The "Son vergin vezzosa" Contest - Vincenzo Bellini - I puritani - "Son vergin vezzosa" (Joan Sutherland) (1960)

[swertyui]

i love her voice but her Italian pronunciation is terrible. 

[Eiswirth1]

She was the best; no one can touch her.

[baird292]

Her voice is more pleasing to my ear.

[sakisv1971ath]

the best Sutherland's Son vergin vezzosa performing...accuracy,lightnes­s,sharp cadenza plunges,airy phrasing,diction...a masterpiece

[Drelnis]

By the way, why had LindoroRossini chosen this particular recording for the contest? I feel Sutherland's other iconic Son Vergin in her Puritani recording (with Bonynge and Pavarotti) is much more superior vocally, but then that is just my opinion :D Anyone else agree?

[vully70]

For this aria the perfect voice, phrasing and timbre.

5/5

Beautifull!!

[Fairpavel]

5/5. Here she's not a boring coloratura.

[kngiht84]

Ehm....where was she EVER a boring coloratura ?

[Fairpavel]

Oh, in Semiramida. In Les Hugenotes. A little boring at some places there. To many different roles she gave one & same chirpy coloratura character.

[Drelnis]

her Huguenot's like the last thing she ever officially sang, her voice was in horrendous decline then, she can't sustain a note with the power and the light flourish she once had, so naturally it's not her best role :P

[Fairpavel]

Well, I have experience with the official studio recording from... 1970??? Also the 1962 live from La Scala. There she's vocally well but in my opinion not that exciting as in 1960 live Sonnambula or 1963 La Straniera.

However, I admit I dislike this Meyerbeer opera. It is possible that this influence my judgement about her performance there.

[Drelnis]

Ah yes, sorry I had experienced her Huguenot in a video recording in the late 80s, it was clearly not her best at all, but from the studio in 70s I have never heard of.

[luvxl]

totally agree for she didn't always do very interesting things but this one is totally brilliant

[Fairpavel]

Absolutely.

[ryker25]

Sutherland does not sing all composers and operas equally well, but when it comes to the arias of Bellini or Meyerbeer she is unbeatable.

[vully70]

5/4 - wundervoll gesungen und für diese Arie die absolut ideale Stimme!

[operaeater]

I personally think this is thebest rendition,her coloratura is faultless and her trills are fantastic. her high notes ring like a bell. 5/5

although she's not my favourite singer, this aria is very delicately and well sung. congrats!

[salsimon]

At the risk of being a little jingoistic I think Sutherland gets the prize - none of the others approach her for precision in vocal dexterity.

[AulicExclusiva]

The ONLY Elvira.

[LASCIATE1981]

sutherland, la stupenda per secula seculorum

sutherland y caballe las mejores elviras.

[timsuffolk]

Everyone's an expert it seems by their comments. Doesn't anyone else just enjoy the clips on this site, rather than criticise or make silly comparisons with other singers?

[AulicExclusiva]

Opera is not for boy scouts, you silly marshmallow.

[timsuffolk]

what a foolish comment

[JuillHope17]

your comment is foolish. when you know more, you compare more. someone who wasn't familiar with rock or pop music could say the same thing on another video of that genre on youtube, and they'd recieve the same criticism sometimes. people like us comparing maria callas to joan sutherland is like... i dunno, tony bennet to frank sinatra or dean martin. it's opinions that show up in any kind of music. why do you think there are music critics? really, your comment was out of line and downright dumb.

[timsuffolk]

your comment is foolish

[JuillHope17]

how is my comment foolish? cause i proved you wrong in that you're trying to justify your lack of knowledge in opera by saying we comment and criticize too much? what fucked up logic.

[timsuffolk]

How do you know how much knowledge of opera I have?

You have proved nothing, only how foolish you are. Many people here make silly comments and comparisons, I was merely indicating that fact. So, now, be a good American boy and stop making anymore foolish comments, there's a good boy.

Thank you in anticipation

[JuillHope17]

that comment was so dumb i might be sick. it's easy to tell how much knowledge you have because 1 you have nothing to say about the singers and 2 you're chastising us for commenting when everyone else does it about everything else. it's obvious you have no knowledge, or you'd either make a comment yourself, or just shut up, and since you're doing neither it just shows. and if i'm so foolish, why are you still agruing with me. the first thing you said was "everyone's an expert" leave it to us.

[timsuffolk]

You obviously don't have the intelligence to make any sort of statement, or indeed, put any sentence together that makes any sense, therefore I will not continue with this. I made my initial comment before you made any comment, and my first foolish comment was at the ' opera is for boy scouts' comment, not anything you said.

So please direct any future tedious and tiresome comments at someone else, and also, be sure that a comment was directed at you in future before you give abusive responses

[LeonConrad]

Singing 5 / Characterisation 5

Hard to choose between Sutherland and Callas - both get top marks from me. Sutherland has a way with vocal colour that is unique. Callas has an individual energy and individuality that is absolutely compelling. Each makes me want to go back and forth between these recordings almost indefinitely to enjoy the best of both. How privileged we are to be able to do just that!

[MadonnaImperia]

This is great - it is from her 1960 album "The Art of the Prima Donna" - but her version from the complete recording from 1963 is even better and more brilliant!

[shivastotravali]

Oh, I did listen to the Callas La Scala clip as well, and it was better in my memory than in reality -- a little ragged.

[shivastotravali]

I generally loathe Joan Sutherland (but with total respect for her technique), and I gotta say, this version wins hands down. :-) Caballe, Sills, and Galli-Curci (all I've listened to so far) all made me cringe in different ways. Maybe it's because Sutherland's usual bland-to-vapid characterization comes across appropriately as Elvira's innocence in this case. Go figure. Definitely gotta throw a brava in her direction this time.

[latraviata1853]

The clear winner. Her high notes are superb. I agree that Callas had a more memorable stage presence and personality, but this wasn't one of her great roles.

[DessayBestSinger]

Sutherland's high notes are really superb

[NEBESHIKU]

And yes Pasta and Malibran like Callas had flawed voices. This gave them the oportunity to do anything with there voices.

Like Callas, Malibran and Pasta, were the best sopranos in there era. They were over and considered better than sopranos with pure voices like Sutherland's.

I agre with you, Sutherland is "La Stupenda" but she will always be under "La Divina".

[63Attila]

Some people prefered Henrietta Sontag who was a pure singer.

No offence. but how in hell do flawed voices heve the ability to anything with their voices?

Sounds like, well My voice is unwieldy anyhow so if I screw up more. so what.

Certainly Callas was a more inrtense singer than Sutherland. Sutherland produced her voice better but was less intense.

Chacon a son gout.

Best wishes-JOHN

[NEBESHIKU]

and her pure voice took her no where! for opera standars Callas1 voice would be percived as being flawed, since the las sfogato soprano had died 100 years before Callas. Pasta and Malibran maybe had a diferent timber of voice but had the same type voice as Callas. Those "flawed" voices were the muses fot Bellini, Rossini, etc.

On no offense but i'm sure you can do the same things Callas did, so your voice is in a far different place from the voice of Callas

[63Attila]

Nebeshiku

Beauty such as Sontag's voice was reported to have needs only go into the heart of the listener. Perhaps the Muses were all that were around you really play loose with history for your La Divina. Back to this performance, you know Joan Sutherlands. It makes no difference to me if in 100 years Sutherland is remebered more or less than Callas. Maria was good copy. Joan was not.

Britney Spears is better known than Judy Dench. So what

Vox paparazzi. Callas

Voce Musica-Sutherland

[NEBESHIKU]

Well Callas is remembered not for her scandals, so no need to bring Britney Spears into the picture. Callas was Callas before onasis or any of the scandals that have nothing to do with opera. Callas had already made operatic History in 1949, i presume that you know what i'm talking about. So Callas willbe remember for her art and for all the things she could do that Joan couldn.t. Joan Sutherland is just a voice Callas on the other hand, as said by Maestro Antonino Votto:

[hisimperialmajesty]

Actually, most people /do/ remember Callas for her scandals, and for her rather melodramatic life. To me, she's a bit of a tragedy: A great artist, but one whose life took a great toll on the voice. Sutherland had no such scandals, and did not allow her life to come to the point where it became a strain or source of damage to her voice.

[NEBESHIKU]

She was not just a singer, but a complete artist. It's foolish to discuss her as a voice. She must be viewed totally—as a complex of music, drama, movement. There is no one like her today. She was an esthetic phenomenon.

[63Attila]

You are right. Sutherland will be remembered only as a voice.

I do not agree with your non vocal paens to Callas so what about Maestro Votto. You can throw both positive and negative opinions about Callas. No amount of acting and drama make up for Callas's generally poor singing.

[NEBESHIKU]

Maybe you don't like the timbre of Callas but she never sang poorlly. In the words of Walter Legge, even in the most difficult florid music, there were no musical or technical difficulties "which she could not execute with astonishing, unostentatious ease.

[NEBESHIKU]

Her chromatic runs, particularly downwards, were beautifully smooth and staccatos almost unfailingly accurate, even in the trickiest intervals. There is hardly a bar in the whole range of nineteenth century music for high soprano that seriously tested her powers. As part of her technical arsenal, Callas also possessed a beautiful and dependable trill in every vocal register.

[NEBESHIKU]

Michael Scott notes, "If we listen attentively, we note how her perfect legato enables her to suggest by musical means even the exclamation marks and commas of the text." Technically, not only did she have the capacity to perform the most difficult florid music effortlessly, but also she had the ability to use each ornament as an expressive device rather than for mere fireworks

[63Attila]

Nebeshiku

Obviously we disagree but I appreciate the civil tone of our discussion. Some disputeson Youtube are horrid.

Sincere best wishes-JOHN

PS Looking forward to talking to you on another post. Maybe Tebaldi?

[NEBESHIKU]

sure! i was suprised this didn't turn in to an isult fest!

best wishes! and take care of your self!

[andrecueca]

i choose caballe

[63Attila]

I heard Maria Malibran sing this aria too, But then the drugs kicked in and I woke up in 2008. The night before I heard Farinelli in prodigious voice stunning but interpretively a bit ball less. Again the drugs and 2008.

I do like this Joan Sutherland gal even though I heard when she was still alive.

[Liwah]

That's even funnier than the time I dreamt Caballe was manning a stall at my school fair. :P

[Liwah]

I was smiling like a fool throughout this.

[Liwah]

Also, the 'big coloratura' at 2:37 is very Callas (though technically executed better) and very beautiful.

[4caeruleus]

Sutherland's Son vergin vezzosa illustrates one more amazing aspect of this singer's style: its fidelity to the composer's apparent intent. The impulsive rhythm of the piece (and Meltzerboy was right: Galli-Curci gets it spot on, Joan not quite - but both are amazing) builds in Joan's performance to a thrilling, virtuosic climax where the combination of strict observance of rhythm and unimpeded tempo are paired with an unexpected, astonishing run right up to a brilliant and secure top. 5/5

[4caeruleus]

How does one spot an old-style coloratura soprano? In addition to the catalog of woes given in the other posts, there is almost always one give away: the irrelevant cadenza. Here's how it works: the music stops, the momentum dissipates, there is silence, the silence is pierced as Madame idiotically chirps a cappella. She launches her penultimate high note: a frail, quivering thing, it vibrates in splendid solitude for a moment or two -- and then the orchestra drowns out everything.

[4caeruleus]

Those so-called coloratura sopranos in general lacked the ability to move the voice quickly and gracefully: their fast passage work is typically labored, mechanical, artless and often unintentionally comical. The public of the time gobbled this up. The recordings are there, go take a listen and see if you don't in general agree with what I'm saying. Remember, I'm talking about the singers who appeared during the '40s and '50s, the period just before the storm broke.

[4caeruleus]

The pathetic creature called the coloratura soprano back then was typically characterized by a small voice, a thin voice, a voice which became disagreeably metallic in its upper range; stylistic standards were deplorable, with the same hackneyed ornaments and cadenzas passed on from singer to singer. The trill was evidently regarded as optional: and most omitted it. Standards in general were abysmal: the main requirement was the ability to squawk at a very high pitch.

[4caeruleus]

I was born in 1943; those of you who came to great vocal music during the last thirty years have no way of knowing how dismal the vocal scene was back then for lovers of bel canto. We were reduced to listening to low tech reissues (or for the few, the originals) of primitive recordings. Among singers appearing at the time, true trills, even scales, limpid tone and agreeable stylistic conventions were all but unknown.

[4caeruleus]

There are people who call Sutherland a coloratura in a dismissive sense - in order to bring her down and put her in the common herd. When Sutherland appeared on the scene, it was not simply a continuation of business as usual. She represented something new and terrifically exciting. Ponselle, Muzio and Callas had given us a taste of this: real voices singing the music of the bel canto masters. No one in their right mind dismisses Ponselle, Muzio and Callas as coloratura sopranos.

[4caeruleus]

I'm always bothered when people call Sutherland a coloratura soprano. To my ears, Sutherland's strength is her firm grounding in eighteenth century vocal technique. In a sense, to call Sutherland a coloratura is anachronistic: the term coloratura seems to have come into usage to describe singers in the mid nineteenth century, and initially seems to have had a meaning very different than its current meaning. The term was not used in the time of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti.

[kngiht84]

Yes, Joan 10/5

[bevsoprano]

NO ONE has the ease, flexibility and sheer size of voice, especially the high notes...and such a clear sound. Has been my idol since I was ten and heard Norma. You all should listen to her Turandot - unbelievably powerful.

[NEBESHIKU]

I've listen to her turandot and is boring! flat as hell! only beutiful high notes everything else is not there. What sould be an ice princess sounds like a little ball of ice cream!

[kngiht84]

Yes, and you have said far too many times that Callas is supreme and that is your opinion, which doesn't mean anything. It's true that Callas is "divine" but yes, Sutherland is also "La Stupenda". Their coloratura techniques are not quite the same, one is more modern, compared to the other. If you don't like Sutherland, fine, but you don't have to criticise her because I am sure you would be nothing to her even in your wildest dream.

[GliOminiVerdi]

This is just because Turandot it's a quite boring opera. She can't make it brilliant some boring stuff.Maybe her voice was not good for Puccini.

[Richiesutherland]

Sutherland's recording of Turandot has been almost universally acclaimed as a thrilling performance, not just by me. NEBESHIKU, you are the type of crazed, "Callas uber Alles" type of fanatic that gives opera queens a bad name. There are wonderful Callas performances, and believe me who saw her live, terrible Callas performances. But you are completely intolerant, and also use obscene language. I shall be reporting you to youtube.

[GliOminiVerdi]

I was not criticizing Sutherland's Turandot. I was just trying to explain why can some people say that a brilliant singer becomes boring. Puccini compose a no-brilliant music.I like him very much, but maybe Suth's voice couldn't howevere make it brilliant

[Richiesutherland]

I didn't mean in any way to criticize you. I do not find Puccini's Turandot music to be anything but dazzling and brilliant. If you don't like it, you are completely entitled to your opinion. We all have our likes and dislikes in music. Thank God there is so much glorious music in the world that there is something to please everyone. I was criticizing NEBESHIKU'S views, not yours.

[NEBESHIKU]

and if you want the ultimate Norma you listen to Callas!

[bevsoprano]

Comparing Callas and Sutherland is comparing apples and oranges. My favorite Callas is Tosca. And by the way, Callas thought Joan had a wonderful voice...

And also - I don't know which Turandot recording you're listening to, but Joanie ain't flat on mine...

[NEBESHIKU]

you are right! but one gets on the war path when you see Callas been bashed! so you get back critizising the soprano the basher likes.

no doubt Sutherland had a beautiful top voice but Callas had a beutiful voice the only thing the type of voice callas had is so rare that almost a hundred years went by with out the kind of voice Callas had. The last great sopranos that had such a voice were Malibran and Pasta Bellinis and Donizetti's muses

[Richiesutherland]

How in hell would you know what Malibran and Pasta sounded like? I HEARD and saw Callas live, and she was no miracle, just a soprano with big eyes and big, hammy gestures and big vocal problems. And yet, she also gave great performances. But to say imply that Malibran or Pasta had a voice like Callas' is nonsense.

[NEBESHIKU]

your non sense is what makes you write all this stupid remarks. That's why books are so important there are acounts of pasta and maalibran sounding like callas not the same but very similar

[Richiesutherland]

I am sorry, but books are absolutely no help in this matter. How could anyone who wrote a book in the 20th Century have any idea how Malibran or Pasta sounded? Yes, I know that reviews talk about quality, but reviews are notoriously inaccurate, and besides we are talking about size, style and vocal quality. When you hear Patti and Melba, 70 years after Pasta, Callas sounds like from another planet.

[63Attila]

Nebeshiku

This magnificent performance has tonal beauty and a clean execution. Reviews of Pasta and Malibran suggest they were great interpreters but had flawed voices. In fact we do NOT know what they sounded like.

Since Callas recorded this aria would it not make sense to compare Callas' performance with Joan's? It seems insulting to compare an artist with dead people from whom no direct comparison can be made.

Has reading replaced listening to an artist?

I prefer Joan to Maria.

[NEBESHIKU]

No it hasn`t. Joan's voice has a pure tone since it's timbre is so limited, Maria's timbre pon the other had is not pure since it was so big, she could change her timbre at will a thing Sutherland couldn't do her diction sucks at best.

[Richiesutherland]

Again, you have NO IDEA what Malibran and Pasta sounded like, and I seriously doubt they sounded anything like Callas. Callas is bel canto filtered through the much harsher sound of the verismo sopranos of the thirties

[NEBESHIKU]

there are letter of people who lived and heard pasta and malibran describing their voices! and they discribed them being similar to callas' voice like the top note being produced through ventriloquism! so as i actually didn´t hear their voices you didn't also so you can`t deny anything. Of course Callas' spound is different from paty or Melba she didn't have the little flute sound they had Callas was more of an oboe plus clarinet and top notes of callas were at full voice

[rawdevil1992]

fuck off you suck bitch

[raymzi]

wow... i didnt know that people who lived in the time of malibran..which was early 1800s.. lived to listen to callas..they were 112 years old when she was in her prime....

im shocked at this new scientific find NEBESHIKU has uncovered... BRAVO!

[NEBESHIKU]

and i'm shocked at your stupidity that mae you write abut my comment! i know no one that hear dmalibran or pasta lived to lesten to Callas...but they left written comments about the kind of voice they heard Malibran and Pasta had and from those documents experts of this time have made such coments comapering Callas' voice to those of Malibran or Pasta.

[raymzi]

and those writings.. whoever wrote them (im sure they were authorities!)..is the only proof...

convenience at its best n'est pas?

[NEBESHIKU]

well, they were. and those letters do exist and no they do not represent convinience at it's best.

[yiudiumui]

again fuck off pls nebeshiku

[NEBESHIKU]

again only if your mom is going to let me use her cunt for free! then again no thanks i don't want to get a sexually transmited deases from her. Whores like her are a risk! So if you don't like my opinions you can eat shit and die! obvioslly your gonig to bite a chunk out of your self since you are just a big pile of shit!

and if you want an other insulte fest then bring it on Bitch!

[Tenorboy29307]

Well, I had originally said that both characterizations for Sills and Sutherland were a tie assuming this was the same recording I had of La Stupenda. I take that back. She's actually VERY convincing dramatically here. She wins! 5+/5

[Tenorboy29307]

...performances, not charactertizations.

[comey717]

i always like joan sutherland voice she can sing both coloratura and dramatic roles. i think this is one of her best colaoratura roles. i love her HIGH NOTES

[zurriuss]

Fantastic! Marvolous! Brava, Damme Joan! I love her interpretation very much. It's like a sweet breeze of early Spring, full of flower smell. Thanks for posting.

[dessayfan]

Wonderful! Her singing is really close to perfection: fantastic coloratura, beautiful tone and a great range!

[31071946]

:-(

[niklausse]

5/5 perfect!

[gwright199]

truly exquisite....la stupenda at her best! 5/5/

[Eiswirth]

The most exciting, beautiful sound of them all! I absolutely love the other singers, but for me Dame Joan is, without question, the greatest soprano of all time--brava! pje

[renic17]

I love those contests! We should be grateful to have voices such as Sutherland's and Callas'and to get two different feelings (both thrilling) from them. Sutherland the naivité, Callas, the depth, but Sutherland get's it this time. The character is there.

[liou97490]

LA stupenda is third for me with 4.25/5

[Sadiesexy]

Wow! This is great!

[Fredzeblak]

6/5!!!!!!!!!

[LaStupenda]

Joan wins.

[myrtillocactus]

Sutherland the best.

[nikolaimedtner]

interesting idea, this "contest"....for me, sutherland wins it without any doubt

[meltzerboy]

Boris1281, if this excerpt is from "The Art of the Prima Donna" album, then the conductor is not Bonygne but Molinari-Pradelli, if my memory serves. But I agree that it is very successful, as are virtually all the other numbers on this famous album.

[boris1281]

Oh, sorry! I was also not sure about Bonynge, I thought its from the complete score. What I meant is that the collaboration with the orchestra is very interesting. Molinari-Pradelli is a great conductor, but the Bonynge account is also very powerful. Thanks again for the correction!

[buyanothersoul]

That is true. But even at that early stage, Bonynge was her cheif musical adviser, writing all her variants for her etc.

[boris1281]

5/5 I think that the collaboration with Bonynge here is very successful!!!

[jondavwal]

5/5. Nobody even comes close. Although to be fair they should have used the version from her first full recording of the opera, not this abridged version from "Art of the Prima Donna." That said, she would get a perfect score on that as well.

[jetatorre]

Brava!!!!! Caballe was not her usual wonderful in it. But Callas sometimes makes me want to comit suicide. Sutherland is fantastic!

[soaringsound]

In deference to the recently departed Sills, she was superb in this exerpt. But, honestly, the young Sutherland in this piece is unbeatable. It sounds so effortless and full of fun. The ornamentation is not only interesting and unique among the singers chosen to 'compete', but so well executed! 5/5!

[hisimperialmajesty]

I have to concur. I have listened to all of them. And none of them were bad, by any means. But Dame Joan just sounds the most natural singing this aria, by far.

I gladly give her 6 out of 5 ;-)

[garconfrancais01]

i listened to all...sutherland wins

[garconfrancais01]

5/5

[darewolf]

Young Sutherland sounded very good, probably the best among all bel canto singers but I like Ruth Ann Swenson better.

[meltzerboy]

Vocally, the young Sutherland matches Galli-Curci's exquisite singing. Interpretatively, she exceeds it.

5/4.5

[domi2020]

this version has to win not only because of the technical perfection but in the fresh girlish charm and the gaiety of the mood that is potrayed- she is after all getting married. The coloratura is superb and the e flat is brilliant in its attack. Having listened to all others- there is really no comparison. Caballe is too laboured, Jo too brittle, Devia too ornamented, Callas too insecure.

[mdancer01]

bravo the best version 5/5

[SirGeorg]

Brilliant!!! 5/5

[philaguy76]

This is heavenly...I have this on my iPOD and listen to it over and over again 5/5

[SueAnnNivens]

My favorite version! 5/5

[OperaBR]

Interesting! I find her diction to be pretty intelligible and clear in this early recording of hers. Some of her early recordings show Sutherland in a much better diction than many other so called "intelligible" singers... And IMO those who say she doesn't seem to have interest in the words don't seem to notice the amazing delicacy and sensibility of her phrasing, which is IMO the most important of all expressions.

[sevoflurane]

Sorry meant 5/3

[sevoflurane]

Good old Sutherland! Amazing vocalisation of the vowels. The meaning of the words seems to be something that does not interest her. 3/5

[AnnElliot]

amazing as usual!!! 5/4, because of the frikkin' diction, otherwise... just fab :)

[Jabe88]

I absolutely worship the sound she emits at 00:13...

[drdre333]

I must admit, I've known this recording for a long time, and am somewhat biased...

But, what more can one ask for? Amazing, faultless technique, coupled with great bel canto style...

Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks this is absolute Heaven... 5/5

P.S. - This is Sutherland at her finest, vocally...

[Hako2004]

The most brilliant and exciting of them all. 5/5

[FoggyRoad81]

The second half of this aria is incredible. Also it's not a fair contest because these are recordings. In the opera house Sutherland would win hands down cause her voice was so friggin big!

[operadm]

Brava!! 5/5

[zoozooyou]

5/5

[Iareto]

This is perfect. Definitely the best.

[alfemv76]

Lindoro, he escuchado completas las versiones que publicas; sinceramente la única digna de mención es Sutherland con 5/5, siguiendo Galli-Curci con 5/4, luego con Mado Robin con 5/4; las demás estan muy por debajo de mis estándares... mi humilde opinión!!

[opera60]

The greatest vocal talent of the 20th century possibly of any soprano,have been a fan now of many singers and really at the end of the day Sutherland was superb.

[remrom2]

brava!

 remus

[xema2005]

I have to say that her pronunciation is not good (depending on the part is worst than here) but her notes are so clear and clean than it's amazing. I also like the fact that theres not over ornamentation. 5/4

[Orfeus80]

I regard Italian pronounciation as part of the singing technique and it also affects the phrasing. But she sounds innocent and the vocalising is phenomenal. 4/4

[gvjps123]

The voices sounds incredibly full, rich, and pure here. The trills, high notes and coloratura are all perfect. Also, the mood of this aria suits Sutherland's temperment nicely.

5/4

[Jabe88]

5/5

[tobiagorrio]

5/5 Semplicemente perfetta.

[OperaBR]

Actually, IMO there are two ways to interpret/sing "Son vergin": one is more kind of "maniac depressive", adding a bit of sadness and melancholy into the gentle and happy melody (that's how Callas sing it); the other is more in the style "poor innocent and girlish girl", with an emphasis on the innocence and brightness of Elvira's character (that's how Sutherland sings).

Marks: 5/5 (perfect vocal characterization and amazing ability to make the fioritura sound like a spontaneous expression)