Sutherland may sing it lower, but no one sings it faster or more accurately. Deutekom is fabulous as well and I really like the isolated way she hits her coloratura in this aria. It really works here..

 

Now THIS is a proper contest! Two absolute giants!!

Sutherland and Deutekom are both perfect for this repertoire.

This is Sutherland at her absolute prime, it's a gorgeous gorgeous voice, with laser sharp coloratura - love those trills, they really add to the piece. Even though the speed is crazy impressive, especially with how exact her coloratura stays and how her gorgeous voice never loses quality through all those acrobatics, I find the tempo a tad distracting and not at all enjoyable. I still find that she disappears on the bottom half quite a bit more than Deutekom, this is most likely due to the recording but seems like a common trend in her singing. She looks STUNNING on the cover picture, I bet visually she was absolutely fantastic to look at in this role!

Deutekom is my favorite Queen of all time, she is absolutely sublime in this role, her voice has that fantastic cool, silvery edge - it's also extremely well developed, such a high set voice but so resonant on the bottom as well. I find her odd coloratura really fits in the opera. She's emoting fantastically here, there's a certain vulnerability but with a lot of steel woven into it - an undertone of wickedness. I also cannot say her voice was much smaller than Sutherland in any way, maybe her tops weren't as gigantic but overall Deutekom has a much more even voice throughout, with more chest participation overall - in fact, Deutekom, when she debuted this piece at the MET sounds absolutely like a true old age singer, with the lovely tight vibrato and extreme penetrative quality, a gleaming ring accompanying the sound always. The most impressive part was that she maintained her voice extremely well and practically kept it identical to her prime up until she developed heart failure at age 70. The only downfall she has is that she's not the best triller compared to Joan Sutherland overall, but she's landed successful ones many times.

Also, her contemporary reviewers and even other legendary singers never really criticized her cluckatura, she was always noted and praised for her extreme precision and exciting approach. A New York Times reviewer once wrote "Cristina Deutekom sings the two fiendishly difficult arias for the Queen of the Night with an effective brio and as much accuracy as can be expected." (1971)

Wikipedia:

"For fast coloratura passages, Deutekom developed a glottal-stop technique, sometimes called glottal staccato. In her own country, a few criticized it as hinting of yodeling, while others dubbed her coloratura technique "cluckatura." Elsewhere her technique was extra appreciated. In Italy she was named singer of the year in 1973 and 1974, precisely because of her deliveries of bel canto."

Take that!! Deutekom fan forever!! 🤪

Voting for my all time favorite, Cristina Deutekom! The best Queen of the Night! A truly once in a century singer, completely underrated nowadays sadly..

 

Now THIS is a proper contest! Two absolute giants!!

Sutherland and Deutekom are both perfect for this repertoire.

This is Sutherland at her absolute prime, it's a gorgeous gorgeous voice, with laser sharp coloratura - love those trills, they really add to the piece. Even though the speed is crazy impressive, especially with how exact her coloratura stays and how her gorgeous voice never loses quality through all those acrobatics, I find the tempo a tad distracting and not at all enjoyable. I still find that she disappears on the bottom half quite a bit more than Deutekom, this is most likely due to the recording but seems like a common trend in her singing. She looks STUNNING on the cover picture, I bet visually she was absolutely fantastic to look at in this role!

Deutekom is my favorite Queen of all time, she is absolutely sublime in this role, her voice has that fantastic cool, silvery edge - it's also extremely well developed, such a high set voice but so resonant on the bottom as well. I find her odd coloratura really fits in the opera. She's emoting fantastically here, there's a certain vulnerability but with a lot of steel woven into it - an undertone of wickedness. I also cannot say her voice was much smaller than Sutherland in any way, maybe her tops weren't as gigantic but overall Deutekom has a much more even voice throughout, with more chest participation overall - in fact, Deutekom, when she debuted this piece at the MET sounds absolutely like a true old age singer, with the lovely tight vibrato and extreme penetrative quality, a gleaming ring accompanying the sound always. The most impressive part was that she maintained her voice extremely well and practically kept it identical to her prime up until she developed heart failure at age 70. The only downfall she has is that she's not the best triller compared to Joan Sutherland overall, but she's landed successful ones many times.

Also, her contemporary reviewers and even other legendary singers never really criticized her cluckatura, she was always noted and praised for her extreme precision and exciting approach. A New York Times reviewer once wrote "Cristina Deutekom sings the two fiendishly difficult arias for the Queen of the Night with an effective brio and as much accuracy as can be expected." (1971)

Wikipedia:

"For fast coloratura passages, Deutekom developed a glottal-stop technique, sometimes called glottal staccato. In her own country, a few criticized it as hinting of yodeling, while others dubbed her coloratura technique "cluckatura." Elsewhere her technique was extra appreciated. In Italy she was named singer of the year in 1973 and 1974, precisely because of her deliveries of bel canto."

Take that!! Deutekom fan forever!! 🤪

Voting for my all time favorite, Cristina Deutekom! The best Queen of the Night! A truly once in a century singer, completely underrated nowadays sadly..

What I really like is that she is never ingolata.

 

Both are fantastic here, regal and imposing with wonderful voices. Sutherland’s coloratura is incredible and Deutekom’s odd technique makes more sense in this odd fantasy opera than elsewhere. I’ll vote for both.

 

It’s almost comical to compare the two versions because of the diction of the two contestants: Sutherland almost incomprehensible and the utter clarity of Deutekom’’s. In this, the recorded sound certainty helps. Both eschew a strong initial “T” on the word tochter . Though why Deutekom doesnt sing trills I don’t know. Does she not trill?

Then come the divisions, and Sutherland is transformed: notes are clear and distinct and fleet. Deutekom indulges in her cluckatura but it’s still impressive; the size of the voice tells. I can’t decide whether we get more notes or not. It seems we get more.

Sutherland is her usual half-moony self, Deutekom is more dramatically expressive.

 

It’s almost comical to compare the two versions because of the diction of the two contestants: Sutherland almost incomprehensible and the utter clarity of Deutekom’’s. In this, the recorded sound certainty helps. Both eschew a strong initial “T” on the word tochter . Though why Deutekom doesnt sing trills I don’t know. Does she not trill?

Then come the divisions, and Sutherland is transformed: notes are clear and distinct and fleet. Deutekom indulges in her cluckatura but it’s still impressive; the size of the voice tells. I can’t decide whether we get more notes or not. It seems we get more.

Sutherland is her usual half-moony self, Deutekom is more dramatically expressive.

No we do not get more notes from Deutekom. We get impeccable legato from Sutherland. I think Deutekom's high notes are prettier in this particular contest though. They both have huge voices and this is wonderful to me. The extra trills Sutherland inserts are not written in the score, they are embellishments. Characterwise they both sound really like friendly queens to me.

 

Both are really good of course but I like Deutekom's voice better and there's just more precision in the whole delivery. Sutherland's tempo is so fast that, rather than make the music exciting, it risks making it sound perfunctory. Vocally impressive, but hardly musically.

 

Fair enough I like Deutekom's silvery tone in Mozart more. I disagree with Deutekom having greater precision than Joan though. Joan connects the notes as Mozart wrote them. Deutekom separates the notes with her articulation and her attack is more like doing a spiccato attack on each note which breaks the legato line because there is a split second of silence between them.

 

Sutherland likes to use her head voice mostly. She has a cutting chest voice WHEN she uses it, which is not much. She doesn't like to use that cutting chest integration much and so it sounds too soft and velvety in the bottom of this aria. It sounds lovely in Lucia but is at odds with this character. The virtuosic passages are dazzling and classically done in perfect bel canto canon technical purity with no aspirates of any kind. Now she does have a large dramatic voice in general.

Deutekom has a very nasal initiation on the bottom, the recording is a tad grainy. I like the silvery tone of her voice in general, it suits Mozart very well in general. She aspirates here and there in the slow section, breaking the melodic line legato frequently in the slow section. The uncovered nasality grates on me. Everything is aspirated in the virtuosic section, not just the fiorituri. I'm used to her non-canon glottal articulation, but when side by side with Sutherland it sounds grotesque to me. However, the ascent to the high "F" is fabulous and her staccati articulation is terrific.

Well Sutherland is hooty and indecisive in the bottom and Deutekom is nasal and grating on the bottom. Sutherland is bland on the bottom but produces a lovely legato line without dramatic punch. Deutekom is arrestingly annoying to me on the cantilena portion with the light aspirates. I like Sutherland's large velvety voice but find it too diffuse for this. I like Deutekom's silvery base tone, but find the nasality irritating. Sutherland's fiorituri articulation is impeccable. Deutekom's fiorituri articulation is bizarre. All that being said I find them equally annoying for different reasons and equally dazzling for different reasons. I will vote for them both because ya know what? There is no one that comes close to either one of these ladies today.

 

Sutherland likes to use her head voice mostly. She has a cutting chest voice WHEN she uses it, which is not much. She doesn't like to use that cutting chest integration much and so it sounds too soft and velvety in the bottom of this aria. It sounds lovely in Lucia but is at odds with this character. The virtuosic passages are dazzling and classically done in perfect bel canto canon technical purity with no aspirates of any kind. Now she does have a large dramatic voice in general.

Deutekom has a very nasal initiation on the bottom, the recording is a tad grainy. I like the silvery tone of her voice in general, it suits Mozart very well in general. She aspirates here and there in the slow section, breaking the melodic line legato frequently in the slow section. The uncovered nasality grates on me. Everything is aspirated in the virtuosic section, not just the fiorituri. I'm used to her non-canon glottal articulation, but when side by side with Sutherland it sounds grotesque to me. However, the ascent to the high "F" is fabulous and her staccati articulation is terrific.

Well Sutherland is hooty and indecisive in the bottom and Deutekom is nasal and grating on the bottom. Sutherland is bland on the bottom but produces a lovely legato line without dramatic punch. Deutekom is arrestingly annoying to me on the cantilena portion with the light aspirates. I like Sutherland's large velvety voice but find it too diffuse for this. I like Deutekom's silvery base tone, but find the nasality irritating. Sutherland's fiorituri articulation is impeccable. Deutekom's fiorituri articulation is bizarre. All that being said I find them equally annoying for different reasons and equally dazzling for different reasons. I will vote for them both because ya know what? There is no one that comes close to either one of these ladies today.

I actually find Deutekoms nasal/forward placement lower down effective for her voice, in live settings it seemed to help her with focusing the sound and homogenizing the timbre from top to bottom, I personally don't get as irritated by it as you do, but you generally have such a fine taste, maybe even too refined, so you're used to the most perfect productions and can pick up on such things with much more sensitivity! I adore Sutherlands trill embellishments, they fit amazingly well..!

Another thing to consider is that I think the extra nasality comes from her perfect German accent, it's definitely not an open language. She usually doesn't have such an issue in italian repertoire, for example.

 

The last four of my contestants are all really great, but this is a very popular opera, it is done all the time, but finding singers who can really sing this music the way Mozart wanted it sung is very very difficult. True dramatic coloratura sopranos are a very rare breed of singers and I think accounts for why it is so hard to find the right singers for this music. I went for years without realizing that Deutekom had such a big voice... she sang Turandot! I'm glad ya'll like these two. I like this version by Sutherland better than her studio one I had long been familiar with. Her lower voice recorded better, though on the studio version but her coloratura is more impressive here.

 

Yes!! You're the best SOF, I don't even understand how you manage to pull a thrilling contest after thrilling contest after thrilling contest, love you so much!

 

Pedant alert: But Mozart wrote the vocal line scale runs as legato notation in the score.

 

I'm a toddler and I'll act like I can't see that on the score

 

Runs around chasing the brown kitty with an Urtext Score. 🥳

 

I wish I could give you a reaally really big hug!!!

 

This is how I think of Chat Brun!

 

AWWWW THATS SO CUTE!!! I love you Phoenixxxx 😭 😭 😭

 

This is how I think of Seattle! Master of Ceremonies!

 

Totally omg!!! @Seattleoperafan

 

I'm not a big fans of either singer, if I'm really honest, but I like Deutekom more here than I usually do. In her studio recordings of I Lombardi and Attila, I find the voice rather pallid and colourless, but she sound fuller here. I don't much like the way she articulates the coloratura, but I do find her more dramatic and her voice doesn't disappear in the lower sections, which Sutherland's tend to do. I find the tempo of the coloratura section too fast in Sutherland's version, but it's incredible that she can sing it so accurately at that speed. Then there is the diction. Sutherland is practically unintelligible and Deutekom is very clear. Deutekom gest my vote on this one.

 

I don't know what got into me last night. I couldn't quite believe I'd voted for Deutekom, a singer I never really like, and so I listened again this morning. What prompted me to vote for her I have no idea because this morning I really disliked her version - not just the weird "cluckatura", but the voice itself, which sounds as pallid and colourless as it does in the Verdis she recorded. I've always found it interesting that she only appeared in the first two in Philips early Verdi series of recordings and thereafter the soprano roles went to Caballé, Norman, Ricciarelli and Sass. Maybe Gardelli was unhappy with her too. Anyway I changed my vote to Sutherland, who is much, much better than I made out above. Her diction is a good deal better than it was later to become, though she still doesn't really use the words. However she sounds more like a queen and her voice is in great shape. I still think the tempo for the coloratura section is too fast. It's amazing that she can articulate the notes so accurately at such a breakneck tempo, but the Queen ceases to sound dangerous and angry. Indeed she sounds rather jolly. Still, Sutherland now gets my vote.

 

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Do you think he wanted the scales not to be legato when sung? Really?

 

This is how I imagine MAS to be. I think of him in a tuxedo at the opera in one of the diamond horseshoe boxes......visiting Callas afterwards backstage.

 

A powder blue tuxedo? And a frilled shirt?

 

I have to continue because I cannot stop thinking about it. This is how I envision Woodduck as a cat pianist.

 

Pretty accurate, despite the fact that ducks and cats are biologically not quite the same thing despite both being descended from Adam and Eve, whom Genesis neglects to mention were one-celled organisms.

 

This is how I envision Tsaras......he's doing Shakespeare today.

 

Not a bad representation, actually. I wore a similar costume once in a play in which I played Edward De Vere, whom some people think actually wrote Shakespeare's plays. It was about the gestation of A midsummer Night's Dream if it had actually been written by De Vere. Now that I think of it, these days it would have no doubt had to come with trigger warnings as De Vere was depicted with mental health issues, which led him to self-harm.

 

I will never be able to thank that little brown cat enough for introducing me to one of the most incredible sopranos I have ever heard. I simply adore Deutekom and even love what you all call laughingly her "cluckaturas" of which every soprano should study and cluck more often. They are exciting and different -- kind of like Sills made her coloraturas special. (where is she by the way? why no Bubbles?)

 

I love Beverly Sills too! She was a magical musician! I'm so happy you love Deutekom as much as I do nina!

 

This is how I envision Nina as the Queen of the Renaissance Fair!

 

This is how I envision Nina as the Queen of the Renaissance Fair!

What?? NO court jester?

 

The dim and distant sound of Sutherland's recording does her no justice. Her enunciation is better than it sounds; the vowels come through pretty clearly, but the consonants disappear in the sonic fog. She sings with a firmness befitting the character, finding no opportunity to indulge in the limp, swoony phrasing that tends to weaken her expression of tenderer emotions. The coloratura is as brilliant as expected and then some. She's in her vocal prime here, and I'd like to hear this in better sound.

Deutekom's timbre is not my cup of tea. I find it tinny, overbright, and shallow, without warmth or sensuousness. I suppose this is OK for a character who's not exactly endearing, but queens are regal and night is dark, while Deutekom's voice is neither. I have nothing to add about her odd coloratura. You either like it or you don't. I don't, really, but don't find its bizarreness disfiguring in a fantasy role. I do note that she aspirates even in slower passages, which seems unnecessary. I can't say that she performs this unintelligently or unfeelingly, but her peculiarities will keep her off my short list of favorite Queens, which has probably only two or three singers on it so far.

I'm going to give Sutherland credit for being better (mainly regarding the diction) than her recorded sound reveals and choose her.

 

I understand your points, but the night is also cold and instills this veiled sense of fear, which Deutekoms scarily calm timbre and approach represent perfectly. In the live recording especially, she sounds very far from pallid and tinny, her voice is so rich in overtones, sometimes it sounds like two or three people singing, plus her diction is just so much better than Joan. To me Sutherland just sounds too warm and lubby dubby.

 

Sorry, I just can't get used to the turkey coloratura, even if she has an otherwise fabulous voice which I will happily listen to in rep with less vocal runs. Sutherland is a titan here. A true Queen of the Night with big, authoritative singing and clean vocal runs that have phrasing to them.

 

That's fair regarding her cluckatura, but authoritative and big? from this recording? she sounds like a cute jolly Queen!

Also Deutekoms 'cluckatura' didn't come across so harshly in a live setting.

 

Here is Cold Genius as I think of him in the laboratory.

 

I can't see the picture.

 

I'm about to pull a Lezhneva bot invasion for Deutekom Cannot believe Sutherlands warm sensual queen is winning over silver steel perfection of Deutekom!

 

Here is Op123 as I imagine him., somewhere deep in the university library.

 

Both ladies nicely portray b*tches playing snowwhites before an unsophisticated prince, who just met a python. I like Deutekom, she made Königin her basic earnings and was in the TV production by Peter Ustinov. But Sutherland is just amazing, though she's less alike a mother in law.

 

Very difficult to find a flute playing cat that I liked. Anyway here is Mr. Zingo doing a solo!