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The conductor Richard Bonynge ranked her among the top four sopranos of the 20th century.

His great luck was to fall in with Joan Sutherland, the Australian soprano who took him under her wing with her husband and conductor, Richard Bonynge.

In anticipation of “I Puritani,” I took out the 1973 recording featuring Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti, with Richard Bonynge conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.

Sutherland, Pavarotti and Ms. Horne also united for a stellar “Il Trovatore” in the mid-'70s with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Richard Bonynge.

Richard Bonynge's Decca recording of Thérèse from the 1970s has remained the recommended version for nearly 40 years, but this new one under Alain Altinoglu must now run it very close.