Zinka Milanov Opera & Song Recital
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Bozidar Kunc, Richard Hageman, Giuseppe Verdi, Amilcare Ponchielli, Giacomo Puccini, Antonín Dvořák, Pietro Mascagni, Richard Strauss, Vincenzo Bellini
Label: Gold Seal
Magazine Review Date: 11/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 73
Mastering:
Stereo
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: GD60074
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Norma, Movement: ~ |
Vincenzo Bellini, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor RCA Victor Orchestra Vincenzo Bellini, Composer Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (Il) trovatore, Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (La) forza del destino, '(The) force of destiny', Movement: Pace, pace, mio Dio |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (La) forza del destino, '(The) force of destiny', Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Jan Peerce, Tenor Margaret Harshaw, Soprano Margaret Harshaw, Mezzo soprano RCA Victor Orchestra Renato Cellini, Conductor Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (Un) ballo in maschera, '(A) masked ball', Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Margaret Harshaw, Mezzo soprano Margaret Harshaw, Soprano New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (La) Gioconda, Movement: ~ |
Amilcare Ponchielli, Composer
Amilcare Ponchielli, Composer Frieder Weissmann, Conductor RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Cavalleria rusticana, Movement: Voi lo sapete |
Pietro Mascagni, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor Pietro Mascagni, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Gianni Schicchi, Movement: O mio babbino caro |
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Arturo Basile, Conductor Giacomo Puccini, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Rusalka, Movement: O, moon high up in the deep, deep sky (O silver moon) |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Arturo Basile, Conductor RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (8) Lieder aus Letzte Blätter, Movement: No. 7, Die Zeitlose |
Richard Strauss, Composer
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Richard Strauss, Composer Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Longing (Ceznja) |
Bozidar Kunc, Composer
Bozidar Kunc, Composer Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Quivering (Strepnja) |
Bozidar Kunc, Composer
Bozidar Kunc, Composer Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Do not go, my love |
Richard Hageman, Composer
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Richard Hageman, Composer Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
Composer or Director: Bozidar Kunc, Richard Hageman, Giuseppe Verdi, Amilcare Ponchielli, Giacomo Puccini, Antonín Dvořák, Pietro Mascagni, Richard Strauss, Vincenzo Bellini
Label: Gold Seal
Magazine Review Date: 11/1990
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: GK60074
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Norma, Movement: ~ |
Vincenzo Bellini, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor RCA Victor Orchestra Vincenzo Bellini, Composer Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (Il) trovatore, Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (La) forza del destino, '(The) force of destiny', Movement: Pace, pace, mio Dio |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (La) forza del destino, '(The) force of destiny', Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Jan Peerce, Tenor Margaret Harshaw, Mezzo soprano Margaret Harshaw, Soprano RCA Victor Orchestra Renato Cellini, Conductor Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (Un) ballo in maschera, '(A) masked ball', Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Margaret Harshaw, Mezzo soprano Margaret Harshaw, Soprano New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (La) Gioconda, Movement: ~ |
Amilcare Ponchielli, Composer
Amilcare Ponchielli, Composer Frieder Weissmann, Conductor RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Cavalleria rusticana, Movement: Voi lo sapete |
Pietro Mascagni, Composer
Frieder Weissmann, Conductor Pietro Mascagni, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Gianni Schicchi, Movement: O mio babbino caro |
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
Arturo Basile, Conductor Giacomo Puccini, Composer RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Rusalka, Movement: O, moon high up in the deep, deep sky (O silver moon) |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Arturo Basile, Conductor RCA Victor Orchestra Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| (8) Lieder aus Letzte Blätter, Movement: No. 7, Die Zeitlose |
Richard Strauss, Composer
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Richard Strauss, Composer Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Longing (Ceznja) |
Bozidar Kunc, Composer
Bozidar Kunc, Composer Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Quivering (Strepnja) |
Bozidar Kunc, Composer
Bozidar Kunc, Composer Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
| Do not go, my love |
Richard Hageman, Composer
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Conductor Richard Hageman, Composer Zinka Milanov, Soprano |
Author: Alan Blyth
Milanov was the reigning spinto soprano at the Metropolitan for 20 years and more from 1937, when she made her first appearance as Leonora in Il trovatore. She appeared with the company some 300 times, and did very little work elsewhere after her New York debut, though she appeared at Covent Garden in 1956–7 as Leonora (Il trovatore) and Tosca, performances I remember well for her classic style and sovereign tone, though the famous nickname 'La donna immobile' proved near the truth! By then she was in her early fifties (or more if a likely birth date of 1902, rather than 1906, is now accepted). When she began making commercial records she was around 40, so for me the most rewarding mementoes of her glorious art are those non-commercial, off-the-air performances made during the war of her Leonora, Amelia (Ballo) and Gioconda. Even so, her later Gioconda for RCA (nla), her Leonora (with Bjorling) and her Aida, the last pair now reissued on CD by RCA, give us a very fair idea of what she was about. Now we have this disc to supplement them.
Her Norma, first given at the Met in 1943, was much acclaimed. The ''Casta diva'' has poise and grandeur but it isn't specific in characterization. More involving is the ''Mira, o Norma'' with Harshaw (later to be a notable Covent Garden Brunnhilde). For once Adalgisa sounds, properly, younger than Norma, and both artists mould the lovely duet (in the original key) with glowing tone. The account of the Trovatore Leonora's Fourth Act aria is gracefully shaped and technically secure, and aristocratic in style; so is the other Leonora's ''Pace, pace'' a truly great account, more vivid than the later version on ALP1371 (nla), from which comes the final trio from the same opera, though this doesn't surpass the great Ponselle/Martinelli/Pinza account (now transferred to CD by RCA and Nimbus), simply because Milanov's partners aren't in the same class as Ponselle's. The Ballo duet also suffers from Peerce's rather coarse contribution: Milanov's Amelia is more successfully heard in the 1940 Met performance with Bjorling, which the opera house has recently released officially (not generally available in the UK).
The versions of ''Suicidio!'' and ''Voi lo sapete'' are invaluable additions to the soprano's British discography, finding the soprano in fresher voice than in her complete accounts of Gioconda and Santuzza (reissued on CD by RCA). Of the two arias on Milanov's last, 1958 LP recital, ''O mio babbino'' is too effortful, but ''O lovely moon'', sung in the original language, receives a performance that shows off Milanov's legato and floating tone at their best. So does a quite beautiful and haunting account of Do not go my love, the famed pianissimos much in evidence. By and large anyone wanting to know about Milanov's high reputation will find plenty of evidence of it here.'
Her Norma, first given at the Met in 1943, was much acclaimed. The ''Casta diva'' has poise and grandeur but it isn't specific in characterization. More involving is the ''Mira, o Norma'' with Harshaw (later to be a notable Covent Garden Brunnhilde). For once Adalgisa sounds, properly, younger than Norma, and both artists mould the lovely duet (in the original key) with glowing tone. The account of the Trovatore Leonora's Fourth Act aria is gracefully shaped and technically secure, and aristocratic in style; so is the other Leonora's ''Pace, pace'' a truly great account, more vivid than the later version on ALP1371 (nla), from which comes the final trio from the same opera, though this doesn't surpass the great Ponselle/Martinelli/Pinza account (now transferred to CD by RCA and Nimbus), simply because Milanov's partners aren't in the same class as Ponselle's. The Ballo duet also suffers from Peerce's rather coarse contribution: Milanov's Amelia is more successfully heard in the 1940 Met performance with Bjorling, which the opera house has recently released officially (not generally available in the UK).
The versions of ''Suicidio!'' and ''Voi lo sapete'' are invaluable additions to the soprano's British discography, finding the soprano in fresher voice than in her complete accounts of Gioconda and Santuzza (reissued on CD by RCA). Of the two arias on Milanov's last, 1958 LP recital, ''O mio babbino'' is too effortful, but ''O lovely moon'', sung in the original language, receives a performance that shows off Milanov's legato and floating tone at their best. So does a quite beautiful and haunting account of Do not go my love, the famed pianissimos much in evidence. By and large anyone wanting to know about Milanov's high reputation will find plenty of evidence of it here.'
Zinka Milanov Opera & Song Recital
Zinka Milanov Opera & Song Recital
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