Customer Reviews

The Art of Joan Sutherland

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While Joan Sutherland has recorded a number of impressive aria collections throughout the many years of her recording career, they tend to get lost in the shuffle of the countless reissues Decca/London has endlessly repackaged. While some of the original collections have appeared intact on CD--"The Art of the Prima Donna," "The Age of Bel Canto," "Love Live Forever" (her operetta collection that was originally titled "The Golden Age of Operetta"), to name a few--others are currently represented in the CD catalogue by only a few selections on discs that also include excerpts from complete opera recordings or duplicates of selections from other original collections. As a result, it has been impossible to assemble a CD collection of her recordings without a LOT of duplication, and some of the most interesting collections are still unavailable (such as "Command Performance").

While this newest set does include a lot of bits of this and that, ranging from her very first LPs to excerpts from complete recordings most Sutherland fans already have and a few "live" performances, what is perhaps most significant about it is that it features the complete contents of the "Sutherland Sings Wagner" LP--a real repertoire departure for her--and the double-LP album called "French Opera Gala" (in the U.S.--the British title was "Romantic French Arias"), neither of which, to the best of my knowledge, has been available on CD before. "Opera News" magazine once ran an article in which they asked various stars to name the one album that they felt best represented their artistry for future generations, and Dame Joan selected the "French Opera Gala," so for Sutherland fans, this is a long-awaited treat.

I'm not going to waste space saying how miraculous I consider Dame Joan's artistry. If you are familiar with her work already, you know whether you adore her or not; and if you aren't, this massive set is probably not the best place to start (that would be "The Art of the Prima Donna" album that introduced her to most listeners decades ago)--especially since this newest set doesn't contain the lyrics, a must for newcomers. Let's hope Decca/London gets around to releasing the rest of her recordings intact instead of endlessly scrambling and repackaging the same selections over and over.

This is Decca's second multi disc evaluation of this fantastic singer's long career and many recordings. True that a lot on the first set is duplicated here, but there are a few exceptions here and there that make it a worthy addition. Of particular interest are the very early items of Handel and Italian baroque arias, some forgotten song recordings and a live performance of the duet from Norma. It can't be said too many times - who can sing like this today? For sheer vocalism it's hard to find anyone on the same wavelength. This set will give very young opera goers an idea of what they missed.

This is my favorite Sutherland collection. It has so much from so many periods. The bits from The French Opera Gala are beyond belief. It is some of the best coloratura she ever did and was recorded at a great part of her career. Both the Wagner and the Mozart discs were recorded when she was close to 60, which doesn't mean that much with Sutherland. Still it would have been great to have heard the Wagner recorded a decade earlier when she recorded the Turandot. She would have been better at Wagner than anyone around today. Not Nilsson or Flagstad's equal, but better by far than Voigt, who isn't bad. On the Mozart bits, a couple sound old, but the rest are as good a performance of Mozart as you are ever going to hear. Many people only like the young Sutherland, but I like the color and richness her voice developed with age. She does a Hamlet Mad Scene on this disc at around 60 that is simply amazing! She sounds 45. I heard someone say that when she was old it took her longer to warm the voice up, could sound old when she first started out singing, but by the time she was warmed up you couldn't hear the age anymore. By all means, get this collection. You will wear the 2 discs of French opera arias out. BTW, most of the French stuff is from never, ever performed operas these days so you will not ever have heard them before.

This is a real gift from Decca to Sutherland fans -- though they may not realize it at first: recording sources in the booklet aren't very clear. But after examining the recording dates, I've been able to compile a list of recitals that this wonderful 6 CD boxed set contains.

Recitals included in whole:

1959 Baroque Arias*
1969 Romantic French Arias
1969 Six French Art Songs (newly discovered recordings)*
1978 Mozart Recital*
1978 Joan Sutherland Sings Wagner*
* no other CD release available

Recitals included in part:

1959 Operatic Arias (3 of 5 arias)
1960 Art of the Prima Donna (4 of 16 arias)
1962 Command Performance (5 of 8 arias of LP 1)
1963 Age of Bel Canto (3 of 13 arias)
1975 Darwin: Song for a City (all the Norma excerpts)

Studio opera and oratorio recording excerpts:
1961 Messiah (Handel)
1962 La Traviata (Verdi)
1963 Giulio Cesare (Handel)
1967 La Fille du régiment (Donizetti)
1968 Don Giovanni (Mozart)
1969 Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer)
1975 Esclarmonde (Massenet)
1979 Le Roi de Lahore (Massenet)
1984 Hamlet (Thomas)
1985 Athalia (Handel)


The bottom line is that even if you own most of Sutherland's recordings, there is bound to be something here that you don't have. (That's what happened with me, anyway.)

I could go on and try to describe how wonderful all of the singing here is, but others have done that very well. Just a couple notes: The 1959 Baroque Arias recital is particularly fresh and divine. The six French art songs are, in my opinion, the best recordings of Dame Joan in that repertory; earlier recordings are from broadcasts & later recordings were made past her prime.

Please consider giving this one a whirl. Six ~75 minute discs of pure heaven!

I was lucky enough to have been in New York City during the end of the golden age of singers, 1964--1978. For a brief time I worked for the Metropolitan Opera, where I got to know Dame Joan and her husband Richard Bonynge, along with their sidekicks Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti. I threw a few informal dinners where all of the above were present. We used to joke that we could cast any Bel canto opera known. This may not be an unbiased review. I also got to see many performances by another coloratura soprano with flaming red hair named Beverly Sills. Both voices were amazing, Sutherland more beautiful and full, Sills used more in the service of Drama.

I just bought this set because truth to tell, I don't have that much of Sutherland's output on CD. Decca/London has done an amazing job, which they should since she was and is one of their best selling artists ever. They have gone back to the original session tapes, before they were compressed for LP. The sound of the voice is miraculous, London's engineers knew exactly how to capture the full ripeness of her sound.

I have only had a chance to sample from the almost 8 hours of music in this set, but what I have heard reminded me how unbelievable the sheer vocalism was. Each run absolutely in place, trills that went on for 30 seconds and clearly deliniated. Stacatti--OMG, high notes for days and supported in an unbelievable way. I would say that they don't make singers like that anymore, but that would be a lie because they never made them like that before, either.

Anyone interested in great coloratura singing, sometimes just for its own sake should really pony up for this set, much of the singing is simply hair raising. I can absolutely attest to the fact that she could and did sing equally well on stage, this was no trick of the recording studio.

While you are at it pick up a sampler of Beverly Sills, also. A very different singer, much more in the service fo drama, but also a once in a lifetime voice. If it were not for Sutherland, we would all have thought that Sills was the greatest coloratura ever to have lived. Perhaps they both were each in their own way.

This set is extremely valuable, not only as an overview of Dame Joans career but because it contains three complete LP sets that have been very hard to find. The sets are the 2 LP French opera (operetta) set, the Mozart album and the Wagner album. Although some of these do not show her to her best advantage (the Wagner set) they all have some very beautiful things and the French items are superb. The annotations and photos are interesting as well and there are some piano songs with Bonynge that are released here for the first time along with a scene from a live Covent Garden Norma.

This is an awesome product to provide opera fans with an in-depth introduction to Joan Sutherland's art. I highly recommend it!

many would remember Kiri te Kanawa at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana singing ' let the bright seraphim'. I hadnt heard this early recording of Joan Sutherland
singing it until I bought this boxed set. It absolutely blew me away. I was repeatedly blown away , particularly by the early recordings in the late 50's and early 60's.
The sound quality is remarkable, the value for money is remarkable , and the singing is incomparable. La stupenda indeed.By the way , its not just Handel.

I first heard of Dame Sutherland while on the internet while listening to a internet radio station. I was instantly a fan, her control, technique, and tone is perfectly executed and rivals the equally fantastic Maria Callas. She has a powerful voice and presence that will evoke every emotion from her listeners. Highly recommended to all Opera Diva fans.