Details: Joan Sutherland (1926-2010): The Art of the Prima Donna. Decca, 1960 (CD: 2000). Total time (2 discs): 108:32.
Another parental influence I suppose. Joan Sutherland was far and away one of my mother's favorite singers and the near-unanimous assessment of 20th century sopranos is that she is second only to Maria Callas.
One of my mother's favorite habits was cooking and baking on Saturday afternoons while listening to the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Undoubtedly Sutherland was a frequent performer on these broadcasts and was one of the first singing voices I think I learned to recognize.
Sutherland, an Australian, had an incredibly advanced vocal gift--superb technical skills and the ability to convey emotion and drama while hitting every note perfectly and delivering a dazzling array of trills and runs.
This album is an intentional collection of well-known arias and from what I have heard has been used by many sopranos over the years as a learning tool.
It was recorded in Aug. 1960 in London, and the second track on disc 1 (Let the bright seraphim, by Handel) was the song that made her famous in 1958, also in London. Then, after her performance of this aria, the audience gave her a sustained 10-minute standing ovation.
The album includes her brilliant renditions of Bellini's Casta diva and Verdi's Sempre libera as well as 14 other arias from Rossini, Bellini, Gounod, Mozart and Verdi among others.
Listening to this album left me with a taste for lasagna, salad, garlic bread and cannoli.
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