# Round One: Elsa's Dream: Sutherland, Steber, De Los Angeles



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I have a very rare find for you today. A really clear recording of Sutherland at 23 when she was trying out for contests. She had just recently become a soprano.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I liked them all and it seems to me, (despite Joanie singing in English) that they all sounded similar in their deliveries.
How to chose?
So simply because I must pick one (this will be a Sophie's Choice pick) because of her distinctive musicality, I will give the garland to Steber. But any of the three deserve it.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

The Sutherland is very interesting as her voice suits the role, but her diction isn't as good as in her recordings from the 50s. I wonder what she would have sounded like if her career had taken a different turn and she had sung Brunhilde, Isolde and other Wagner heroines. Whilst I don't like the aria sung in English, I enjoyed this performance.

Steber's version is very stylish, sung well and whilst I prefer the brighter tone of Sutherland's voice, her warm tones aren't out of place. (It reminds me a little of how Harteros sounds in the role, although her singing isn't as poised as Steber's.) It's a little on the refined side, but perhaps it's a case of her vocality not speaking personally to me.

De los Angeles isn't known for her Wagner despite singing Eva at the Met and Elizabeth at Bayreuth. She recorded the latter's aria in the studio as well as Elsa's dream. Her singing is radiant here and she combines warmth and brightness with a girlish naivety that gets under the skin of the part.

There are others I prefer singing this piece, but the three here are very good. I am voting for De los Angeles though for her soaring voice and naturalness of expression.

N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> The Sutherland is very interesting as her voice suits the role, but her diction isn't as good as in her recordings from the 50s. I wonder what she would have sounded like if her career had taken a different turn and she had sung Brunhilde, Isolde and other Wagner heroines. Whilst I don't like the aria sung in English, I enjoyed this performance.
> 
> Steber's version is very stylish, sung well and whilst I prefer the brighter tone of Sutherland's voice, her warm tones aren't out of place. (It reminds me a little of how Harteros sounds in the role, although her singing isn't as poised as Steber's.) It's a little on the refined side, but perhaps it's a case of her vocality not speaking personally to me.
> 
> ...


Hopefully a favorite will be in the next round. I was interested that de los Angeles sang this role.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

VdLA it is. Was surprised that Steber didn’t cut it (for me).


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Interesting to hear the bright, forward tone Sutherland produced at the age of 23. It's hard to compare her singing in English with the other two singing in German, but the interpretation sounds a little immature. She does try a slight change of colour at the recollection of the arrival of the night in her dream. Still, this version isn't quite formed yet.

Steber is a soprano I always enjoy and hers is beautifully sung, her voice warm and feminine, but De Los Angeles gives me just a bit more. She characterises better and her interpretation is, as always, supremely musical. There are others I prefer in this aria (three of them have the first name Elisabeth) but De Los Angeles easily gets my vote here.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I accidentally voted for Sutherland, though I wanted Steber. Pity.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Steber and de los Angeles are both quite fine, with the latter displaying a touch more of the girlish innocence and wonder Elsa should exhibit. VdlA sounds a bit unusual in Wagner, at least to my ear, but her pure timbre works very well for the character and situation. Steber sounds perhaps a shade too womanly, but I enjoyed hearing her again, as well as a bit of Hermann Uhde's intense Telramund in the Keilberth-conducted performance from Bayreuth (he and Astrid Varnay were one of the great villainous pairs in this opera; her heavy, cutting voice found a suitable mission making life miserable in Brabant).

The Sutherland is a curiosity, well sung (after a somewhat soggy start) but in the wrong language. I know she sang Eva in _Meistersinger_ before she decided to specialize in a different repertoire, and she could have sung Elsa and Elisabeth credibly. In this context I give her a not-too-distant third place.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Steber and de los Angeles are both quite fine, with the latter displaying a touch more of the girlish innocence and wonder Elsa should exhibit. VdlA sounds a bit unusual in Wagner, at least to my ear, but her pure timbre works very well for the character and situation. Steber sounds perhaps a shade too womanly, but I enjoyed hearing her again, as well as a bit of Hermann Uhde's intense Telramund in the Keilberth-conducted performance from Bayreuth (he and Astrid varnay were one of the great villainous pairs in this opera; her heavy, cutting voice found a suitable mission making life miserable in Brabant).
> 
> The Sutherland is a curiosity, well sung (after a somewhat soggy start) but in the wrong language. I know she sang Eva in _Meistersinger_ before she decided to specialize in a different repertoire, and she could have sung Elsa and Elisabeth credibly. In this context I give her a not-too-distant third place.


I included Sutherland not for her to win but because it was a perfectly preserved example of what she sounded like early in her career. I never knew of this before. The voice sounded a bit different. If you get a minute take a glance at my big post on Cigna everyone missed.


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Joan is top of my list, I was trying to find "The mad scene" but it is late at night and I am too tired...


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Joanie sounds very promising in this material and might have made her mark here had she wanted. But as soon as Steber begins you hear the difference between promising and someone who has been down this road and knows how it goes. I thought at points Steber's middle wasn't as clear as the top and upper middle but over all I thought it was very appealing and sensitively sung. I love DeLosAngeles and she sounds beautiful but without the weight in the upper middle to compete with the orchestra. There is also a "peddle to the metal" support that I think is part of almost all Wagnerian singing, lyric or dramatic, that is not part of her approach. Steber for me.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ScottK said:


> Joanie sounds very promising in this material and might have made her mark here had she wanted. But as soon as Steber begins you hear the difference between promising and someone who has been down this road and knows how it goes. I thought at points Steber's middle wasn't as clear as the top and upper middle but over all I thought it was very appealing and sensitively sung. I love DeLosAngeles and she sounds beautiful but without the weight in the upper middle to compete with the orchestra. There is also a "peddle to the metal" support that I think is part of almost all Wagnerian singing, lyric or dramatic, that is not part of her approach. Steber for me.


Pedal to the metal LOL


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ScottK said:


> Joanie sounds very promising in this material and might have made her mark here had she wanted. But as soon as Steber begins you hear the difference between promising and someone who has been down this road and knows how it goes. I thought at points Steber's middle wasn't as clear as the top and upper middle but over all I thought it was very appealing and sensitively sung. I love DeLosAngeles and she sounds beautiful but without the weight in the upper middle to compete with the orchestra. There is also a "peddle to the metal" support that I think is part of almost all Wagnerian singing, lyric or dramatic, that is not part of her approach. Steber for me.


Light Wagner singers are not too hard to come by. Coloraturas with huge voices come only in two varieties: Callas and Sutherland.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

De Los Angeles presents a sweet spot between more material (or maternal?) Steber and bright Sutherland (a pleasant curiosity). I really enjoy how Steber depicts the sense of mystery and awe while De Los Angeles is much more flighty and careless as if completely unaware what's really going on around her. At first I thought I should vote for Steber, but in the end, the youthful Victoria won over my heart.


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