# SOPRANO TOURNAMENT (By Request): Sills vs Sutherland



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Beverly Sills, USA, 1929-2007






Joan Sutherland, Australia, 1926-2010






Who's singing did you prefer and why?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Neither of these performances strikes me very positively. Sills has obviously suffered vocally from years of performing music that calls for power beyond her natural capacity; I'm reminded of her cheerfully rueful remark, "I was born with the mind of Birgit Nilsson and the voice of Beverly Sills." Sutherland also sounds late-career, and her lack of a good chest voice is very deleterious here (something Sills, interestingly, has and exploits effectively). This aria needs a real dramatic coloratura, which - _pace _Sutherland fans - "La Stupenda" is not.

What it will have to come down to for me is how well the spirit of the music is conveyed. In that, despite Sutherland's marginally more suitable instrument, Sills, with her typical willingness to risk everything, wins the day.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Sutherland for me. I know other people who love late Sutherland, but not in this forum. Bonynge, who knew her voice well, also preferred her late voice, as he liked her richer sound. Perhaps one must be in love with her like him and me to hear her late voice in a positive light.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Neither would be my go to performance for this cabaletta. I've never thought that Sills was really suited to Donizetti's three Tudor queens which require a voice with more grandeur. For all her intelligence and musicality, this is just the wrong voice, much too light and rather pallid. She does at least have a chest voice, which Sutherland does not.

Sutherland's performance is transposed down, isn't it? This means the low notes do tend to disappear, meaning she has to do quite a lot of upward variants, but it does mean she can hurl out a spectacular top note at the end. 

Both versions are over-decorated, for my taste anyway, but I feel Sills is more in tune with the requirements of the role and the music, so I'll vote for her.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Interesting competition. We have one singer who sings the cabaletta well, despite not being suited to it and another who isn't up to scratch due to being at the end of her career pretty much. Sills wins this, but as others have said, neither is great in this role. (Interesting coincidence that neither of these two has Greek heritage!)

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Interesting competition. We have one singer who sings the cabaletta well, despite not being suited to it and another who isn't up to scratch due to being at the end of her career pretty much. Sills wins this, but as others have said, neither is great in this role. (Interesting coincidence that neither of these two has Greek heritage!)
> 
> N.


I listened to several other versions after this. No prizes for guessing who won, but I was pleasantly surprised by a performance from Parma in 1977 with Katia Riciarelli. I preferred her performance to either Sills or Sutherland here.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

This one is a puzzlement.
First of all it seems like Sills sang it in a different (higher) key than Sutherland. Why? Is it because this was a late Sutherland recording? If so, I guess I could make allowances for it, especially after her exquisite performance on the final ending notes.
But the exuberance and urgency that came through Sills recording is not to be minimized.
I personally prefer Sutherland's voice and the classic way she treated the role but I have to give my final nod to Sills (with some reservations).
I must say that I have heard better from other sopranos.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I'd say this is disastrous for both of these singers at that point in their careers. This is a "Mad Scene" in the sense that both singers were crazy to sing this role, Sills at all; Sutherland when she was too old that she had to transpose it down. But she did have that astonishing top note at the end. Sills last _acuto _ did her no favors.

Neither singer really stuck to a score that I recognize (perhaps I'm use to the cuts?).

Despite the fact that they both have great trills, I can't vote for either.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Sills delivers better performance in a studio. Still overparted, of course, but very exciting and risking everything. Passion wins the day.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Azol said:


> Sills delivers better performance in a studio. Still overparted, of course, but very exciting and risking everything. Passion wins the day.


But the Sills is live too. Philadelphia, according to youtube, and there's applause at the end.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> But the Sills is live too. Philadelphia, according to youtube, and there's applause at the end.


Amending: Sills delivers better performance [than in this 1974 live one] in the studio.

I wouldn't want to be without her Three Tudor Queens boxset.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

I don't like either of these singers very much, but I took longer to turn off Sills because there was at least some drama there from her audible and decently strong lower notes. So I guess that's a vote for Sills? Maybe a vote for silence?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I don't like either of these singers very much, but I took longer to turn off Sills because there was at least some drama there from her audible and decently strong lower notes. So I guess that's a vote for Sills? Maybe a vote for silence?


Awwww! Be nice!

Speaking more generally, would you agree that Sills was the more interesting artist? She didn't have the voice of a Queen Elizabeth, but onstage she must have given Bette Davis a run for her money.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

ooo, both well out of their prime. let's do a better comparison

Gaetano Donizetti - Rosmonda d'Inghilterra - "Perche non ho"

Beverely Sills





Joan Sutherland


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I did this post incorrecly


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

I love both of you my Ladies. You are of the best in the business. But for this ''Coppia iniqua, l'estrema vendetta'' *Beverly wins clearly* (sorry Joan) because (also here) her better adaption to the role. She is singing more, her voice is dancing more, she embraces the rhythm like a hand sue, she made me believe that she means every word she said. More soul and pathos, generally speaking. Beloved aria, thanks for this choice.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> ooo, both well out of their prime. let's do a better comparison
> 
> Gaetano Donizetti - Rosmonda d'Inghilterra - "Perche non ho"
> 
> ...


I was not familiar with these. Thank you! They were glorious. I don't universally like Sill's trills, but these equal the one's she did as Cleopatra. OMG! Just jawdropping.Those trills put her over the top on the slow first part. In the second faster part I give the nod to Sutherland with that golden, rounded tone she has. A win for each. which is allowed as there is no poll.
I am the only person on the forum that I know of who also likes the bigger, more rounded sound Sutherland got later on, but my friend i listen to her with in out weekly car music rides also loves Joan in her 50's and early 60's, so i count my blessings.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I was not familiar with these. Thank you! They were glorious. I don't universally like Sill's trills, but these equal the one's she did as Cleopatra. OMG! Just jawdropping.Those trills put her over the top on the slow first part. In the second faster part I give the nod to Sutherland with that golden, rounded tone she has. A win for each. which is allowed as there is no poll.
> I am the only person on the forum that I know of who also likes the bigger, more rounded sound Sutherland got later on, but my friend i listen to her with in out weekly car music rides also loves Joan in her 50's and early 60's, so i count my blessings.


70s/80s Sutherland had some good moments. my main contention wasn't that her voice had no more potential left, but that she clearly got lazy and it showed in the quality of her work.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> 70s/80s Sutherland had some good moments. my main contention wasn't that her voice had no more potential left, but that she clearly got lazy and it showed in the quality of her work.


I don't know how reliable a Youtube review is but in comparing these two some opera fan commented that Sills transposed down her opening because she had great trills but they were limited in that they only worked in certain parts of her voice. If that was the case it worked as her trills were jawdropping. Sutherland had a secure whole note and half note trill over an octave and a half. One won the first half and the other the second in my opinion.


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