It almost seems trite for me to try and assess Joan Sutherland's staggering contributions to the world of opera. No matter how long I rambled on, there is really no way to sum up how her astonishing agility, purity of tone, opulence, stature, versatility, musicality and of course, vocal beauty enhanced her era and brought scores of unwitting opera fans to the table. It is likewise impossible to gauge the extent that her curiosity for new works coupled with her ability to breathe new life into the old chestnuts helped to broaden the public's consciousness to a world of opera that had been lost. So I won't go any further, except to say that, for me personally, there is no other singer that has caused my jaw to drop in stupefied amazement at the possibilities of the human voice as consistently as she did. This compilation features many excerpts from her greatest roles, like Norma and Violetta, as well as some very rare excerpts from early performances as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte and Mme Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites.