Beware of received opinions where legends are concerned. Listening to this two-disc celebration of Dame Joan Sutherland's fabulous career (for once the word is justified), I was struck by how good her diction often is. Listen, for instance, to “Tu puniscimi, o Signore” from Verdi's Luisa Miller, a role she never sang on stage, and the way she brings emphasis at just the right moment to a phrase such as “Chieggon essi della figlia il disonor”. Then, of course, in the Mad Scene from Lucia (the 1961 recording conducted by Pritchard is used), those cries of “Il fantasma! Il fantasma ne separa!” are unforgettable. To be sure, once she is up in the stratosphere it's hard to distinguish individual words sometimes - but that is true of all high sopranos.

The selections are taken about equally from recital discs and complete sets recorded between 1960 and 1977. Richard Bonynge conducts on many of the tracks, but there is also the famous “In questa reggia” from the Mehta set of Turandot, and some of the arias conducted by Molinari-Pradelli for “The Art of the Prima-Donna”. The CDs are beautifully presented in a hardback volume, with all the texts and translations, and many unfamiliar photographs. As a bonus there are reproductions of all the original covers ranging from her very first record for Decca - Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Ansermet. My only criticism is that there is no Handel, Mozart or English opera: I'd have liked “The soldier tir'd” and “Light as thistledown”.

Sutherland devotees will already own most of these items. The one curiosity is the aria “Perchè non ho del vento” from Donizetti's Rosmonda d'Inghilterra, recorded as an appendix to the 1961 Lucia. Donizetti sanctioned the use of this in place of “Regnava nel silenzio” in the first Paris production of Lucia and many 19th-century divas preferred it. It's a typically flamboyant performance and makes a fine contrast with the hectic closing scene from Lucrezia Borgia which comes just before it.

In her own time there was a tendency to take Sutherland for granted, so consistent were her high standards of technique, musicianship and, yes, acting. Her total command of the stage was always formidable. No recording can really give an impression of how big the voice was; at the New York Met, or in the Albert Hall, or the Sydney Opera House, it had an astonishing and physically thrilling impact. There is no one today who could encompass this repertory with half the skill she brings to it - from “Casta diva” right through to the “Nun's Chorus”.