Puccini: Suor Angelica / Bonynge, Sutherland

Though Puccini's trilogy of one-act operas, Il Trittico, is hard to love in its totality, Suor Angelica shows the composer retreating from melodramatic verismo into a more lyrical expression, as befits this story of a nun driven to suicide when told her child is dead. Though this cast isn't ideal, it more than does the job, with Joan Sutherland in unusually articulate, dramatically alert form. As her evil, unyielding aunt, Christa Ludwig avoids obvious melodramatics and is plenty chilling as a result. Lots of good singers turn up in minor roles, such as Marie McLaughlin and Della Jones. --David Patrick Stearns