DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR - JOAN SUTHERLAND, RENATO CIONI (2 CDS)

Lucia di Lammermoor (donizetti) complete operaJoan Sutherland; Renato Cioni; Robert Merrill;Kenneth Macdonald; Cesare SiepiChorus and Orchestra of the Accademiadi Santa Cecilia, Romeconductor John Pritchard “full of fresh innocence, Sutherland’s coloratura virtuosity remains breathtaking, and the cast is a strong one, with a most understanding conductor” (Penguin Guide 3 stars) “Sutherland’s miraculous singing is not the only virtue of this set … There is hardly an operatic centre left which has not acclaimed Sutherland’s Lucia … (she) is without rival today in her command of the vocal arts – trills, scales and arpeggios, messa di voce, glissando. Her tone is beautiful, and each year becomes sweeter, rounder and fuller, in both gentle and brilliant passages. Her interpretation of Lucia is a fully conceived study … In this performance, passage after passage is melting, exquisite, dazzling, breathtaking … Cioni, currently Sutherland’s favoured partner, was a first-rate choice for Edgar