Joan Sutherland: The Greatest Soprano Ever?

Lord Harewood, in the days "when they are edited in Opera magazine, got it right. Joan Sutherland, once they said, was the vocal Phenomenon of the postwar era. At the time, it seemed an Excessive tribute: what about Callas? Or Pavarotti? As The Years Went is, though, and Especially since Sutherland Retired in 1990, Harewood's Judgement Seems To Me To Be farsighted. Transformed Callas opera. Pavarotti broke the boundaries. But Sutherland, whose death was EARLIER Announced today, was The Voice. Vocally, she was the most complete artist of her day.

Her day was a very long one. She Had a career That lasted from the early 50s to the late 80s, Partly Because she looked on herself and her voice. At first, she sang a huge range of Roles, and nudged Performed literally have anything. She Could Have Been an Isolde Thurs rival Nilsson. But as her career became Established, and Under The Influence 'notice of her husband, Richard Bonynge, she rooted herself in the bel canto repertoire (though with excursions back to Handel and forward to Massenet, Puccini and Tippett).

She wasn't a great actor or a great beauty. Critics Said They Could never hear the words either, Not Because consonants were her strength. But it Did not matter. Sutherland Possessed the most secure and compelling soprano voice of the age, based on her rock-solid technique (Which she spoke about fascinatingly When I interviewed her in 2002, "when she was 75).

Listen to her great Roles - Lucia di Lammermoor has To Have pride of place, though her Norma, Elvira and Lucrezia Borgia come close - and it's the once-in-a-lifetime Combination of the instrument, ambition and Technique That Makes Her Such A complete Here. Of course, it was amazing the security of her top notes and the Dazzling Accuracy of her coloratura That always Brought the house down. But it was Sutherland's Soaring, flowing line That really marked her out from the others, and imperishably That Remains in the mind Now that she has gone.

Normally When I interview musicians I Manage Thurs keep my inner fan well under control. Not with Sutherland. She was the nicest and most straight forward person You Could ever imagine meeting. Even, I asked her for an Autograph. I think she was the best bel canto soprano I'll ever hear: The Vocal Phenomenon of the postwar era indeed. And of Plenty of others besides.