Customer Reviews

The Essential Sutherland

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I've always been a fan of Dame Joan, and this DVD immediately caught my attention. It has clips of scenes from many of her different signature roles, such as Lucia, Norma, La Fille du regiment, The Merry widow, Lakme, A very stirring duet with Marilyn Horne, a lovely duet with dear old Pavarotti, and many others. As an added bonus, each clip is introduced by Dame Joan and Her Husband, Richard Bonynge. Some people complain that she is not a very good actress in her recordings. Well, from watching this DVD and being able to SEE her sing, I would have to say that she is a very good actress. In closing, it was very nice to be able to see this incredible woman performing selections from her glorious 40+ year career. Any "Stupenda" fan should have this DVD.

These are excerpts (frequently 2 from the same opera) from some of Sutherland's operas. Some excerpts are truncated. Don't like any of the Strausses or Poulenc. Otherwise it was sublime and fascinating. Sutherland and Bonynge sat on a sofa and said a few words introducing each opera and excerpt, sometimes historical, sometimes fitting it into Sutherland's career. The music was glorious and the introductions filled in many gaps in my knowledge of Sutherland and/or the operas. Would give teeth to have some DVDs of Sutherland singing (like the ice breaker of the renaissance of bel canto, her Lucia at Covent Garden) when she was very, very young. That would be worth a king's ransom. If you like Sutherland or bel canto or both (they go together like coffee and cream), I highly recommend this DVD. About 2 hours long. It's companion piece, "The Best of Joan Sutherland," is also wonderful though it has fewer operas on it and there are some duplications. Bonynge is very serious. Sutherland is happy and laughs a lot. Bonynge made one very good remark about Sutherland's singing in "The Merry Widow." He said some people think she shouldn't have done it, not someone who sings Norma, Traviata or Lucia. Then he just espostulated, "Nonsense!" Clearly they both know music like I know my own name, and both exude intelligence and erudition and culture and class while being very nice, very down to earth people. I just painted myself into a corner. What I mean is they are both educated and brilliant, but are not snobs or phonies at all. Loved both DVDs.

A superb recording including all the best of operatic arias.Priority buy, play, sit back, close your eyes and be transported into a land of operatic bliss.Technically excellent,and a glorious reporduction of sound. You will play it time and time again.

Dame Sutherland, La Stupenda, kept the world in thrall in the 50-s to the 70-s, during her prime singing years. By the time she reached the midpoint in her carreer, her wonderful instrument started to falter. She was still a glorious singer, but not nearly as before, one could hear the stress in the middle tessitura and the forcing of the high coloratura.

This DVD, made in 1992, unfortunately only brings highlights of her post-peak opera singing in the 80-s and around 1990, even though in the accompanying discussions Dame Sutherland and her husband Mr. Bonynge talk about the "great times" of her carreeer. The mad-scene from Lucia di Lammermoor is the only one which still brings back the La Stupenda to the listener. Thus, if you are looking for excerpts of her real wonderful opera singing - like I do - this DVD id not for you. Perhaps you can find the old Bell Telephone Hours, etc. where her soaring voice still created wonders for the listeners.

En este video se muestra nuestra Dame Joan Sutherland en un período de madurez "terminal" en el sentido musical obviamente; se tienen escenas de presentaciones de los años 80; obviamente nada que ver con las presentadas en la coleccion "complete telephone hour", pero si de una "interesante" y "peculiar" belleza, pues nunca pierde la calidad ni la calidez; ahora, un PLUS que tiene este video es que cada sección es debidamente comentada por la pareja estelar (Sutherland-Bonynge) haciendo remembranzas y hasta utilizan su peculiar sentido del humor; realmente no desiluna para nada; hay piezas como "D'amor sull'ali rose" que esta para llorar de la emoción a solo dos o tres años del retiro!!, increíble!!; escenas de "Die Fliedermaus" cómicas y cantadas perfectamente; el dúo "parigi o cara" de La Traviata junto con su partenaire inseparable, Luciano Pavarotti, en su despedida del Covent Garden en 1990 y la despedida en la función de "Les Hugonots" en la ópera de Sidney en el mismo año, cantando "Home suit home", realmente muy emotivo ver como el público la idolatró hasta la última presentación!!; en fin, un festin mas sobrio y diferente en la faceta de la soprano mas grande y perfecta vocalmente que haya visto la ópera actual;