Joan Sutherland: BBC-Recitals 1958, 1960, 1961

André Navarra (Performer), Luigi Arditi (Composer), Thomas Arne (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Leo Delibes (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Franz Joseph Haydn (Composer), Charles Edward Horn (Composer), Franz Liszt (Composer), Vicente Martin y Soler (Composer), Simon Mayr (Composer), Giovanni Pergolesi (Composer), Recli (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Louis Spohr (Composer), London Harpsichord Ensemble (Performer), Ernest Lush (Performer), Richard Bonynge (Performer), Joan Sutherland (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: André Navarra, London Harpsichord Ensemble, Ernest Lush, Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland
• Composer: Luigi Arditi, Thomas Arne, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leo Delibes, George Frederick Handel, et al.
• Audio CD (November 1, 1998)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bella Voce Records
• ASIN: B00000DFGW
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,184 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #7 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( S ) > Spohr, Ludwig
  #11 in	Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( S ) > Sutherland, Dame Joan
  #15 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( A ) > Arne, Thomas Augustin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravissima!, November 30, 1998

By A Customer

Anyone who question Sutherland as the greatest coloratura soprano of all time should listen to this CD. She sings with complete control in all the arias. I think that Mozart had her in mind for the Constanza aria. Sutherland before 1975 as a dramatic coloratura soprano is simply without peer in this and any other century. A must have!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Early Sutherland Concert Fare, March 26, 2004

By	David A. Kemp (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This CD is 67:52 in length and provides 20 songs and arias from three live BBC radio broadcasts, as follows: 2 from the Dec. 1958 broadcast, 8 from the Dec. 1960 broadcast, and 10 from the Dec. 1961 broadcast. None are well-known operatic arias; none have orchestral accompaniment; all but the first two are accompanied by her husband (and teacher/coach/conductor) Richard Bonynge at the keyboard. (The 1961 broadcast is devoted to eighteenth century music and is accompanied by Bonynge on harpsichord.)

The selections are relatively unconventional and unfamiliar--evidently a point with the concert choices made by Sutherland and Bonynge--which will be welcome and refreshing to many. As the notes point out, "This group is typical of the creative programs Sutherland and Bonynge would present for next 30 years. They created 15 different programs and appeared together 129 times in recital. . . . [They] loved to rediscover music and made a specialty of reintroducing the world to many forgotten bonbons, such as these." Dame Joan is in fresh, youthful voice (her international career began with her Covent Garden Lucia in 1959, and she was 32 to 35 when these recitals were broadcast) and sings handsomely throughout, often displaying an attractive mezzo-like fullness and warmth of tone. But Sutherland opera fans may be somewhat disappointed, not in the singing, but in the material here, which calls for little of the full-throated excitement, dazzling pyrotechnics, and brilliant high notes of her best opera recordings; this is more modest fare, and it is, appropriately, more modestly sung. The sound is decent, clean, eminently listenable monaural, no doubt from airchecks, but has this small annoyance: it is afflicted throughout with a residual level of pre-echo and post-echo that is clearly audible on a high-resolution playback system.

The indispensable Sutherland collections (apart from her complete opera recordings) are The Art of the Prima Donna (2 CDs, all 1960 recordings) and La Stupenda (2 CDs, recordings from 1959 to 1988); these should be owned by anyone interested in Sutherland, coloratura soprano singing, or simply great singing. This recital, while enjoyable, is certainly not of comparable importance. But if you are a Sutherland fan and would like to supplement her meatier operatic endeavors with engagingly sung concert fare from the early years of her international career, this is a good choice.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sensational!, August 10, 2000

By A Customer

this are sensational. what singing, what a voice. A MUST HAVE!