Regis RG 1364

Recital – Joan Sutherland

‘This download, apart from the two Handel items, derives from Decca’s first recording after they had signed a contract with her. The main items were recorded only a few months later. It was an immense success, the first of many, and it remains an astonishing achievement. The clarity of her singing, especially given the size of her voice, together with a complete mastery of the coloratura which enables her to phrase with complete confidence remain as amazing today as they were on the day of first issue. Inevitably and rightly the collection is centred on two long extracts from Lucia di Lammermoor. The first is the cavatina and cabaletta in the fountain scene in which Lucia takes her companion, Alisa, into her confidence. Although Sutherland performed and recorded it many times there is an especial freshness in this version, as there is also in the Mad Scene. Both are helped by including the parts of Alisa, sung by Nadine Sautereau in a voice well contrasted with Sutherland, in the fountain scene and the chorus in the Mad Scene, although for some reason they are missing for a few bars at one point. If you do not have this disc already in one of its other forms it would be worth acquiring now for these items alone... The Verdi and other Donizetti items are also amazing, sung with accuracy and generosity of approach but without any of the smudgy coloratura or excessive vibrato that too many other singers today resort to...’

John Sheppard, Music Web International