The Art of the Prima Donna
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Free Music Notes for The Art of the Prima Donna
Free Music Review: Coloratura at its best!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Cheryl Studer is fantastic on this recital disc. She really has an amazing coloratura technique. You don't get Sutherland or Sills' total control of the dynamics of coloratura singing, but you do get above average coloratura singing. Ms. Studer has a nice, large voice. It is a bit androgynous and not as attractive as Caballé's or Sutherland's, but at least it is warm and vibrant. Some people say she has a hollow tone to her voice. I don't hear it. Some people just hate her. She is a great artist. She probably provokes Callas fans because of her Callas-like versatility in singing different roles and Sutherland fans because of her dramatic coloratura voice and above-average coloratura technique.On this recital, she does some arias well and others competently. She has a real trill, but it is not uniformly good throughout the disc. I was really convinced by her rendition of the "Sonnambula" aria. Amina is really not for her voice, but here, she sings one of her arias really well. She ends it with a full-throated high note. If only all her ending high notes on this disc were full-throated. Her Violetta is too forceful. "Sempre libera" sounds mad rather than happy and flighty. "Casta diva" could be a bit more ethereal. Also, it was unnecessary for the producers to cut the cabaletta. The aria from "Il Trovatore" really suits her. Leonora is a role that she probably would have sung well. She has the trills that Verdi requests. Too bad she has stopped singing due to vocal decline. Lucia is not a role that suits her. Her voice is too robust and forceful for portraying the mentally unstable heroine. Her rendition of the Prologue from "Lucrezia Borgia" is nice, but Caballé is really the model for how "Tranquillo ei posa . . . Com'è bello!" should be sung. Her Rosina is quite successful. However, the last high note is very squeaky. "Bel raggio lusinghier" is really not up to par with Sutherland's version on "The Art of the Prima Donna". The final high note is squeaky and the runs are quite careful.
This recital is great, but do not expect perfect vocalism. It is a touching reminder of the former great artist that Ms. Studer was.
Free Music Review: Remaster of the most spectacular coloratura cd of all time.
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a remaster of one of the most celebrated bel canto program of all time. Because of its being remaster, you can really hear the sheer volume and scope of Ms Sutherland's voice, especially her amazing high notes.Everyone who is an opera lover knows that as a coloratura soprano, Ms Joan Sutherland is beyond compare. Her trills, runs, arpeggios and other tricks in her formidable bag of coloratura gems are so close to perfection that she has been called the "Voice of the Century"by her legions of devoted fans. This recital, "The Art of the Prima Donna" is her finest recording she ever made.
So much has been said about the legendary voice of this great Australian diva that I am going to use a quote from a very famous American singing idol to define her phenomenal talents.
Dinah Shore, a very famous singer in her own right, though in a quite different style of vocalism, was a big fan of Ms Sutherland. Early in the 1960's (about the time of this record of "The art of the Prima Donna"), Ms Shore invited Joan as a guest on her popular televison show. The following is her introduction of Ms Sutherland...
"She's from Australia, she's a soprano, and when she made her debut at Milan's La Scala Opera House, she had to take thirty curtain calls. This is the artist who has critics all over the world calling her a phenomenal singer, possessing a phenomenal voice. She is the most spectacular coloratura ever heard. So I'm proud to invite you now to sit back and - well, pick a word: be thrilled, devastated, knocked out by one of the most magnificent operatic voices of our time. Here to sing for you, `Ah!fors'e lui' from La Traviata. - Miss Joan Sutherland".
Of course, Miss Sutherland sings this very aria `Ah!fors'e lui...Sempre libera" in this recital of "The Art of the Prima Donna" along with many more coloratura jewels that has earn her the name of "...the most spectacular coloratura ever heard..." Everything in this recital is a highlight, and no one alive can even compare to Ms Sutherland's renditions of these arias. The biggest thrill comes from "Marten Alle Arten", "Oh Beau pays","The Bell Song", and "Let the Bright Seraphim". Let me tell you from decades of experience as an opera lover, that this program is probably the most ambitious and difficult assembly of bel canto arias ever compiled in one 2 cd set.
Listen to every one of these most taxing of great scenes and arias. I believe you will agree that Ms Sutherland is incomparable. Truly the "Voice of the Century".
Free Music Review: A Feast!
Hit: 5 Stars
Joan Sutherland sings fifteen of the most famous arias for coloratura soprano with beauty of tone, marvelous technique, impeccable style, and convincing expression. Although Sutherland was a coloratura soprano, there was plenty of fullness to her middle voice, which serves her well in the purely lyric "Willow Song" from Verdi's OTELLO. "The Art of the Prima Donna" is a feast of soprano singing that should be listened to by anyone who loves bel canto.Free Music Review: Divas better than Sutherland
Hit: 1 Stars
Sills was a very accomplished coloratura who sang coloratura even more accurately than Sutherland did. The reason for this is because Sills' smaller voice was able to articulate coloratura more accurately than Sutherland's voice could. Those of you who say that Sutherland had the best coloratura technique of any recorded soprano are wrong. Sills' coloratura technique was started in childhood and mastered in her teenage years. Sutherland only started on her coloratura technique when she was in her late twenties. Sills sang in very high tessituras and managed to make every word comprehensible. Sills' high notes, while not as full as Sutherland's, were spectacular in their regularity and precision. Sills' also had very accurate pitch. Sills sung like a goddess and acted as well as Callas. Sills' voice was also more poignant than Sutherland's. Sills makes the listener aware that she is aware of every word she sings. In Cleopatra's aria "Se pietà di me non senti", Sills manages to make every legato line count. Every one of them brims with dramatic meaning. Sutherland, on the other hand, goes on autopilot when it comes to legato lines and she does not make the listener believe that she is aware of every word she sings. Sills' phrasing is masterful. Sutherland's phrasing is amateurish.Montserrat Caballé has a much more beautiful voice than Sutherland has. Caballé's platinum overtones are exquisitely beautiful. Sutherland's golden overtones are just pretty. Caballé's voice is exquisitely pure. Sutherland's voice is beautiful, but come on, Caballé is the soprano with the more beautiful voice. Caballé's diction is better than Sutherland's. Caballé can sometimes be as mushy-mouthed as Sutherland can, but overall, her diction is far superior to Sutherland's. Caballé's French diction is exquisite and pure. Sutherland's is nearly incomprehensible. Caballé tends to be more dramatically involved than Sutherland, although not to the extent that Sills is involved. Caballé's pianissimos beat Sutherland's any day. Her low notes are a lot more powerful than Sutherland's. Only Sutherland's expert coloratura and beautiful, rock-steady high notes beat Caballé's competent, but not spectacular, coloratura and strident high notes. Caballé's phrasing is accomplished and aristocratic. Sutherland's phrasing is laughably immature.
Free Music Review: sensational
Hit: 5 Stars
I own about 4,000 opera cds. Without question this recital by Joan Sutherland is the most impressive display of virtuoso singing in my collection. Just read all the other reviews to see what I mean.I sincerely think that if one recital is to be named the "Cd of the Century" for a female vocalist, this one should win hands down. Sutherland's voice is God given. We are blessed that we have this glorious cd.
This gets my highest recommendation ever.