Joan Sutherland ~ The Art of the Prima Donna

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
One customer calls this CD "simply the greatest recording of a coloratura soprano's art ever"--a kind of superlative and a level of enthusiasm that critics try to avoid. But looking through a century of recorded sound, not a single recording is a clearly better coloratura example. Joan Sutherland's voice is young, fresh, agile, superbly controlled, and rich in tone. To ask for more expressive power would be missing the point; that is not what this music is about. It is perfectly chosen to display the best qualities of Sutherland's voice at its peak. --Joe McLellan --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Artaxerxes: The Soldier Tir'd
Samson: Let The Bright Seraphim
Norma: Sediziose voci ... Casta diva ... Ah! bello a me ritorna
I Puritani: Son vergin vezzosa (Polonaise)
Semiramide: Bel raggio lusinghier
I Puritani: O rendetemi la speme ... Qui la voce ... Vien, diletto
La Sonnambula: Care compagne ... Come per me sereno ... Sovra il sen
Faust: O Dieu! que de bijoux ... Ah! je ris de me voir

Tracks:

Romeo et Juliette: Ah! Je veux vivre
Otello: Mia madre aveva una povera ancella ... Piangea cantando
Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail: Martern aller Arten
La Traviata: E' strano ... Ah, fors'e lui ... Sempre libera
Hamlet: A vos jeux, mes amis
Lakme: Ah! Ou va la jeune Indue
Les Huguenots: O beau pays de la Touraine!
Rigoletto: Gualtier Malde ... Caro nome

Amazon.com

In February 1959, an unknown (well, comparatively) Australian singer appeared at Covent Garden in Franco Zeffirelli's new production of Lucia di Lammermoor and took the world by storm. The following year, Joan Sutherland went into the studio to record this reissued tribute to prima donnas of previous generations, illustrating along the way the bel canto tradition of which she was to become a leading exponent. The 16 excerpts on this digitally remastered double CD include several roles she had already sung or was on the verge of singing, from Gilda in Rigoletto, which she had sung at Covent Garden before her Lucia debut, to Norma. What a performance! The voice is fresh, remarkable in its beauty, and she makes it all sound so effortless, tossing off Handel's "Let the bright Seraphim" or the Jewel aria from Gounod's Faust as if they're the easiest things in the world. This sparkling selection of glorious singing demonstrates just why Sutherland was to remain at the top of her profession for the next 30 years and join those to whom she here pays tribute as one of the great singers of all time. --Richard Fawkes

Customer Reviews:

La Stupenda is stupendous on this recording. Don't miss it!.......2007-01-05

I originally bought "The Art of the Prima Donna" in 1963, when I was just a kid, after seeing Dame Joan's debut in "Norma" with the Vancouver Opera in October of that year, and I was completely bowled over by both her live performances and her recording. She made me an opera fan for life. I've worn out and replaced that miraculous recording since then, and now have a third version on CD.

I completely disagree with those who believe that Sutherland lost the gleam on her voice after 1961. It's true that she suffered for several years with intermittently poor diction and rhythmic lapses, but these were due to terrible medical problems and the results of serious operations that were required to restore her health. Later she recovered most of her vocal lustre and all of her enthusiasm for performing, and her diction steadily improved. Her fabulous technique remained intact until her retirement in 1990.

No singers sound as fresh at 50 as they do at 30. Just listen to how Callas sounded in her later years, when her voice had almost completely deteriorated, and her career was far shorter than Sutherland's. The fact is that Sutherland sang in public for forty years, without amplification and often in barnlike theatres, and yet she still sounded formidable when she retired. Just listen to her performance of the final aria from "Lucrezia Borgia" on YouTube. I heard her debut in that role, again in Vancouver, shortly before that Covent Garden performance, and can attest that she was still in fabulous voice at the age of 53 and her coloratura remained spectacular.

What "The Art of the Prima Donna" gives us is the memory of an unparalleled vocal phenomenon in her glorious youth, before her physical disabilities briefly interrupted her career. No singer since has created a recording that exhibits anything like the range, vocal beauty and versatility that Sutherland displayed on this historic recording--not Callas, nor Caballe, nor Sills, nor any of their recent imitators. The title of this recording was not an exaggeration. This is singing that truly revived "The Age of Bel Canto," to quote the title of another Sutherland recording. "The Art of the Prima Donna" and Sutherland's earlier recordings, if you can get them, constitute an invaluable legacy from an artist who truly restored the golden age of singing.

Sutherland is Amazing.......2006-06-29

The first thing I ever heard by Sutherland was the Bel Raggio and I was floored. The voice sounded huge but I wondered if it was a technicians trick. I heard her on stage many times. Recordings do NO JUSTICE to the hugeness of the voice. Her diction was weak and her line sometimes droopy but the warm, huge, fexible voice was amazing. I don't think she or anyone else was the Voice or Singer of the century- no voice or singer could sing every role in the repetoire. Sutherland could no more sing Brunnhilde than Flagstad could sing Lucia.

In her repertoire, JS was one of the greatest voices with an incredible technique and style that ever made recordings. This is a great CD - but some others which were issued on vinyl but to my knowledge not on CD help round out the Sutherland greatnes, viz., Command Performance, The Age of Bel Canto and the French Opera Album. She did a 2 disc set called "A Festival of Baroque Operas- There is an aria called "Barbaro, Barbaro" which is mind boggling for the speed and clarity of its coloratura. Even in 1977 at 51 yrs old her video performance of Lucrezia Borgia is amazing - it is one of the greatest performances she ever did- exciting, tender and again with that huge voice and flexibility. The last scene is amazing.

Flawless-NO Unique-WITHOUT A DOUBT!!!!!

A Phenomenal Historic Recording Newly Minted.......2005-10-08

There is not much to add to the encomiums of previous reviews. This is one of the most astounding vocal recitals, if not THE most astounding, ever recorded. It caught one of history's greatest singers in her absolute prime, before the well-known defects - mushy diction, cloudy tone, sliding into notes, enervated rhythmic sense - began to compromise her singing. (Well, ok, the diction here is not crystal clear, but mostly quite acceptable and MUCH better than it later became.)

One wonders if any other soprano in history ever sang so fast, so high and so loud while always preserving such a full, golden, round sound. Sutherland was a genuine vocal phenomenon, and even those who don't generally care for her singing surely must find their jaws on the floor repeatedly during this recital. Every selection has something treasurable. My personal favorites: "A soldier tir'd," "Bel raggio lusinghier," "Qui la voce," "Come per me sereno," the "Hamlet" Mad Scene, the Bell Song, and "O beau pays."

The remastering is superb, enabling us to hear Sutherland's voice in all its pristine glory. The engineers have even managed to mitigate the rumble of Underground trains (the Picadilly Line?) that were a perpetual problem in Kingsway Hall, although I was glad to hear that the loud yell in the distance one hears during the "Croce e delizia" section of "Ah, fors'e lui" is still there; by now it is an old friend, and I would miss it.

Canary in the silver mine .......2005-09-20

This is a good compilation, and Sutherland was captured at the right time, before she went completely mushy dictionwise and lost her vocal sheen. The remastered sound is very good, too, spectacular for a recording from the 1960s.
However, after digesting this CD for several weeks, I still have a mixed response to all these Stupendous vocalistics.
The beginning is the main sour note- Arne is tired, with often imprecise, behind the beat coloratura, quite unlike the rest of Sutherland's output, and Let the Bright Seraphim is unbelievably leaden- the orchestra in particular sounds awful, and clunky. I can't comment on ornamentation here because I didn't detect any. This is a poor man's Seraphim, only impressive if you never heard any other versions, and Sutherland's voice is wasted in this piece.
This CD really picks up with Casta Diva, a dazzling showcase for Sutherland's voice. I was very impressed with Sutherland's performance as Norma in this recording- what happened to her in later years, when her "acting" was limited to, as she herself described it, wearing a "generally pained expression" and singing without much color or feeling?
Pieces from I Puritani are great, then we get excellent Rossini, wonderful Jewel Song, and then sparkling Juliet and very effective, beautiful and dramatically involved Desdemona.
And then- another fly in the ointment, Marten Aller Arten. This is one of my favourite arias and I can be very unforgiving when it comes to its performance, plus I like Konstanze to be really angry and wired, which is sort of opposite of what Joan does. This is a pretty, chirpy Marten, and she works hard on her German- way too hard actually, she seems to be slowing down trying to pronounce it, and still "Ich verlache" and "mich" turn into "Ich ve-ayee" and "meeeh", plus she does not sound as secure on top as I would expect, with a metallic high C. She picks up at the very end, putting some feeling into the sound, then topples again... This is a hit and miss one.
Fortunately the rest of the CD is filled with sparklers more in Sutherland's vein. Violetta is really great, with a fantastic high E, Ophelia is nice, Lakme is vocally one of the best I have ever heard, the dull Meyerbeer aria is made interesting and shimmery- that fabulous trill is finally put to work after many tracks of underuse- and then it all ends with a most charming Gilda.
It's not the greatest vocal performance ever put on vinyl/plastic/megabites, but overall, a good, historical set to add to your collection of opera recitals and soprano specials.

Bel Canto from an angelic voice.......2005-04-19

There are only a few soprano-recitals that are absolutely essential and must be in every opera collector's collection. The art of the primadonna, does it qualify? Oh yes indeed and here's why. Joan Sutherland had one of the most brilliant and beautiful voices in recorded history, combine that with an excellent technique, high notes that sparkle like stars and coloratura of angelic quality and you get what Joan Sutherland was in 1961. To describe only a few favourites:

2. Samson, oratorio, HWV 57 Let the bright Seraphim
Composed by George Frideric Handel
with Joan Sutherland

A sparkling and intense interpretation of this well known yet hardly ever magnificently performed piece. Lucid, beautiful and technically impeccable.

3. Norma, opera Sediziose voci... Casta diva... Ah! bello
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
with Joan Sutherland

Surely her best studio-recording of this killer-aria. She is one of the few Normas who masters the recitativo without cracking or sounding strained, yet full of authority and intelligent drama. The Casta Diva itself is fluent, the make-or-break coloratura wonderfully executed. As for the cabaletta, not since young Callas in 1949 have I heard this piece sung so beautifully! Amazing high notes crown a cabaletta that broke more than one famous Norma before.

6. I Puritani, opera O rendetemi la speme... Qui la voce... Vien, diletto
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini

A Bellinian madscene at its finest. Once again only Callas in 1949 can be compared to this wonder of a recording. Callas too found darker colours and more intensity. (Dolore e passione as described in the score) Sutherland may lack these but she sings it with her own sense for drama which is uniquely sublime.

10. Otello, opera Mia madre aveva una povera ancella... Piangea cantando
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
with Joan Sutherland

An interesting and excellent choice. There are pictures of Joan Sutherland as Desdemona and what a pity that no complete recording of her performances survived. I find her Desdemona to be far more convincing than Tebaldi because she sounds more fragile and elegant, plus she has that silvery tone of innocence that I don't hear in Tebaldi's golden, sensual voice. Excellent in the floating lines, beautiful and tender in the cantabile.

16. Rigoletto, opera Gualtier Maldè... Caro nome
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
with Joan Sutherland

This can be compared to Maria Callas' live-performance of this piece and, being in excellent sound, might be preferred. (Callas was excellent in the studio as well, yet in 1955 she was less daring and defying) Stunningly intense in the cantabile and brilliant in the coloratura-passages. Far better than her famous performance with Pavarotti where she had lost the youthful, silvery sound that made her earlier Gilda so loveable.

I do not adore her as much in French opera and La Traviata or anything German but that doesn't mean that her singing was anything but amazing, just a personal preference. In short: Buy it and discover why Joan Sutherland is indeed La Stupenda!

Joan Sutherland: The Art of the Prima Donna

Average customer rating:

Joan Sutherland: The Art of the Prima Donna

Manufacturer: London
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000CPSDCU

Product Description

Joan Sutherland: The Art of the Prima Donna. Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Chorus Master Douglas Robinson. Conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. Works of Arne, Handel, Bellini, Rossini, Gounod, Verdi, Mozart, Thomas, Delibes and Meyerbeer.

Average customer rating:

AMAZING TALENT !!!

Joan Sutherland: The Art of the Prima Donna

Manufacturer: London Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000BVZB9S

Product Description

CD1)~~~1. The soldier tir'd/Artaxerxes/Arne~~2. Let the bright Seraphim/Samson/Handel~~3. Sediziose voci...Casta diva...Ah! bello a me ritorna/Norma/Bellina~~4. Son vergin vezzosa/I puritani/Bellini~~5. Bel raggio lusinghier/Semiramide/Rossini~~6. O rendetemi la speme...Qui la voce sua soave...Vien, diletto/I puritani/Bellini~~7. Care compagne..Come per me sereno...Sovra il sen/La sonnambula/Bellini~~8. O Dieu! que de bijoux...Ah! je ris/Faust/Gounod~~~~~CD2)~~~1. Je veux vivre/Romeo et Juliette/Gounod~~2. Mia madre aveva una povera ancella...Piangea cantando (Willow Song)~~3. Martern aller Arten/Mozart~~4. E'strano...Ah fors'e lui...Sempre libera/La Traviata/Verdi~~5. A vos jeux, mes amis/Hamlet/Thomas~~6. Ah! Ou va la jeune Indoue/Lakme/Delibes~~7. O beau pays de la Touraine!/Les Huguenots/Meyerbeer~~8. Gualtier Malde...Caro nome/Rigoletto/Verdi

Customer Reviews:

AMAZING TALENT !!!.......2005-12-31

SUTHERLAND'S VOICE IS THE PUREST ONE I HAVE EVER HEARD. I HAVE A COLLECTION OF OVER 1,200 CDs OF OPERATIC MUSIC AND NOT EVEN THE GREATEST SOPRANOS ARE ABLE TO PRODUCE A SOUND SO CLEAR AND TRANSPARENT. IT IS A SOUND YOU CAN TOUCH AND SEE LIKE A COLOR LINE ON THE AIR. THANK YOU, JOAN, FOR SO MANY YEARS OF SHARING AND WONDERFUL MUSIC. MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS.

Average customer rating:

Like a walk in the clouds!
It reach the highest status, just how high? you be the judge
Sutherland's greatest achievment, need I say more
Since int's inception in 1960, this is the standard
Dazzling display of coloratura singing by La Stupenda

Joan Sutherland ~ The Art of the Prima Donna

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Sutherland, Joan | Divas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000042EK
Release Date: 1997-07-15

Tracks:

Artaxerxes: The Soldier Tir'd
Samson: Let The Bright Seraphim
Norma: Sediziose voce ... Casta diva...Ah! bello a me ritorna
I Puritani: Son vergin vezzosa
Semiramide: Bel raggio lusinghier
I Puritani: O rendetemi la speme... Qui la voce sua soave... Vien, diletto
La Sonnambula: Care compagne... Come perme sereno... Sovra il sen
Faust: O Dieu! que de bijoux... Ah! je res

Tracks:

Romeo et Juliette: Je veux vivre
Otello: Mia madre aveva una povera ancella... Piangia cantanco
Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail: Martern aller Arten
La Traviata: E'strano... Ah fors'e lui... Sempre libera
Hamlet: A vos jeux, mes amis
Lakme: Ah! Ou va la jeune Indoue
Les Huguenots: O beau pays de la Touraine!
Rigoletto: Gualtier Malde... Caro nome

Amazon.com

One customer calls this CD "simply the greatest recording of a coloratura soprano's art ever"--a kind of superlative and a level of enthusiasm that critics try to avoid. But looking through a century of recorded sound, not a single recording is a clearly better coloratura example. Joan Sutherland's voice is young, fresh, agile, superbly controlled, and rich in tone. To ask for more expressive power would be missing the point; that is not what this music is about. It is perfectly chosen to display the best qualities of Sutherland's voice at its peak. --Joe McLellan

Customer Reviews:

Like a walk in the clouds!.......2004-07-13

What can one say about one of the greatest soprano recitals ever. Despite all her later achievements, this early recital is Sutherland's most significant contribution to operatic discography.

This recital is full of her huge but always sweet high notes. This is after all, what made them so special. When I listen to these high notes it's as if a bird is taking me on a trip to the sky. Her coloratura abilities are jaw dropping to say the least. You have no idea what a trill or staccato means if you haven't heard Joan singing! Everything here is stunning but my favourites are her Bell Song, Care compagne and The soldier Tir'd.

I've never been Sutherland's greatest fan due to her mushy enunciation, which fortunately is restricted to the minimum here but this early recital never stays far from my cd player! Indeed the art of a primadonna, Sutherland's art!

It reach the highest status, just how high? you be the judge.......2003-07-30

The recital by one Australian diva recorded in 1960 by a young and unknown soprano that has taken the world by storm. She not only became the most celebrated coloratura soprano the world had ever known, she became the most loved.
16 arias...the test of every coloratura skills known to mankind. Does she past, or fall short? You be the judge. I say she sings the most incredible recital ever recorded in the history of the grammophone. A gigantic claim. A claim that is substantuated by her singing.

Sutherland's greatest achievment, need I say more.......2003-07-30

Sutherland's first and finest moments in her reign as one of opera's most beloved sopranos. I need not say more. Her name and reputation speaks for itself. She is La Stupenda.

Since int's inception in 1960, this is the standard.......2003-07-28

The best selling recital by a coloratura soprano ever released. That includes Callas. Now it's time to upgrade to this remaster of the most astonishing singing on record.
The old cd "Art of the Prima Donna" is of course, the last world for stupendous singing. But this is a remaster version of it. The flaws with the non remaster cd in nothing comparing to the sonic of this gem.
You will hear Sutherland as never heard before. IN full voice, an her dynamic range is finally capture on CD. Before when the soprano hits a D or E, the sound is not capture properly by Decca's engineer, her high notes are just too big and vibrant.. Here, you get to hear the real Sutherland, the engineers at decca allows you to hear La Stupenda as she really it. You hear the full Sutherland range, form low G to the F above high C. I have to recommend this. It is the last world in bel canto.

Dazzling display of coloratura singing by La Stupenda.......2003-07-27

I adore this recital done by La Stupenda in 1960. It is a true feat of Bravura for Dame Joan Sutherland, and I am thrilled to death to have it on cd. I already have this on cassette
and lp, but this is my first Cd with Sutherland because I'm a starving artist. But it is superb, far more
luminous than the lp or the cassette. The sound is so life-like! Finally, a medium that allows the
Sutherland voice to be heard as it should be. Every aria is a tour de force of the highest caliber.

The most remarkable thing is the huge top. It is both enormous and has a brilliant vibrato. Funny
thing that as Sutherland ages, the high notes got smaller and smaller. But not here, this is Sutherland
at her best. I think if Birgit Nilsson had an E flat, that's what it would sound like, Wagnerian in size.
Almost every aria has an high E flat or E. Besides the high notes is the most true to form of a trill that
exist. An actual trill, not a tremolo like other divas.

I believe that when Donizetti and Bellini wrote for Pasta, Grisi, and Malibran, this is the kind of
soprano he had in mind when he wrote these near impossible arias. A true diva from the golden age.
Of course, the difference between these divas of the past and Sutherland is the enormous size of
Sutherland's instrument. Plus the fact that all those divas of Bellini's time transpose these arias down
one full step or more.

Sutherland doesn't do that. Even though she has a right to do so because the tones today are now
almost a full tone higher than they were in the 17th century, so a high C then is only a B flat today.
So an E flat today is much higher than an E flat in Donizetti's time. So all of Sutherland's E flats are
actually high Fs! Imagine that.

If there is a single cd I can have on a desert island, this would be it. This is, without a doubt, the
most taxing program that any prima donna has attempted in a single recital, every arias is a tour de
force, stretching the limits of the human voice in all but Sutherland. In fact, this seems easy for her -
it's effortless. I challedge anyone to find a coloratura today, or anyday, who can match up to La
Stupenda.

IMCOMPARABLE!

Music Review: