Rating: 
Summary: Great Fledermaus!
Review: It's sung in English so that appeals to the non-german speakers as much of the humour will be grasped. If you know the operetta well enough, you also get the gist when Rosalinde sings the Czardas in Hungarian! The counter-tenor Orlofsky was also hilarious. Well-sung, too! Bonaventura Bottone was in superb voice and there were lots of cracks at italian tenors...this DVD also provides a good highlight selection of various operas including a fondness for La Traviata...hysterical! A must for opera lovers. The one thing that niggled me was listening to Dame Joan (who was a fantastic singer in days gone by) who was but a shadow of her former self. And the contrast between Horne (who sang ravishly - her 'mon coeur s'ouvre ta voix' was divine with Bonynge bringing out glorious sounds from the orchestra - and Pavarotti - who was, well, Pavarotti...resplendent with his signature white hanky - with Dame Joan was quite drastic. Yes, I know, it's her farewell performance. And it was a fitting tribute to a remarkable singer, but I found most of it to be based on sentimentality and not on how she actually performed that night. But, if you have to go, there's no better way then a huge send-off by your adoring fans. Maybe she should have retired earlier so her voice would have been in better condition to remind her hoards of fans as to how great a singer she still is. Instead, we are left with a shadow. Other than that...it is a good Fledermaus with everyone looking their parts and singing with much gusto and frivolity...effervescant as champagne!
Rating: 
Summary: A historic celebration of our Joan's retirement
Review: Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne and many others are here, And us Brits throws our Dame Joan a great big farewell celebration as only we can.
To see our Joan being showered with so much love and admiration warms my heart. During the 60's and 70's I try to attend as much of Sutherland's performances as I can. It was a part of my life.
This is a Farewell party that no true Sutherland fan can be without. And they've thrown in an excellent La Fledermous as well.
I see some nasty reviews here. Sutherland fans, just ignore them. They'll give up when they realize that they're just bringing traffic to this video. Since there is no such thing as bad publicity, I'm sure this DVD's sales will go up.
I'm buying one right now to give to give to a friend of mine who is sick and can't afford to buy this. Since he is a die hard Sutherland fan, I'm sure getting this will make his day.
Rating:
Summary: fantastic
Review: La Stupenda's farewell to the operatic world...what more can I say...She was, and will remain Prima Donna Assoluta...
Rating: 
Summary: Hated It ...
Review: Okay, so the singing was beautiful, but the production was awful. The sets were dull, the costumes were boring, and the sentimental stuff in the middle of the party was just poor theater.
Rating:
Summary: Sutherland remain Prima Donna Assoluta...per sempre
Review: She is and will always be, the one and only...Prima donna assoluta.
This is the party of the year. I dare say the biggest and funnest fanfare I've ever seen. I'll be sure to watch this every New Year's eve.
I can't help but be sad at all these terrible remarks from bashers that are uncalled for. Please, I beg you, stop. No one deserve a one star review unless the reviewer wants blood. That is just unfair. I understand the anger, but please take it out by writing positive reviews of your favorite diva rather than taking it out and writing negative reviews of your favorite singer's rival.
Is it one basher, two, three,four bashers, or more? That, I don't know, but they are doing Dame Joan a lot of harm. I wonder if these people know that they're actually causing pain for a lot of Sutherland's fans as well as for the Dame herself, that is just unfair.
Sutherland, Callas and Sills are three of the most respected singers of our time. We should be happy that so many recordings preserved for our enjoyment and for future generations of enjoyments. Let's compromise, hear me out please.
I can see both side. But the Callas and Sills fans bashed Sutherland's roles for over a month before any really bad reviews of one star started to go the Callas domains. I see this by reading the reviews and the dates.
I ask for a compromise at least. I don't think that Callas, Sutherland or Sills ever deserve one star reviews. That's for really terrible singers. If you really want to criticize or demean another singer. Three stars should be enough. To continue this is to hurt others. And that's just not right.
Rating:
Summary: Retirement of the voice of the century
Review: The Fledermous is excellent. But the show belongs to the legendary retirement party for the greatest singer of our century, the incomparable Dame Joan Sutherland.
I see some jealous comments here or there. But this is a fun and wonderful cd that gives us a final look at the Queen of opera.
Rating:
Summary: A shower of bravas for La Stupenda
Review: The retirement party to end all retirement parties. The applause and bravas just wouldn't stop for La Stupenda, the reigning diva of her time. I find myself teary eyed as I write this review. All the superlatives I can think of have been lavished on Dame Joan, but she remain not only Prima Donna Assoluta (only one in the world at a time), a very nice person, very humble. She sings with Pavorotti, the Traviata duet in the first act. And she sounded surprisingly lovely for well over 60, and looks fabulous too.You can tell by the video just how much Pavorotti adores her. For him and Horne to come to this gathering and not be paid for, alone, is remarkable. We all know how much Pavorotti an Horne charges LOL. But they wanted to pay tribute to their Joan, and I can see why. Many great artist get rave reviews from critics, but Dame Joan Sutherland gets rave reviews from other great singers. This is what Pavorotti said about Joan in the video "La Stupenda".."Joan Sutherland is certainly the greatest singer of this century, she is a great artist, Australian, and artistic." The great director Franco Zefferelli said of Joan..." "She was the phenomenal singer of our time...she was stunning, sensational". Te Kanewa said of Joan.."No one did it as well as Joan...glorious voice". And Marilyn Horne said that Joan's 1961 Lucia was " great, great singing", something you tell your grand children about.."that "of all of her colleagues, no one has meant as much to her as Joan". Know why she is so beloved by other singers who could have been her rivals, but they're not. We're talking about Pavorotti, Horne, Te Kanewa, and Zefferelli, all of them legends. Other legendary singers are also said to think the world of our diva. Tebaldi wrote in her book about the amazing coloratura ability of Joan. Plus Tebaldi is also a good friend of her's. Domingo was quoted as being in awe of the diva's dazzling coloratura, and his singing Edgardo to her Lucia early in his career was one of the best learning experience of his life. Caballe is another great admirer, such so that she sang Adagisa to her Norma, a humbling feat that I still couldn't believe. then there's Anna Moffo, great Lucia herself who after hearing the diva in a Met rehearsel, lavish her with phrases, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, ask her director husband to hire Sutherland for the legendary Don Giovanni with Giulini...also Schwarzkopf, a friend of Maria Callas, was quoted as saying that in the rehearsal for Sutherland's 1959 Lucia for Covent garden, that Callas jaws dropped in disbelieve when she heard Sutherland, then there's Birgit Nilsson, George London who got her her met audition which she amazingly failed in 1958, singing Caro Nome in english, Simionato, Alfredo Kraus, Robert Merrill, who raves about her by the way. I can go on and on, but you get the point. The greatest singers in the world all bow to her because of her fantastic voice. And the great Bruno Walters came out of retirement to conduct Don Giovanni with Sutherland as Donna Anna because he thought she was the best Donna Anna he's ever heard. Of course she had critics too. Callas said Sutherland turned her standards for bel canto that she had so painfully set at least a hundred years, and Callas is a formitable force indeed. Others find La Stupenda's voice beyond criticism and choose to attack her diction and theatrical attributes instead. All jealousy, in my opionion. But the years took a lot of toll on the Sutherland voice. By the time of this recording only half a voice is left. But still not bad. But from the late fifties to the late seventies she had a gorgeous voice that was incomparable, with high notes that got bigger and bigger as the notes get higher and higher..the high notes actually blossoms. And she had that precise trill, that staccato, perhaps the fastest one I know, the fioratura that resemble pearls in a pearl necklace, so precise and defined it was. Even Callas was second to her in the coloratura area. And La Stupenda's ability to sing beautifully night after night turning in bravura performances without a single flaw is unique. Sorry that I go on and on. But to have heard her in person, it was my priviledge. She remains a diva who knows who she is, and her place in the history of opera, she knows she is a glorious singer, but she doesn't show it. Her farewell operatic role was the Queen in La Huguenots. NOT because it's a showpiece for her, all her great scenes are in act 1, then she disappears for almost 2 hours, but because it'll show off the talents of other singers from her Australian Opera house. That's how humble she is. Again, a stupendous farewell for Dame Joan Sutherland...she already has a unique place in the history of opera as the Queen of Bel Canto, and within our lifetime we will likely not hear anything like her again. Bravissima, diva.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Fledermaus! A Fond Farewell to Dame Joan!.
Review: This is a very plush production of Fledermaus from 1990 at Covent Garden that also was Dame Joan Sutherland's farewell to a house in which she had been singing for nearly 40 years. The production of Fledermaus is very well done, with very lavish settings from the Vienna of Johann Strauss, including the centerpiece ball of Act II. The cast is excellent throughout and the singing is in English ((with subtitles available). Dame Joan's husband Richard Bonygne leads the orchestra and the chorus under John Brown is excellent. Although this is in itself a superb Feldermaus, many will want to see this production for its farewell to Miss Sutherland. She and her long-term colleagues Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti treat us to several solos and duets in the Act II gala sequence, always a great vehicle for bringing out star talent for their turn. The gala is a lot of fun and quite moving too when Dame Joan sings "Home Sweet Home." The gala lasts about 40 minute and also includes two ballets to Strauss tunes. We see Dame Joan at the curtain calls at the end of the opera too when she speaks her farewell to the ecstatic house. This is a great DVD to have if you either love Fledermaus or Dame Joan Sutherland. A definite buy!
Rating:
Summary: Most festive farewell to Dame Joan, Prima Donna Assoluta
Review: This really is a joy to all who watch this. I had a New Year party last year and had it on my TV. Everyone loved it. And most of the people there aren't even Opera fans. It's just a fun Flederous, and superlatively sung and acted.
The bonus is the retirement of the one and only La Stupenda. Who, at 63 still raises the temperature of the House when she entered it. Along with Pavarotti and Horne (both of whom adore her), they sing up a storm. No, Sutherland had sung better. But this is her retirement. She was all choked up. Pavarotti and Horne sung stupendously in their tribune to one of the most celebrated and beloved of all opera singers.
Bravisima, La Stupenda, we adore you. And agree with the countless opera fans who consider you,
Prima Donna Assoluta, for all time.
Rating:
Summary: AN HISTORIC COVERT GARDEN FLEDERMAUS GALA!
Review: This video of the 1990 Covert Garden New Year's Eve Gala is so important, not for it's cast (With names we never heard of), but, for its guests. Pavarotti is there, so does Marilyn Horne. But, the real star of this gala is of the final performance ever of Dame Joan Sutherland. Of course, as always, her hubsand and mentor, Richard Bonyage, is at the podium. A great document of a great gala! For its historic moment, I give it 5 stars. But, for its cast, I still perferred the 1984 Covert Garden Gala (With Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo at the podium) the best!
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