A confession - Sutherland and Pavarotti leave me cold

[Barbirollians]

I wonder if I am alone in this . I have recently acquired the S & P - L Elisir d'Amore conducted by Bonynge. Not for the first time I find myself admiring the beauty of their voices but that they leave me cold so far as the comedy is concerned . With the exception of Una Furtiva Lagrima which allows LP to show off - they could be singing the phone directory .

Comparing this to Kertesz's Don Pasquale today - the principals may not have had voices to match but had me laughing throughout especially Sciutti as Norina .

Are we spoiled today ? Acting on the operatic stage seems to me very much improved and S & P for all the perfection of their voices much more dated than those of the past who could act .

[Richard Tarleton]

We'll, there may be a fashion for more petite French singers in the comedic bel canto roles these days, but Sutherland was what she was - the greatest, or for Callas fans one of the two greatest, bel canto voices of the 20th century. Hers was the most astonishing, pin-you-to-your-seat voice, which if you have only heard her on CD (I scanned your profile in vain for evidence of your age, Barbirollians ) you cannot fully hope to appreciate. I only saw them once, in Lucia di Lammermoor, in early 1973, and it was a great experience which I shall never forget. I have never been to another Lucia, in spite of opportunities, because there's no point.

I actually don't care for the comic bel canto operas, and prefer to listen to Sutherland (and Callas for that matter) in the tragic ones. I have the LP of their La Fille du Regiment (highlights) but it's such rubbish I never listen to it. Give me Norma, Puritani etc. (with S&P) any day.

I won't even begin to talk about Pavarotti - I can't comment on his acting ability. Sutherland was a limited actress, very reliant on good direction, and they tended to put her in gigantic costumes and hats to make up for it. But vocally, incomparable.

Footnote: as an antidote, try Sutherland and Marilyn Horne duetting in "Norma". If that doesn't send shivers down your spine, nothing will .

[Barbirollians]

I was not fortunate enough to see either of them live , indeed my opera going is rather a recent last five years or so thing .

My comments are largely directed at how little the comedy comes across. Indeed, La Fille du Regiment is a case in point - I defy anyone not to find the ROH production captured on DVD with Dessay and Florez very funny indeed

Callas was clearly a very good actor though perhaps not at her very best in comedy .

[Richard Tarleton]

Callas was clearly a very good actor though perhaps not at her very best in comedy .

A bit like saying "Eric Morecambe was not at his best in Hamlet".

I don't suppose he ever attempted Hamlet, but then I'm struggling to think of Callas in a comic role....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A bit like saying "Eric Morecambe was not at his best in Hamlet".
I don't suppose he ever attempted Hamlet,

No; that was reserved for Glenda Jackson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE0DIzwx7wM

but then I'm struggling to think of Callas in a comic role....

Rosina?

[Richard Tarleton]

No; that was reserved for Glenda Jackson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE0DIzwx7wM thanks for reminding me


Rosina?

Aaarrrgh - of course. Thanks ferney.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Both singers had superlative technique, but both had a relatively narrow core repertoire.

And talking of Marilyn Horne, the Angus Dei with Joan Sutherland in the VPO/Solti recording of Verdi's Requiem - the tuning between the two is quite superlative.

[umslopogaas]

As well as Rosina in 'The Barber', Callas also sang Isabella in Rossini's 'Il Turco in Italia' and Amina in Bellini's 'La Sonnambula' (which isnt exactly a comedy, but does have a happy ending). However, she may have been more comfortable in tragic roles, she certainly sang a lot more of them.

John Steane produced a discography for Callas in The Gramophone (April 1997). There are about thirty roles, and he misses out a very early foray into Wagner as Kundry in 'Parsifal', sung in Italian in 1950 with Christoff as Gurnemanz. The CD case proudly announces "more than three hours", which means its been cut. Perhaps its as well she subsequently stuck to Italian and French repertoire, but I wouldnt say thirty roles was 'relatively narrow'. She could portray madness, suicide and violent death with the best of them; indeed, I reckon she was the best of them. Try the last part of Cherubini's 'Medea', in which she murders her two children, sets fire to the temple, summons the Furies from Hades and rides off back to hell with them. She is absolutely terrifying, other sopranos can do a fair job, but Callas will have you hiding behind the sofa.

[umslopogaas]

Done it again, have I? Killed a thread stone dead? Surely someone who knows Callas's recordings will respond? Heigh ho, its been a long day,I'm going to bed.

Dont any of you have a word to say about the greatest soprano of the last century and thereby perhaps of all of recorded history in her greatest role (OK, arguable on the last point?)

Callas as Norma, or Medea, HEAR her and be amazed ...

[Richard Tarleton]

Done it again, have I? Killed a thread stone dead? Surely someone who knows Callas's recordings will respond? Heigh ho, its been a long day,I'm going to bed.

Dont any of you have a word to say about the greatest soprano of the last century and thereby perhaps of all of recorded history in her greatest role (OK, arguable on the last point?)

Callas as Norma, or Medea, HEAR her and be amazed ...

No, no, umslopagass, come back.....

Funnily enough, I was going to post that this evening, by a remarkable coincidence, I watched a documentary about Callas (which I've seen several times before) from 1987 on SkyArts 2 (BTW where's Mr P these days) .....I actually don't have any of her complete recordings, but I do have a 4-disc EMI set with all her most famous bleeding chunks....

Fabulous voice and actress - one of those voices you can recognise on the car radio in under a second (along with Sutherland, Domingo, Pavarotti, Janet Baker and a few more) but I was always bothered by that sort of gargle in her voice. I was always a Sutherland fan, and in the previous generation (before my time, and not in the same repertoire) Tebaldi, several of whose sets I have.....

[Barbirollians]

Ah Tebaldi - another great technique little acting skill soprano!

RT that bargain of bargains the Callas complete studio recordings set may still be around !


Anyway , why are we talking about a soprano who was also a great actor . It is the absence of that skill with Sutherland and Pavarotti in so many of their much acclaimed sets that I struggle with . Don't get me wrong they were great singers and I have just about worn out " The Art of the Prima Donna" but in a lengthy opera the beauty of their voices is just not enough for me .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Callas as Norma, or Medea, HEAR her and be amazed ...

... the La Scala Live Medea with Bernstein is white hot!

[umslopogaas]

Thanks fhg, can you post details of the Bernstein version? If its on CD I'll get my local shop to chase it up. On LP, I've got the studio one on Colombia, conducted by Serafin, and a pirate "private recording" conducted by Nicolas Rescigno in London, 30 June 1959: presumably at Covent Garden, though there are no notes to confirm this. The cast is quite something:

Medea Maria Callas
Jason Jon Vickers
Creon Nicolo Zaccaria
Neris Fiorenza Cossotto
Glauce Joan Carlyle

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks fhg, can you post details of the Bernstein version? If its on CD I'll get my local shop to chase it up.

It's available in this EMI transfer:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Medea-Bernstein-Callas-Luigi-Cherubini/dp/B000069V7R/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346945692&sr=8-1

... but I have it in a less "official" guise. A warning: the sound quality is pretty poor (the MP3 download samples here give some idea) - but had it been better, there wouldn't've been a sound system that could cope with the performance!

(The "Vickers" version sounds enticing!)

[umslopogaas]

Thanks fhg, I'll see if I can get a copy. Vickers is tremendous, as I recall, I must admit its a long time since I played it.