Woodduck got there first and has most eloquently expressed my opinion.
The most I can say for Sutherland's version is she has wonderful top notes, but I'm afraid that is not enough for me. Her diction is a bit clearer than it often was, but she makes virtually nothing of the words and I don't like the upward ending, which robs the end of its tragic grandeur. The aria's emotional and tragic core is missing and what I hear is mere note spinning.
Callas's top register is raw and she flaps at the climax, but oh what she finds in this piece, with so many phrases standing out in relief. Hamlet should have listened to Callas singing Mais qui donc a voulu l'éternité des pleurs (But who has wished this eternity of tears?). It would have saved him an awful lot of trouble.
Here are the English words to the aria.
From this dreadful combat I emerge brokenhearted!
But at last I am free and I shall at least be able
to sigh without constraint and to suffer without
witnesses.
Weep, weep my eyes! Fall, sad dew
that a ray of sunshine should never dry!
If one hope remains to me, it is to die soon!
Weep, my eyes, all your tears!
Weep, my eyes!
But who has wished this eternity of tears?
O dear ones in your graves, do you find such
delight
in bequeathing to the living implacable griefs?
Alas! I remember he said to me:
"With your sweet smile
you can only ever lead on
to glorious roads or blessed paths!"
Ah, my father! Alas!
Weep, weep my eyes! etc.
With Callas you don't have to understand French to get the general idea.
I might add that Chimène is one of those Falcon roles, which requires a solid middle and lower register and therefore not a natural for Sutherland. Like Woodduck, I wish Callas had given us more of these roles towards the end of her career. Charlotte, to be sure, but what a magnificent Cassandre or Didon she would have made.
To borrow from MAS, in the conflict between art and voice, it's always art that wins for me.
