This was the last recital Joan Sutherland recorded, in 1985. She retired five years later. By ’85 her voice had thickened somewhat, and there’s an occasional beat on sustained notes–but what’s interesting is not what’s wrong, but how much remains right. The tone is still huge and round, the flexibility in the fast passage-work still astounding, the staccatos accurate. Her Giulietta and Odabella (from Attila) are too droopy-sounding, but her legato and sense of where the music is going remains masterly. And frankly, her “favorite” Leonore isn’t very effective (I believe she sings the aria and cabaletta up a half-tone)–but there the bad-ish news ends.
An adorable “Yodeling” song from Donizetti’s unknown one-act opera Betly is a delight, and so is a zippy number from Il castelo di Kenilworth; and while she’s far from anyone’s favorite Rosina, it’s still good to hear her sing “Una voce poco fa”. She’s nicely dreamy in both “Selva opaca” (to give it its Italian name) from Guillaume Tell and Selika’s aria from L’Africaine. What to do? Well, if you’re a died-in-the-wool Sutherland fan, the answer is easy; newcomers will be happier with her earlier recordings. Her work on disc from the ’60s and ’70s remains astonishing and is a requirement for any opera-lover’s collection.
