Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor / Richard Bonynge, The Metropolitan Opera

Rating:
Summary: Better Late Than Never
Review: We should be thankful that the Met finally got around to preserving the greatest Lucia of our time, even if she was in the autumn of her career. Sutherland is faulty here only by comparison with the purity and ease of her more youthful voice, available in memory to operagoers of the 60's and 70's and to owners of recordings. One commentator in these pages wonders why the Sutherland voice is not of its earlier peerless quality after 1977. Surely, anyone who knows operatic voices is aware that the usual prime for such singers in ages 35 to 50. Sutherland's performance here, at age 56, is still amazing. This Lucia is memorable for the diva's remarkable, indeed extraordinary elasticity and power even though she has past her prime. One regrets, however, that the forces at Pioneer didn't see fit to digitally remaster the sound, which is really no improvement over the Videotape or larger disc. Such a grand occasion deserved more audio attention.