Mild und Leise - Joan Sutherland

[calaftheeast]

Sorry, but this is how Wagner is sung. People enjoy bashing La Stupenda today, because she is the greatest and it is easy to throw stones at a mountain thinking you can bring it down, but this is a breathtaking performance. The love, spirit, pain, suffering... it is everything that is and was Wagner.

Sutehrland could sing anything and everything that the all composers of this planet have ever created. The richness of her voice and her musicianship will always be unmatched.

[leprincebeaumont]

Che grande artista!

[Operanut9]

I think Sutherland went the way she should have gone. Great career. Great singer, but this is definietly not for her, even in the studio.

[bellini7verdi]

SUTHERLQAND SIEMPRE REINA CANTE LO QUE CANTE.....SU VOZ CON DUENDE FIRMA CUALQUIER TOQUE MUSICAL........PERO ...ELLA NO QUISO SER WAGNERIANA.....NI FALTA......QUE LE HACIA........AUNQUE CANTO ESTO ...BIEN.....ESTA ARIA Y OTRA DE WAGNER.....LAS CANTO COMO NADIE....HANNE LORE KHUSE.......

[ArchiducDeBelgrade]

This is Sutherland.. Not a role for her, but she was magnificent for me whatever she sung.. God bless.

Thank You.

[Bquillamus]

Nobody can get confused with that voice. That's Sutherland. No doubt about that.

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

Dame Joan's great icon in her young days was Kirsten Flagstad. This is why those stupid asses calling her a light soprano should burn in hell.

[FeelinMinnesota]

@GoldenAgeSunshine A Light soprano that probably had a voice 10 times bigger than their favorites lol.

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

@FeelinMinnesota Absolutely! And the voice was big, even in the most astonishing and dazzling coloratura roles, she could effortlessly fill the bigger auditoriums. Thanks for sharing.

[rayclentchris]

@GoldenAgeSunshine Yikes...

[raigekimaru]

@GoldenAgeSunshine

seriously, light sopranos don't sing Turandot and Wagner and have voices that fill the halls of the world's biggest opera houses. people sure are imbeciles lol

[asacatman]

Radiohead sample name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!

[OLIVCHEN77]

Ive read that, in the recording of "The Age of Belcanto" she & Horne said: Well lets do the Sieglinde/Brunhilde Scene from Walkuere...then the critics will died of a stroke

[LaBartoli]

is it serious???????

She wasn't a dramatic soprano, that's sooooooo not for her

[SleepingTurtle1]

@LaBartoli /facepalm/ 

[Gydinglight12]

Who I hear in this one is Joanie channeling Olive Fremstad. Have at me, but I listened to Olive's c. 1914 wretched old recording and then this one and got a sense that the two lady's Isoldes and voice timbres sounded similar.

[vonFalkenstein77]

The voice of the century... Thank you Dame Joan.

[MingnonDunn]

Remarkable. She'd easily could have sung Wagner, albeit, perhaps for fewer years.  She made the correct choice of rep.

[SMMHELDENTENOR]

OMG..hauntingly evocative. RIP Dame Joan.

oxoxox

[operalover42]

RIP

[MastersoftheOpera]

Sutherland's early opera singing must have been influenced by listening to records of Kirsten Flagstad. She has a refined lyric Wagner voice. I can tell from her Liebestod that her Isolde would have been great. She would have also made a fine Brunhilde. Nevertheless, no one regrets her decision to sing bel canto as she gave the world great Lucias, Elviras, Aminas, Lucrezias, etc. Her bel canto represented a Golden Age of bel canto revival in the 60's and 70's

[raigekimaru]

her timbre is extremely germanic. dramatic, haunting, heroic and somehow bright and deep at the same time.

[Hako2004]

@raigekimaru

You make a very astute observation, her timbre could be quite germanic. An observation that seems to escape the notice of many.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

Glorious Joan

[concertobub]

wonderful - we all know how superb she is in bel canto rep, but it is a real treat to hear her in Wagner. At first I thought "is this Flagstad?" - but it is the inimitable Dame Joan. I love how she approaches "Heller" on the beautiful g sharp. Thanks so much.

[FeelinMinnesota]

@concertobub I sware i though of the incredible Flagstad as soon as I finish this. Their voices have quite a resemblence and her style also. She has the worm heroic voice just like kirsten, unlike the cold laser voice of the great Nilsson. I think Joan would have been a legendary Isolde.

[scotsw12]

She was at the Order of Merit lunch at Buckingham Palace last week and there's a phot of her with prince Charles. She is standing in the photo! She also attended a performance at Holland Park Opera in London last week (Richard B was conducting, he is also on the jury at Cardiff Singer of the World this year), so she seems to have recovered and getting about!

[Hako2004]

That is wonderful news. Thank you.

[scotsw12]

She presented the prize at the Cardiff Singer of the year, she walked on stage, on someone's arm and got a standing ovation from the audience! She is looking old, but she is almost 83, an impressive recovery from her fall!

[operalover9001]

Actually, according to Richard Bonynge, she's not doing well. They might have to operate on her heart.

[christiaandhooghe]

Fingers crossed then!

[timsuffolk]

I am hoping we will see Dame Joan at the weekend as she is patron of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and usually presents the prizes.

[Hako2004]

I hope she has recovered from her bad fall, and is able to attend as well.

[Hako2004]

I loved Dame Joan's brief excursions into Wagner. Thank you.

[andreasscholl]

Indeed we are gifted!

She wasnt a Wagnerian soprano in her later carreer.

But who knew...what if she would have gone THAT way instead of belcanto?

A Rolls Roys of a voice!!!!!!

My favorite on this album is Isolde and Elsa.

Hail our Queen, Hail dame Joan.