Donizetti
Varviso; Sutherland, Tucker, Guarrera, Moscona
Original Air Date: 12/09/1961
SID.19520749
This was played around the time of Sutherland’s death in October 2010, but has not been in the rotation often. Sutherland and Tucker are quite a team in her debut role and season. I saw her in Dallas as Lucia about a month before the first Met appearance ( I think she also did San Francisco and Chicago in a jampacked American fall). The size of her voice in the early years still had the remnants of her dramatic soprano beginnings. Zeffirelli had taught her well in terms of movement, and the coloratura — to steal the Italians’ description for her– stupendous. Don’t miss this. Luckily all four of Sutherland’s broadcast seasons are in MOoD. She has her points in all of them. She has Tucker in two of the broadcasts, and Kraus in the telecast. The quality over a 21 period (1961-1983) from her is really remarkable.