutherland's performance as Anna Bolena in Covent Garden in 1988. These proved to be her last perfomances in a full operatic role in that House. I bought the recording on vinyl after attending the opening night in Covent Gardne and later replaced it with the CD version.
I have heard and concur with all those who write amount the many incredible qualities of the Sutherland voice in her earlier recordings, the voice and technique is unbelieveable. Anna Bolena for the heroine is a huge role and it suits the later Sutherland voice, what's lost in the ability to open her mouth and produce subliminal vocal pyrotechnics is compensated by an artist who portrays vunerabilty which is, for me is the main focus of the score.
The voice is totally Sutherland, the middle voice is rich and lucious, the (very) high notes ringing and clear but age brings a vibrato and slight beat to the tone that adds to the pathos and does not detract from the pleasure of listening to a mistress of her craft.

The acting, phrasing, diction and artistry (which all got better as she got older) she produces far outweigh the loss of vocal power her age brings and produce for me a memorable and one of my favourite recordings.

Her lack of acting abilit is often discussed, having seen her on stage in this role and listened to the recording she is as good as any actor or actress I have ever seen on an operatic stage (I am sure there are better, and may worse).

Sutherland compared to what she could produce in the 1960's, 70's or early 80's may not be the same, but at this stage in her career she still commands a beauty of voice and technique that no one I have heard today can match.

The other reviewers emphasized the comparison between Sutherland in her early days and in her late career. Here the question is not that, but what Joan Sutherland can do in this recording. Every singer and Sutherland herself in her late years will be nothing if we compare them with the young Sutherland, a vocal miracle which will never be heard again.
Joan Sutherland was 61 years old when this Anna Bolena was recorded. Her voice had darkened and lost some vocal power, but it's not unsufficient or terrible (!!) as some exagerated reviews said before. It would be wonderful if Sutherland had recorded it in the period between 1975 and 1980, but here she does a real wonderful job. Her dramatic skills are in her ultimate best, her diction is much better. Thus, we have a more moving and thrilling Anna Bolena than we could have ever had. Her high notes are still wonderful and she has gained an amazing low register, which emphasizes the dramatic parts of the opera. Her vibrato is really a bit too present, but it doesn't bother me when I hear so many qualities in her voice.
Susanne Mentzer does a wonderful performance here, with a youthful and beautiful voice. Samuel Ramey is known as one of the best interprets of Enrico VIII and Jerry Hadley could be considered the best Percy ever. Bonynge's conducting is amazing as always.
This recording is highly recommended, especially if you are looking for good interpretation and not simply good singing.

It would have been wonderful if Sutherland would have put this role in her repertoire and recorded it ten years earlier. Her voice by the time of this recording (1987) had worn and taken on a gray quality, but after all, she was sixty at the time this recording took place. The technical command is still present, however, and she projects the text better and more clearly than she would have a decade earlier. All in all, an authorative performance from a great soprano at the end of her career. Sutherland is given excellent support from the other principals as well. Samuel Ramey sings a booming Henry VIII. and Jerry Hadley contributes a lyrical Percy, though he sounds a little stressed at the top. Suzanne Mentzer is a youthful Jane Seymour, contrasting well with Sutherland's mature timbre in their big duet. Richard Bonynge shapes the opera dramatically and keeps things moving. This is an excellent representation of Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" and is certainly worthy of a strong recommendation. It's only real competition is the EMI live recording with the Anna Bolena of Maria Callas, who, of course, sings the spots of the role, and who has an excellent Jane Seymour in Gulietta Simionato. But this La Scala performance is heavily cut, and the sound is typical 1957 radio transcription sound. If one is really interested in the opera, they might want to consider owning both versions, since they document the work of two of this operatic century's greatest divas in one of the most taxing roles in the bel canto repertoire.

I am sorry to say that this recording should never have been made with Joan Sutherland. I love her younger recordings, but she just didn't age well, I will give her an A+ for effort, I mean she still throws out the high notes (as pinched and ugly that they are) even gives us a high e flat at the end of the mad scene. But Joan was just too old at this point to do the role justice. If you want a well accomplished recording turn to Beverly Sills, she mastered this role and recorded it in the prime of her wornderful voice. Don't waste your money on this recording unless you just love Dame Joan so much you have to have all that she recorded to the bitter end.

It is sad that Sutherland did not retire by 1985, and went on to discredit her unbelievable dramatic coloratura soprano instrument she had in the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's . I have friends who never heard the prime Sutherland (1953-1978), and they were speechless after hearing Joan's "The Art of the Prima Donna", perhaps the single greatest vocal recording ever made! But here, as Anna Bolena, Sutherland's voice has vanished, most of that spectacular, rich, gorgeous sound is gone. The beautiful tone of the greatest Prima Donna Assoluta of our time is gone. Sad. She should have retired as the vocal wonder of the century, but instead many will hear this recording, listening to an almost Callas-like wide vibrato and dull high notes, and never know the REAL Sutherland sound that took the operatic world by storm earlier in her career. But still, this is amazing singing for a sixty year old woman. But please, buy the "The Art of the Prima Donna", recorded in 1960, Sutherland's absolute prime, which was the most glorious vocal instrument of the operatic world.

I am a fan of the great Joan Sutherland, and it pains me to write this review. However, after having spent a whopping amount of cash on this recording and being immensely disappointed, I can't put in much of a good word about its quality. As many have pointed out, Sutherland was in relatively terrible vocal shape. The timbre of her voice was very mushy, cloudy, and heavy-sounding. And even the lowered high notes (E flats transposed down to D or Dflat, I think...) were awfully pinched. Not only was the voice not up to par, the vocal acting was neither. This grand role works only with superb acting, and Joan simply doesn't deliver. This may have been excusable if she pulled off great singing, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. This recording left me cold. Sadly, it was also the first of this opera I've heard, so it soured me against the opera for a long time. However, a friend recommended the Beverly Sills recording, so I borrowed a copy and listened. What a huge difference! Sills was extremely convincing in her acting (I cried listening toward the end), and she was in excellent vocal shape. I became a huge fan of Sills since. For those who like me have been disappointed with this recording, turn to Sills and be amazed. Meanwhile treasure the wonderful Sutherland recordings made in the 60's and 70's. Now THOSE feature great singing!

Sutherland may have been past her prime when this recording was made, but it is still the best available. Listening to La Stupenda on this set you can tell that she was rather long in the tooth, but her voice is still beautiful and she still has a command of coloratura. I think that her voice on her latter recordings make her more touching in her portrayals. The only real problem with the Callas set is that the score has been hacked to pieces.

I own and adore Sutherland's other Donizetti recordings, but I cannot say the same for this "Anna Bolena" of hers. Being early Donizetti this opera lacks the dramatic maturity of the latter tragedies, which all the more makes the input of the leading soprano even more crucial. And simply put, Dame Joan's portrayal did not convince or move me at all. The rest of the cast is adequate vocally but seems just as reserved, dramatically, as Sutherland. Bonynge offers his usual, reliable sympathetic accompaniment but even that is insufficient to save this recording. In a nutshell, this is the one Sutherland recording which almost bored me to death. (Sorry, Dame Joan.)

This role simply should not have been attempted by Sutherland. She has neither the vocal or dramatic resources required by this role. Those who want to know the true meaning of Donizetti and bel canto are advised to seek out the Callas recording on EMI: it is a broadcast recording not in the best sound, but the performance is definitive: two examples are the scene with the mezzo in which Callas discovers her rival for the king's affections. Listen how she manages to sound musical and dramatic as she spits out the words "Tu, tu, mio rivale?" The second example is when she is confronted by the king and told she will have to be judged. Once again Callas manages to convey great drama by musical means. Sutherland had a fine voice, no doubt, and was a wonder in the theater. She always lacked the fire required to make this role work. By the time she got around to recording it the lower line had to be altered to adjust for the lack of a full lower register. There are sound performances in the supporting roles, but all in all this recording is for die hard Sutherland fans only.