Joan Sutherland sings Anna Bolena (vaimusic.com)

[nwdixieboy]

Pavarotti called her the Greatest Voice of the 20th Century. That is high recommendation. To sing this splendidly at 58 is amazing!

[Ianey11]

Sounds like she's singing theirs no place like home. Which i thought was written way after the Tudor period

[canpete1]

transposed? Who has ever sung a Db like that at 58, not to mention the rest?!

[canpete1]

please God let me sing like that at 58

[vocalissimo1]

Listen to how fresh and vocally triumphant Joan sounds after a very big night of singing. Her technique and vocal intuition were amazing - so good that the more she sang, and the more difficult music she sang, the better she sounded. Throughout her career she chose roles very carefully, and lived a very disciplined lifestyle to allow her to be in the best possible shape whenever she appeared before an audience.

[Remalia19]

Does any one think that Joan lifts her head up when she sings a low note to have a greater voice quality?

[vocalissimo1]

@Remalia19 That's because the muscles of the larynx conigure quite differently for the lower notes, especially in chest voice. It is more conspicuous with Joan beacause (a) she had such a big jaw and long neck; and (b) her gear change to the lower notes is higher up the scale than for most sopranos.

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

Even if there are here and there some transpositions, understable at that age, at least the color, the pathos, the intensity and elegance all al there! Not unlike some "star soprani" who tackle the role just because they're top-selling artists and sing roles not appropriate for their voice and color.

[shantibel]

@GoldenAgeSunshine

The new generation of stars are instant coffee as opposed to the Sutherland and her peers, who were the real beans.

[windstorm1000]

Why can't the MET play opera like this?? Instead we get the same old, same old--La Boheme and Magic Flute. Coloratura opera fans should write Peter Gelb to start jazzing up the repoitre!!

[Sparklesarb]

@windstorm1000 Haha, you're in luck my friend!

[dziady1]

In what strange language is she singing ?

or yodeling ??????

[Homoclassicus]

@dziady1 The language of music, which is of course not to be understood as spoken talking. As Sutherland said, if you want perfect diction, go watch a play and not opera. Actually, for someone who speaks a Romance language like me, I can understand many words she sings. Are you a native Italian speaker? If you are, then I understand it's somewhat disturbing to hear a slightky English-accented Italian without perfect diction, but then this is opera, and opera's been international for centuries.

[2gther4ever]

On meeting Joan after her Lucia at Covent Garden in 1985, she said Ï'm just an old granny."That says it all. A wonderful woman and the greatest soprano of my lifetime.

[gencerito]

a mi perdonenme pero leer esas discusiones sobre la callas y sutherland es algo patetico, la sutherland habra durado en escena ma años.pero leio y vi reportajes donde sutherland y su esposo han alabado a la callas , ademas callas ha marcado un antes y un despues, maria era una GRAN ACTRIZ una gran interprete e escena,joan fue una gran soprano con una tecnica superlativa para la coloratura pero escenicamente era bastante elemental

[Zva26]

It's too bad that Dame Joan didn't undertake this role fifteen years earlier. Though she transposes the cabaletta down a whole step, she executes the notes accurately. My only problem is with her voice quality, which by this late stage had lost it's brightness, it's fluidity, and it's color. I hear a gray dull sound here, but remember that she was hitting sixty when she sang this. I just wish she had the demonic genius, force, and searing quality of Callas. This is not prime Joan at all.

[doncarlo84]

the best, ever!

[imogene1952]

Thats more a caricature !

[AOG93]

if she sang this 10 years earlier... oh, well.... in heaven...

[acitipo]

Cuando una voz es importante como la Stupenda que canto 45 años en los mejores escenarios, sabemos que estamos frente a la mejor soprano del siglo. QUE GRAN VOZ Y ARTISTA!!!!

[acitipo]

Lo siento mucho pero la sra Maria Callas, nunca hizo la carrera respetabilisima larga y de exitos a la edad de la Stupenda, no cantaba ni la cucaracha la Callas.

[MAPIAKALLAS]

Es muncho mejor cantar 10 anos grandiosos que 40 con una voz chica y Sencilla....

[acitipo]

@MAPIAKALLAS JAJAJAJA Nadie canta 40 años en los mejores escenarios con "voz pequeña", y a la vez ser considerada la Stupenda como la mejor del siglo.

[MAPIAKALLAS]

well to be honest callas has been dead for about 33 years by now and she is still remember as the best so much that the world of Opera is separated in two before and after and more then 40 biographis have been written about her 3 movies strees have been name after her in Europe and so on and untill today her CDS over due other famous opera singer of today...THATS ALL

[AOG93]

@acitipo Sutherland: La Stupenda, Callas: La Divina. That answers everything. They existed in the same world, why can't you love them both? If you compare and put them against each other, then you really don´t understand art.

[jamesjmertins]

it's been dubbed

[Richiesutherland]

No, really, I know the synch is off slightly, but I have the audio only of this performance and it is identical to this in every way including some small word errors.

[JeeRant]

She looks so much better and more natural with non-'poof' hair.

[RoseBlackWarlock]

Majestic. Brava.

[paulostroff99]

Beautifully sung by Joan! Brava diva! TY.

[leprincebeaumont]

Anche in declino, Dame Joan restava la più grande di tutte. Sentite l'ampiezza, la morbidezza, l'eleganza e la facilità con cui canta! superba!!!!

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

@leprincebeaumont

Carissimo: si, è vero, e poi il TRILLO! Rimasto intatto, poi un verro trillo, non alla Caballé o come tante altre!

[MisterSoprano]

Well, even the cabaleta is transposed, I like Joan here better then usual.

[LjubljanaSI]

how touching !!!

[figaro0606]

The melody reminds me of the song she used to sing "Home sweet home". She sang it at her farewell.

[15platinum]

Of course it reminds you of Bishop's Home Sweet Home!

Donizetti actually used the music of Home sweet Home on purpose for this aria.

[belcunto]

Really, is that so? Fascinating - thanks, i hope you're not joking!

[15platinum]

@belcunto

Donizetti uses it to convey Anna's longing for a return to her former quiet life. Bishop was not amused. It even led to action by Bishop for piracy and breach of copyright.

[mahsef]

You are right, it's a whole step, sorry about that. How ever, actually it is not OK to transpose a whole piece, it changes the character. But it is OK, by bel canto standards, to change notes that don't suit you well. So who cares about that low note. She still is the greatest. It's just too bad she didn't record it when she was younger, the same with Callas...

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

One of the most exciting and dramatic rendition of this high-voltage role by an unforgettable singer. There's no doubt that Dame Joan was one of the very best Anna Bolena of the XXth century, with the exception of Callas. She had the precise 'vocalità' required by the role. To be able to sing such a taxing role at her age was a true challenge which she has brilliantly met. Thumbs up!

[KarlaAbsolut]

BRAVO !

[mahsef]

Sorry guys, but as much as I love her. She is actually transposing the cabaletta by a third. In her younger years she would have sung a high e flat at the end and of course the whole cabaletta a third higher. Is there a recording of her singing this when she was younger?

[0dissonance0]

That is not something bad.Even the best of the singer can't figth with the time and its consequences.

Even so, She is excellent in this role.

In my opinon the best Anna Bolena ever.

But she was still a human and as I say,even if she cares her voice very well,she can't figth with the time itself.

Brava Joan!

[mahsef]

Definitely, you are right. I would rather have HER sing this aria transposed, than any one else in the original key! Joan Sutherland for ever!!!

[primohomme]

By a third? get your ears checked, more like a whole step, that's it. That's no problem, what I find annoying is avoiding the low B-flat in "sara".

[kgarmaker123]

@primohomme I find the whole aria annoying.. the wobble, the scooping, the approximate pitch in a piece tht requires precision and quiet, at least at first, and the cabaletta is just plain not donizetti. I am not sure what it is, but.. my oh my she has a good D flat at the end.

[oden60]

Non molto tempo dopo questa Anna Bolena diede l'addio al palcoscenico salitavi oltre 30 anni prima e fa nuovamente centro. Trovatemi oggi, fra alcune soprano che si autoproclamano "nuova Callas", oppure "nuova Scotto" e via di seguito, se hanno il coraggio di rileggere tali affermazioni fra 20o 30 anni. Forse dovremmo cercarle in qualche Fattoria o Isola dei Famosi!!.

Meditate nuove "stelle" del belcanto prima che il vostro primo strombazzato cd rimanga invenduto in qualche scaffale...

[AmorediPazzia]

My God.. Her voice is absolutely 'Huge'!!

Her trill and high note are incredible.

[tebza84]

super diva! legend! love joan sutherland:)

[wotansings]

Well, Joan told me the best Bolena is Christine Weidinger who was chosen by Bonynge for several production as Barcelona.

[JessyeNormanFan]

What courage pedoni5 has to characterise Callas' voice as small!

[bestmaster3]

Callas sang relatively few opera performances

during a SURPRISINGLY short career,

and recorded in monaural sound which does not reproduce faithfully. Sutherland actively sang worldwide for over thirty years, was a REAL pleasure to rehearse and perform with,and is often condsidered a performer whose personal interaction with her audience and her public was so special that recordings

do not do her justice.

Arrow

[claraprellitensky]

To me she always will be the soprano of the century

[JessyeNormanFan]

Great and Dame Joan is, and I do love her, but to see or hear what's missing from this performance, listen to the 1957 live performance at La Scala with Callas as a blazing Anna. The La Scala performance has so many great moments one cannot help hitting the repeat button repeatedly. Both Simionetta and Callas are to die for in that performance.

[pedoni5]

what a courage to compare Callas unsteady and small voice sul declino nel 1957! when she was only 33 with Dame Joan enormous voice here when she was nearly 60!.She is the only one Anna Bolena

[lastupidissimo]

heheheh.... look at 1:57, she looks as though someone next to her has just farted.

[Jabe88]

Hmm... The beginning sounds like Home sweet home!

[petelovesbevsills]

Compared with the mediacre sopranos that are supposed to be the definitive singers today I would rather have Joan in this vocal condition.

[spsp2sp3sp3dsp3d2]

Me too. I got this DVD the other day and I absolutely love Sutherland's Anna Bolena.

[artdanks]

Well...I would still rather have this Sutherland performance, even WITH its transposition, than for her to have not done Bolena at all! Still...too bad she didn't do this role earlier in her career, when she could have handled the original key with no problem.

[ChrisStockslager]

@artdanks I think even at this point, she could've handled the original key just fine. For some reason, she just took out all high Ebs except for the Lucia finale after 1980. Very odd, considering she still had the note and used it occasionally.

[chibiteazer]

I think she does exceedingly well. And i love her interpretation. I enjoy her voice and i think she did a fabulous job :).

[discoverer05]

Joan Is great in the role and in this performace even if in Donizetti I personally prefer much more Caballè. By the way.. The Anna's pray doesn't sound like Bishop's "home sweet home"? It's curious, Isn't It?

[Shahrdad]

I love her and heard her live two years after this, and she still sounded great. But this really was NOT a role for her. And did anyone notice that the finale was lowered a whole tone, so that she could end on the unwritten C-Sharp.

[riccardo699]

I always loved her as well, but I'm curious that you didn't think she was meant for this:  I think it was hes very best role, except perhaps for Lucrezia Borgia. And by the way, the key at the end was D-Flat, not C-Sharp (picking nits here).

[Shahrdad]

She probably would have been better in this role had she done it 15 or 20 years earlier, but even then, she had neither the seamless sculpted legato nor the gradiloquence needed by this role. By this time, the "mooning and mooching" was pretty unbearable in slow sections, though the fast sections were still pretty impressive. To my ears, the final unwritten high note really damages the mood and dignity of the scene.

[riccardo699]

And mind you, the whole first act aria and cabaletta were written down a whole step as well. I really think she should have retired in the early 80's instead of 1991. On YouTube, I have heard some really disastrous offerings: I firmly believe if she couldn't sing it in the original key, she should have sung something else. Everyone raves about her final Les Hugenots -- she took the famous aria down from an e-flat to a c, and it sounded horrendous. Sad indeed.

[Shahrdad]

In general, I don't have problems with transpositions if a singer is able to do justice to the role. But JS seems to transpose ONLY so she can sing an unwritten and mood-breaking high note at the end. Even in the original key and sans the last note, I don't think she could have amounted to much in this role.

[riccardo699]

I wish you could have heard her do it in San Francisco. I was in the chorus standing right behind her for all eight performances, and not only was the singing fabulous, but I was amazed by her acting and how honestly she conveyed the plight of poor Anna..............

[BeauTenor]

You keep talking about "unwritten" high notes, but you seem to miss the point. There is a LONG tradition in Bel Canto of unwritten high notes, trills, and other ornamentation. The music is just not he same without it. Frankly I don't see how the Db is "mood breaking". I think it fits perfectly on top the of the big orchestral surge typical of the end of most Bel Canto cabalettas.

[pedoni5]

The greatest Bolena

[pedoni5]

I made a mistake, not only the greates Bolena, the ONLY one !

[saverioorlando]

Joan was really stupenda,but this is not a role for her ....go earlier to Lucia!

[lastupendaboy]

I love this NEW mad scene of Joan's...rich,powerful...no one could fill a theater with a column of sound like Sutherland.Wish I had heard this live....her voice doesn't treat microphones well.She is missed from the stage!

[martafloria]

She is actually acting quite well here!!

[marioegorga]

You know the most amazing thing about Dame Joan was not only an amazing thecnique but also the voice was  huge . The few that critizises her its quite ovious they never seen her live.

[mdancer01]

30 years of singing like an angel

interpreting like a young soprano dreams to sing

is not her best performance

but the voice is still beautiful

[sevoflurane]

This is atrocious! The coloratura is so laboured that the phrasing becomes ludicrous. And why does she have to finish every single piece the same way?

[riccardo699]

Because she could, you idiot!!!

[sevoflurane]

Your arguments do not improve by insulting me, riccardi 699. I am sure she could do more. It is a matter of imagination.

[zacharybr]

sevoflurane, do you speak Italian? I don't, so I don't really care about the phrasing. Anyways, about the way Joan ends most pieces, why even bring this up? How is she supposed to end it? Does the singer you perfer do something different at the end each time she sings or something? Does she burp?

[sevoflurane]

Yes, in fact I am Italian. The coupling of words and music is very important to me.

If you take time to notice nearly every aria sung by Sutherland ends with trill (or turn), breath, dominant tonic or just tonic depending on the key. Let me think... maybe my favourite singers burp after a big meal. Which one are you referring to?

[zacharybr]

Anyways, tell me who you think pronounces the words the best? I want to hear that version before I can believe you when you say that Sutherland is atrocious. Right now I don't hear anything wrong with her singing.

[sevoflurane]

We all enjoy different things zacharybr! Nothing wrong with it!

As far as the diction is concerned, most Belcanto singers pronounce properly. Callas and Gencer bite the words. Gruberova is correct. I saw Serra and Devia live: both fabulous.

[BeauTenor]

You didn't go see Sutherland for great diction. Everyone knows that already. You went to see her because no one else with this size instrument could sing this type of music. And I can't think of anyone else that did it into their 60's, when MOST sopranos have switched fachs.

[sevoflurane]

It is very true she had a big voice Beautenor. In fact I always loved the fact that she sang coloratura roles with such a voice. Also I was talking about phrasing, not merely of diction.

In fairness Gruberova is singing these roles in her 60s. And Devia has just debuted the role. After singing Al dolce guidami in the prone position,she gave us a Coppia iniqua without transposing. And we all heard trills.

[BeauTenor]

True, Gruberova is still singing, but IMHO, not well. The little mannerisms that she's always had have been very magnififed as she's aged. Devia is still singing well (not sure how old she is), but I'm not sure that either singer has the same size instrument that Sutherland did...as she aged though, the only part of Sutherland's voice that was ALWAYS good were the high notes. She had a hole in the middle.

[sevoflurane]

I agree BeauTenor. Neither has the same size instrument. But as far as I am concerned the sheer volume of a voice does not excite me as much as an imaginative phrasing and dynamics. Just personal preference. Yes the high notes were always great, although she had to transpose a few times.

[midlochblidloch]

gruberova's the best coloratura soprano after sutherland and callas.

[timsuffolk]

Sutherland never had a hole in the middle and I agree she always had the high notes, the only thing I ever noticed in the latter years was a little rust in the lower notes, but technically she was always amazing.

[zacharybr]

Well, I like most of the singers you listed, except Callas. But they all have weaknesses too: Gruberova scoops a lot and Serra and Devia can't trill. As a non-Italian, Sutherland may not sing with the best diction but she is not atrocious. You only said that to anger Sutherland fans so just go away if you hate her so much.

[sevoflurane]

I think we are all entitled to watch the clips and give our opinion, zacharybr. It is not a matter of love or hatred. I thought it was polite to answer your question, but do not worry! I will go away!

[timsuffolk]

I think people will be listening to Sutherland long after Devia and Serra are long gone, not really in the same league as Sutherland, who no doubt, you didn't see in her prime live?

[sevoflurane]

To be frank, timsuffolk, I am not interested to whom people will be listening to. I tend to listen to the singers whose art I enjoy. As Lauri Volpi stated, for Sutherland the voice was the aim, not a means to achieve the magic of art.

[timsuffolk]

Why do you always pop on to comment on Sutherland then, as its clearly a voice you don't like? Many found her voice to be quite magical, she really cannot be matched by anyone I have heard in 35 years of opera going, and I have seen and heard a lot!

[sevoflurane]

Belcanto repertoire is my interest. I look at loads of clips of singers involved in belcanto, and sometimes I write what I think. But why are you so bothered by my comments? Opera is meant to give pleasure, it is not about who is the absolute best.

[demonyangel]

Dame Joan Sutherland gives such a natural air to Anna here. Great singer.