[1960 live] Joan Sutherland - La Sonnambula, Act 1 - Debut Performance
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- Joan Sutherland's first Amina!
Vincenzo Bellini: La Sonnambula, Act 1
Care compagne... Come per me sereno... Sovra il sen la man mi posa
Covent Garden Orchestra and Chorus
Tullio Serafin
Recorded Live, October 1960
![[1960 live] Joan Sutherland's first "Ah! non giunge uman pensiero"](/img/n.gif)
Astonishing! A paradise for ears..
It was about this time that I saw & heard Joan in a recital at Hart House at the University
of Toronto - sponsored by the CBC - A magnificent night of fantastic singing.The Great Hall was crowded with students - a cokld, stormy March night, I believe. She was just
coming onto the internatioanl scene - and so well deserved! Love you, Joan. Jim
The voice as a Supreme Instrument.
And with a cold and wayward conductor.
When you can do this yourself you won't crit.
Not Serafin's best, correct
Sorry folks. I love Serafin. He’s a grand old man of Italian opera conducting. So much of his work is definitive. HOWEVER, this is not one of those examples. It’s just wrong. There’s NO forward movement and he’s actually interfering with the rhythmic pulse in Joan’s voice. NO WONDER Richard was having none of that. A few years later he saw to it that no plodding conductor would sabotage all his hard work.
you know right away that the conducting is first class and you don't need to read the name Serafin to make sure. La Stupenda sounds phenomenal as usual.
incredibile
It's wonderful to hear what Joan sounded like on this extraordinary night in operatic history. She must have had a slight brain fade, however, at the end of the cabaletta, when she descends too early from her high Eb. I must say, too, that I find Serafin's tempo too slow in the cabaletta - something Bonynge attended too in both of Joan's later recordings which are much more sprightly.
This is the most exquisite "Come per me" I've ever heard...even from Joan! I'm speechless. Oh my flippin' gosh! When she sings "Ah! qual goia" you completely believe that this is an innocent Swiss girl on her wedding day---not a coloratura soprano. JS uses the text perfectly. Clearly, this is a time when JS was very happy in her personal life---I suspect---before other 'certain things' obtruded. How does another soprano preparing this role hear this and have the guts to keep going? I disagree about the tempo for the cabaletta being too slow or inappropriate. She does with her voice what a great ballerina in a Romantic 'adagio' does through dancing. Sutherland = divine
Joan should have thrown her shoe at the Conductor for dragging the tempo in the Caballeta.
Joseph Happ She was too much of a lady to do such a thing. I on the other hand would refuse to ever work with that tone deaf freak LOL. Arnold Bourbon Amaral
I beg to differ about the respected and beloved Serafin, whose work in other operas can be beautiful. The tempi are laughable--this is a young girl on her wedding day, not the "Sonnambula" of the second act. There is no rhythmic impulse at all from him, and the words talk about the rapid beating of her heart! The choral interjections are comatose and the orchestral playing in the coda is distressingly coarse. And ONE verse of the cabaletta, that was "flawless style"? I grew up on Serafin's Boheme and Butterfly recordings and still adore them, but when the man was off (the impossible Otello recording!), the man was off, legend or not. Sutherland adored him, and never said a word against him, but he was no help to her at all on this night, when she could barely speak.
I have read enough comments to see that the issue of Serafin's conducting and the tempo of "Sovra il sen" is controversial. Nevertheless, I checked the score and found that "Sovra il sen" is marked "Moderato." I've heard later recordings of Sutherland (whose performance here is to die for) and other artists, where the tempo is taken "Allegro." In practical terms, I don't think one can do justice to all the trills, roulades, and fioritura, at such a fast tempo. This music should be delicate -- it's a young girl addressing her mother and friends -- and should seem effortless, IMO, as opposed to a piece written to show off a singer's virtuosity.
Some comments I saw before that sovra sen is supposed to be sung fast to show amina’s excitement and happiness. Well, i’m no expert but the slow and fast version done by joan is amazing. I think she’s the only one aside from callas who can sing it fast.
This is, frankly, almost unbelievable. Dame Joan was ill during this opening engagement, compounded by bad weather and hysteria surrounding visiting royalty. That she would go on in this condition and give a performance like this is, well, as I said, almost unbelievable. As for the turgid cabaletta, Serafin had conducted a few too many of these with Callas. One would think after the Lucia smash, he would realize he had a virtuoso on his hands.
What a silly comment. Callas's live performance with Bernstein was literally twice as fast than this limp and muddled performance, and Serafin put Callas through breakneck speeds on several occasions.
ghostofyeats So whispered the audibly challenged.
Serafin might have been an iconic conductor, but he clearly didn't get it right every time.
I don't see how that has anything to do with this? Going back to the performance at hand, you can hear Sutherland smudge the part starting at 7:30. Yes -- Sutherland with her supposedly marvelous technique. Granted, these are VERY difficult to execute cleanly, but -- to me and, I think, objectively -- Callas did them better in her live performances.
She had a nasty cold the night of this performance, so that might explain the brain-freeze.
ella es una maravilla........y no lo digo yo...........lo han dicho...............muchisimos criticos.............en mas de 60 años.............y es una leyenda.....en si misma...porque una voz como esa tan especial jamas ha existido....................y su ejecucion vocal es de un extremismo dramatico.......lleno de color.............exuberante............y potente.................que le ha dado el maximo puesto en la historia del canto..............y es por algo.........por hacer las cosas bien hechas...por la gran dedicacion...en toda su vida.por amor al canto....y sobre todo por el don maravilloso que la naturaleza le dio............algo que nadie jamas podra hacer mas que arrollidarse...ante tanta belleza..............
More than anything it seems as the Serafin and Sutherland have missed one another at the finish line. I believe that the conductor has to make an effort to stay with the singer's comfortable tempo, which some were disinclined to do. The singer has to breathe, their phrasing is built on it,and Richard Bonynge was sensitive to that reality...which is why Joan wanted him at the baton.
si los comentarios son negativos..a esta mujer...........y a esta voz......es que a lo mejor tiene un problema..............porque lo que es obvio............no hace falta negarlo.............si no te gusta...........pues no lo escuches...........pero si esto no lo quieres escuchar...o si lo escuchas............y lo niegas.....................o lo admiras o lo dias............y que yo sepa del amor al odio hay un paso......................
ESTA VOZ ES DE UNA BRAVURA Y EXQUISITEZ .....FUERA DE TODO CONTEXTO..................BELLA...................INALCANZABLE.............POTENTE....SEGURA.....DECIDIDA...FIRME..................INCREIBLEMENTE BELLA......DRAMATICA.................L.LENA DE TODO TIPOS DE TONOS.........INCREIBLEMENTE VOCALIZADOS DE MANERA SUPERLATIVA.......SIN UN FALLO...........PARA DEJAR EXTASIADO A CUALQUIER PERSONA.....CON UN MINIMO DE SENSIBILIDAD...................
UNA MARAVILLA INDESCRIPTIBLE........UN MILAGRO DE LA NATURALEZA............SIN CONTROL ........TOTALMENTE SUYO EL ESCENARIO.........
Does anyone know where to find the complete performance in correct pitch? The cd release from MYTO is pitched too high 😕
Beautiful voice, tempo as if the singer were agonizing...
la piu grande di tutte........
Ma solo in vostra fantasia.
fantasia es la de usted en responder a mi comentario...............la realidad es tan clara como que el oido no lo puede obviar..........y mi vista .es real.......y si viera un ovni.....aun lleno de miedo sabria describirlo perfectamente.......pero no es mi caso..yo no he visto naves extra terrestres.......pero esta voz si la se escuchar y expresar en palabras...............y la palabra es la que he expresado en el tema que usted ha respondido................
Много поетичен отговор, наистина. Певицата е голяма, но не е най-голямата и да се твърди това, не би било честно. Липсва ми душа в някои нейни изпълнения, а в пеенето най-важна е душата. Пък и не само в него.
EL RUSO ES UN IDIOMA QUE ME ENCANTA.................O LOS IDIOMAS PARALELOS AL RUSO.......QUE ME ENCANTAN TAMBIEN..............Y TAMBIEN LOS IDIOMAS DE LOS PAISES QUE HAN SEPARADO.................DE TODOS USTEDES COMO CENTRO......Y ENCIMA TENGO QUE SOPORTAR QUE VENGAN A VIVIR A MI PAIS PARA.ENCONTRAR LA LIBERTAD.....SOCIAL Y SANITARIA..................
Y RECIBO A VUESTROS PAISANOS.BUSCANDO SEGURIDAD EN MI PAIS...............ASI QUE NO ME HABLES DE VOCES......DONDE EN VUESTROS PAISES NO HAN SABIDO DARSE CUENTA LO QUE LES OCURRE A VUESTROS PROPIOS CIUDADANOS..............QUE VIVEN MISERIAS Y TIENEN QUE VENIR AL MIO.
Nel 1960 la Sutherland cominciava a godere già fama di rivalità con la Callas! Le distinzioni tuttavia sono rimaste !
Tulio Serafin what a genius, that's how you conduct bel canto. Votto, Gavazzeni, etc all phenomenal! today we're stuck with filth: Armiliaro, Benini. Bernstein was a lousy opera conductor too. Listen to how he butchered this aria in the live recording with Callas.
And the moronic British always reacting to such miraculous singing like zombies. There should've been pandemonium at Covent Garden after this.
Callas's recording of the two scenes with Serafin from 1955 rather lacks life as well. Bernstein had no understanding of bel canto, and I thought his conducting of the Scala performances lacked elegance. Votto did beautifully with Callas in Cologne as well as on the commercial recording.
I'm British, how rude!
timsuffolk it is so infantile when people bring nationalities into a conversation Etc. That's very prejudicial and should not be an issue. It's not our only rude it's offensive. Sincerely Arnold Bourbon Amaral 🌏🌎🌍📖🙏
un rayo laser de voz fulgurante
cualquier comentario siempre sera aceptado.............y no para mi.............si no para la leyenda...............que ha fallecido....................a mi mi intimidad me llena de mucha alegria............cuando escucho arte...........y el que quiera enviarme un mensaje en un idioma que crree ,........que no entiendo......no merece mas que le responda....que en mi no hay ....una intencion...........rara.......y por eso le respondo..que es cierto...lo que usted dice..........es mi fantasia.........asi que señor no me conteste en idima .............que pocos conocen.................
Голос приятнее чем у великой Марии. Не "владеет" лучше, не сценическая игра, не внешность, но ГОЛОС - приятнее.
Ella Stupenda, realmente una pirotecnia que deja impresionado, la dirección del maestro Serafin impresiona, los colores y el volumen que logra de la orquesta y el coro del Covent Garden, repito que ella daba mas cuando fue dirigida por maestros distintos a su marido, quien es excelente director, siento voz, pero no al personaje. Ojo admirable todo lo que hace y amo a Sutherland, pero en este papel sigo quedándome con la Callas. Imposible no comparar.
Only Callas...
Wonderful voice , wonderful technique , a truly magnificent singer, but where is Amina?
No disrespect to Richard Bonynge who was generally a fine conductor, but I think as an opera conductor Serafin is in a class of his own possibly only rivalled by Toscanini. (I take your point that the cabaletta seems a bit slow)
As for Joan Sutherland c.1960, well, a no brainer there, simply the most technically accomplished singer, possibly of all time.
Bonynge would never have allowed the orchestra to drag its feet as it does here; the tempo is too slow for the meaning of the words and Sutherland's never-matched technical skills. Serafin was indeed one of the greats, but he's got it wrong in this instance.
si no sabe hablar español..............es su problema..............a mi su idioma.como que no me dice nada............aunque conosco la historia de su pais..............que es grande y maravillosa....llena de claros y oscuros....igual que la de mi pais y de la tierra.en general que ha sido bastante nefasta.............pero no para demostrarlo en gustos artisticos..........asi que querido amigo hableme en castellano si me entiende...........y si no me entiende como que mejor ni me conteste..........................
mil pasos mas alla de la callas.........................
Conducted for the talents of callas, not Sutherland. This was painfully sluggish
Splendido canto, ma a volte ha la pronuncia sbagliata
Great singing but both Serafin and Sutherland are not at their best here. Sutherland has maybe one of the best voices ever but terrible lack of acting and real emotions, opera is the whole package delivered with deep feelings and no one does it better than Maria Callas. When it comes to Bellini, no one comes close to Maria and Serafin.
+Magnus Jönsson Yes, she had to act well because she had a voice that left much to be desired.
+Suth Pav You mean Maria Callas? What do you mean "left to be desired"She had a great voice, a voice telling the story and the person. That is what Opera is about I think.There are thousands of talantless nightingales that can`t perform correct and then it is all lost.
I feel her sincerity here, and her expression. She is acting with her voice, and I hear it... To my ear, she is no mere nightingale here. This is a role that requires sincerity and clarity, as opposed to deep character work like Mama Rose, or Lady MacBeth. Amina is a gentle character, here all she needs to express is simple joy. There is no subtext here.
What"deep feelings"? Callas fans should stick with how "musical" she is(yes, she is the only opera singer that can READ MUSIC). It's delusional opinions like this that makes me, a opera newbie, question Callas' artistry.
IMO Sutherland had considerably more emotion in her voice than Callas did, I think Callas had a decided edge in the drama department but I really feel at her best, Joan was the more moving singer.