Allor che i forti corrono

It's been a while since I posted the last video of the Lyric Sutherland serie. These videos have been uploaded to show the very best qualities of Joan Sutherland in a domain in which she excelled but several people still overlook.

So many people are amazed at Sutherland's incredible agility and high notes that they forget she could only have been an operatic legend because she also mastered the most elegant and subtle phrasing, the longest vocal lines and all the passages that require both utmost lyricism or effortless liveliness.

So here we are with Sutherland in Early Verdi operas, those which often demand - even in the same role - smooth but expressive vocal lines and extreme examples of singing in its most vigorous, powerful form from top to bottom (granted, a very good bottom opposite a legendary, hardly ever equaled top).

Few singers could sing a delicate and deeply saddened Gilda at the same time as they could sing the most powerful Odabella aria ever. And don't forget how she took I Masnadieri's Amalia to life, embuing it with more energy and passion than other interpreters.

Of course, she didn't explore this repertoire a lot, what is a pity when we listen to her Verdi recordings, some of which are among the very best interpretations of those arias ever. Thus, here are the excerpts of the following arias/duets:

1) ATTILA - Allor che i forti corrono [1964]
2) ATTILA - Liberamente or piangi [1985]
3) LUISA MILLER - Tu puniscimi, o signore [1963]
4) I MASNADIERI - Tu del mio Carlo al seno [1963]
5) I MASNADIERI - Io t'amo, Amalia! [1982, with Matteo Manuguerra]
6) ERNANI - Tu, perfida [1987]
7) ERNANI - Ernani, involami [1959]
8) I VESPRI SICILIANI - Mercè, dilette amiche [1959]
9) RIGOLETTO - Tutte le feste al tempio [1961]