All three ladies demonstrate their amazing beath control taking that G for 8 measures. For the Sills sample, it's from her 1971 studio recording. Aldo Ceccato, the conductor, took the tempo very slow! Sills still pulls it off with ease, and for good measure, she then takes a High B flat and holds in nearly as long! It also wasn't something Sills did for the studio recording. She pulled that off in all her live performances. We'll never have the luxury of having three great singers in the same decades ever again.
Sills was the greatest singing actress I have ever seen. Caballe had the most beautiful voice, and Sutherland was the rock of Gibraltar--her voice always dependable if her acting and diction left much to be desired. No singers on the opera stage today can compare to these giants.
Here we have the 'Diamond Encrusted Platinum Age of Singing' (which sadly has descended to the 'Cracked and Chipped Pottery Age'). Beverly Sills certainly gets my vote as she set one of the highest benchmarks for this aria with unequalled breath control.
All three ladies demonstrate their amazing beath control taking that G for 8 measures. For the Sills sample, it's from her 1971 studio recording. Aldo Ceccato, the conductor, took the tempo very slow! Sills still pulls it off with ease, and for good measure, she then takes a High B flat and holds in nearly as long! It also wasn't something Sills did for the studio recording. She pulled that off in all her live performances. We'll never have the luxury of having three great singers in the same decades ever again.
Sills was the greatest singing actress I have ever seen. Caballe had the most beautiful voice, and Sutherland was the rock of Gibraltar--her voice always dependable if her acting and diction left much to be desired. No singers on the opera stage today can compare to these giants.
Here we have the 'Diamond Encrusted Platinum Age of Singing' (which sadly has descended to the 'Cracked and Chipped Pottery Age'). Beverly Sills certainly gets my vote as she set one of the highest benchmarks for this aria with unequalled breath control.
All 3 are great. But my order of preference here (for these specific clips only):
#1 - Sills
#2 - Caballe
#3 - Sutherland