Added: 4 years ago
From: SueAnnNivens
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  • Hmmmm... I thought her fave was Esclarmonde.... interesting.

  • Sutherland is impressive as always, pure emission, good trill: but she had trouble with the 'a' vowel, and sings 'causta' diva.

  • Sinceramente, a mi me gusta mas la voz de Joan que la de la Callas, la Callas sera mejor actriz pero la Sutherland tiene la voz mas hermosa y cuidada.

  • I adore Dame Sutherland, but have preferred Caballe here for Casta Diva and Sutherland for Fine al rito. Callas, of course, for the whole package--she's the only one who really understood the difference between Norma and Medea....

  • Callas sang Lucia very well, but after hearing Sutherland recognized that the "real" Lucia had arrived....she said as much. So it is with Sutherland in my opinion, vocally her Norma is the most beautiful to me, but the role fit Maria like a glove.

  • Very lovely indeed. Maybe not the symbiosis of drama and Bel Canto the way young Callas achieved it on December 7th 1955......but I think we haven't had a good Norma since Sutherland retired.

  • I do not like the embellishments in the caballetta, they are typical Joannie, vocal masturbation that do not fit the aria.

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  • Bravo!!! Sutherland sings norma beautifully. La Stupenda indeed! I admire and adroe her really, truley. Her voice and personality is astonishing. But... there are some operas that seem to be written for La Divina. Norma is among them. Norma belongs to Maria Callas.

  • i agree with you zurriuss.. normally..i prefer sutherland over callas... but it seems like norma belongs to callas..i guess coz it requires the lead to be...somewhat diabolical.. i just cant see joan threatening to punish adalgisa.. hehe.. she seems too nice

  • I think Sutherland, is very good here, vocally, but she is not Maria, she is not interesting ni the role the way maria was. One gift, that no one talks about , is that someway, Maria, no matter what language she was singing in, had a way of telling a story... in such a way that a person could understand. These other singers, worry about the music, the notes, etc. and do not worry about the story.

  • You're entitled to you opinion, but I take issue with your opinion of "Joannie's" (you don't know her well enough to call her that) ornaments, most of which were culled from Grisi. Bellini himself wrote her ornament on "e vita nel tuo seno" btw, so much for being inappropriate. I do not get "the story" from Callas, I get Callas, but I find that Callasiani read into her performances what they will. Callas was a fine Norma, for me a bit too verismo. No Norma is perfect, not Joan, not Callas.

  • Ok, put another way. Callas's language was conversational. Easy to understand. Diction fabulous. Phrasing fabulous. Understanding and ability to convey the "plot" and move the drama forward.. Superior. A singing actress. There is more to opera for me, than just voice. The text and words matter, and the context of all of this within the plot also matter. Otherwise I would listen to recitals of all these arias and forget the entirety of the drama.

  • Please don't try to imply that Sutherland is all voice and no drama, that's typical Callas fan simplification. :I did not find Callas' diction IN THE THEATRE particularly clear (EMI recorded her much closer than Decca did Sutherland). Callas is a "great artist" who leaves me cold! Do you think for one moment that drama didn't matter to "Joanie" or to ME? Did you see her as Stuarda or Lucrezia? And did you ever hear Callas' tortured attempt to sing in English? Conversational my foot!

  • And btw. There are many "pirated" live performances of Callas that "fans" like me listen to. Are we to believe that they too were miked closer than Sutherland? Many of them were recorded on cheap recording devices, many at a distance. Callas, diction, conveyance of the text are there as well. A bone, doesn't cut it for me.

  • by the time you guys are discussing Divas as Callas and Sutherland we have today new singers unfortunately could not reach the level of none of these

  • @kgarmaker123 Certainly she is NOT CALLAS, whose singing of Casta Diva was JUST PLAIN UGLY -- HIDEOUS. Nothing like the artistry, the BEAUTY and the sheer virtuosity of the incomparable Sutherland here.

  • @SenseAndSpite No the real hideous version was this one of Joanie's HORRID. HORRID HORRID.

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  • @kgarmaker123 I beg to differ.

    Callas's Casta Diva grates rather painfully on the ears. And there's the lack of control -- many instances when a sudden rush of notes comes at the listener, quite frankly, like puffs of flatulence accidentally let out from the wrong end of her.

  • @SenseAndSpite The only flatulence is that coming from her mouth, ( joanies) and yours.. HOrrid horrid horrid.. I cannot stand listening to this horrible representation of singing, or of bel canto by this horrible vastly overated singer with mush diction..

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  • @kgarmaker123 Please accept my apologies for having slighted your delicate sensibility.

    While Callas's tone and timbre can sound downright GROTESQUE, and while her delivery might seem like it has all the control of a WAYWARD FLATULENCE, I must, however, grant you that Callas did one thing exceptionally well that our dear Joanie, bless her heart, was INCAPABLE of doing -- and that is ACT A ROLE, ANY ROLE, LIKE A TWITCHING, BLABBERING EPILEPTIC

  • @kgarmaker123 You see, Callas loved making those twitchy, jerky gestures on stage -- and she loved them all the more the twitchier and jerkier they were. The demented, bulging eyes were a staple of her thespian arsenal -- and so was the frothing mouth.  This, you see, was what Callas called ACTING, and I'm very sorry to say that our Joanie was NO GOOD at this sort of thing at all.

  • marvelous! breath control; phrasing; trills. what a joy to listen to

  • I love Joan's singing here, at this point in her career, and in the original key. She delivers the music effortlessly. The final note floats like the distant nelling of a bell.

  • Is it? On the version I am listening to , it is in the same key that Callas recorded the aria.. the lower key. I have heard the version with the higher key( a full tone higher) and .. although I thought Joan had no problems vocally, it sounded "brighter to me"... I like the lower key, myself.

  • thanks for video nice mpppppppua

  • It´s from a TV programme called "Great Arias".

  • I have the video of this "Norma," but from which video is this clip taken?

  • Thank you for this video, Joan was The Queen of Belcanto a voice that comes once every 100 years.

  • Joan is the best Norma ever!!!!

    Her lines, and demanding the Belcanto roles are so beautiful.

    Hope we can continue more from these movies!

    Viva La Stupenda.

  • La Stupenda

    my favorite Norma

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