Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor [Box set]

Gaetano Donizetti (Composer), Richard Bonynge (Conductor), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Orchestra), Joan Sutherland (Performer), Luciano Pavarotti (Performer), Sherrill Milnes (Performer), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Performer), Ryland Davies (Performer), Pier Francesco Poli (Performer), Chorus of the Royal Opera House (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Ryland Davies, et al.
• Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
• Conductor: Richard Bonynge
• Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
• Audio CD (August 12, 1985)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B0000041OY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,651 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #7 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Voices > Baritones
  • #15 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Sutherland, Joan
  • #25 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > Q to T

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This was Joan Sutherland's second recording of Lucia, made with an all-star cast in prime vocal condition, and it is a must for those who believe that bel canto opera should live up to its descriptive title: "beautiful singing." In the 10 years since her first Lucia recording, she had settled more comfortably into the character and become even more expert in the music. Her costars are among the greatest singers of our time, a point that is particularly important in the ensemble singing. Maria Callas is more dramatic, and her Lucia is a must for Callas fans, but this set is a joyful celebration of the glory of the human voice. In purely musical terms it is the best-sung Lucia on record. --Joe McLellan

Product Description

3CD Pavarotti/Orch.Royal Opera House/Bonynge

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

120 of 121 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive recording May 17, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

This, along with Sutherland's earlier recording are the definitive recordings of Donizetti's masterpiece. Sutherland combines both a gorgeous sound with phenomenal technique...THE most incredible technique in modern history. Only the legendary sopranos of Donizetti's time even hints at a Dramatic soprano with coloratura capabilities...and WHAT coloratura capabilities!!!! All trills, runs, staccato done to complete perfection on top of a warm beautiful spinto soprano sound. And of course the legendary high notes. Certainly no one can dispute the beauty of Sutherland's top notes, effortless, big, and sooooo clear! And of course her dramatic interpretation of Lucia is legendary. Few could argue her complete mastery of the leading role. I was at her Met debut as Lucia, and in the mad scene, she ran across the stage while attacking fiedishly difficult flights of coloratura! Sutherland received over 30 curtain calls. She is equally good here, which is to say the most amazing singing in memory.

168 of 172 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Desert Island Stuff March 12, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

First things first: this recording is truly complete, unlike many so-called "complete" LUCIA recordings. Callas may have helped to prove that Donizetti wrote a dramatic masterwork rather than an empty-headed star vehicle, but she always performed the traditional hacked-up version, so much less dark and grand than what Donizetti actually wrote. True, not all the "extra" music is great (in particular, the bass aria "Cedi, cedi" is somewhat commonplace), but it's all dramatically essential, filling out the supporting characters and revealing the brilliance of Donizetti's structural conception. Anyone wanting a LUCIA should definitely start with this uncut version...Now, about the performance. The knock on Joan Sutherland is that her diction was poor. Why this is considered a more heinous flaw than Callas's frequently ugly sound, I'll never know. Just as Callas was great despite her faults, Sutherland is great no matter how many consonants she swallows. Another knock on Sutherland is that she's not "characterful" enough, whatever that means. Baloney. Sutherland knew what today's singers usually forget--that the characterization is IN THE MUSIC, and that therefore the key to characterization is to sing the music as well as possible. (Of course, who today could sing the music as well as Sutherland? For that matter, there were few singers *before* Sutherland, at least in this century, who could sing this music so magnificently. She is unique.) In the beauty, power, and awesome technical control of her singing--her absolute committment to the music, to Donizetti--the character of Lucia comes across as thrillingly and fully as possible. This is a supreme performance, and here in 1971, she was at her best. The other superstar singers on this recording aren't quite on this level, but they all perform well. Best among them is Pavarotti, whose performance here is a reminder of how promising he was before he started marketing himself and abusing his voice. Here he is a perfect Donizetti tenor, and a fine match for Sutherland. He also gives a good characterization of the tormented Edgardo (who, as has been pointed out, is almost as deranged as Lucia). Sherrill Milnes could never resist the temptation to ham it up (listen to his idiotic snarl of "Leggi" as he hands the letter to Lucia), and his very "hard" sound is not to everyone's taste. But he is a convincing bad guy, and does well with Sutherland in their big duet. The gorgeous voice of Nicolai G. makes for a solid, if somewhat anonymous, Raimondo. Luxury casting is provided in the form of Ryland Davies, the excellent Ferrando of Solti's first "Cosi Fan Tutte" recording, as Arturo. Bonynge, while never the most technically accomplished of conductors, clearly loves and respects this music, and gives good support for the singers. Choral and orchestral work is good; the sound, as usual on Decca/London's opera recordings, is superb, with some nicely judged sound effects. This is, in other words, the greatest recording of one of the great masterworks of opera.

93 of 93 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Decadently Gorgeous November 22, 2001

By Richard Posner

Format:Audio CD

I bought this version of the opera because it was mentioned in the book Opera 101, and also because I love Sutherland and Pavarotti's singing. It's decadently gorgeous. I'm a lapdog for Donizetti (and bel canto in general) and he hits home runs with nearly every number in this opera. The heroine is a simpleminded patsy whose neck you want to wring for believing her brother's transparent lies, but Sutherland makes you care about her. I never found Dame Joan as good an actress as, say, Beverly Sills, but she acts here. The Mad Scene is more than the sum of its runs and trills--it has dramatic shape and logic.

Pavarotti sings Edgardo lusciously, Milnes is fiercely wicked as Enrico, and Ghiaurov sonorous as the dull Raimondo (but he gets some pulse-pounding mileage out of the music). I generally like Bonynge's conducting--he moves operas along at a good clip, but never loses the music.

If you like bel canto, if you like Donizetti, if you like Lucia, you'll like this recording. The sound is fine and you may find yourself--as I do--repeating tracks again and again, and singing lustily along.