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There’s some beautiful
singing here. Croatian-born Milanov
followed a well-trodden route from provincial
opera houses to the German Theatre in
Prague, in 1936, and thence to Vienna
where her debut was conducted by Bruno
Walter. Almost immediately she was booked
by the Met in New York and remained
there for fully a quarter of a century.
It’s where her greatest legacy resides
and that exclusively in Italian roles.
She gave her final performance in 1966
at the house where she had been so conspicuous
a singer and despite her forays into
lieder and concert recitals it’s as
a Verdian, first and foremost, that
she is likely to be remembered. And
that’s certainly the focus of this Preiser
disc, which catches her in her prime
between 1945 and 1953.
Her Casta diva
is beautifully done though the lower
part of the voice does sound just a
shade matronly but it was a voice she
could scale down with perfect precision
and dramatic verisimilitude, as witness
Mira, o Norma. Apparently Milanov
always reckoned Tacea la notte placida
with Margaret Roggero one of her
finest records and it is indeed a thriller.
I liked her Miserere with Jan
Peerce – she more than he to be frank;
he sounds rather tense but the list
of ticks on this disc is a long one;
so yes to Son giunta! ... Madre,
pietosa Vergine where her clarity
and phrasing are optimum – all very
musically shaped. Hers was not a strident,
ear piercing Verdian soprano; it was
much more inflected and subtle than
that and possessed of moments of genuine
nobility (La Vergine degli angeli)
and liquid soft portamenti for expressive
shading (Pace, pace, mio Dio!).
There’s a considerable
improvement in sound in these 1953 RCA
discs and she’s commensurately more
strident in Aida, hardening plausibly
in tone. She was famous in La Gioconda
and was to record it a few years later
under Previtali, with De Stefano her
partner. This excerpt however comes
from 1946. Similarly, lest there’s confusion,
the Cavalleria rusticana extract is
not from the Cellini led set with Milanov
and Björling – it is with
Cellini but dates from 1945. The same
applies to La Forza (not the 1959 LP
set) and Aida, which isn’t derived from
the 1955 RCA complete recording with
Björling, Barbieri and Warren and
directed by Perlea. Just to confuse
you further Il Trovatore is from
the (cut) complete set with the trio
of singers just mentioned along with
Moscona and conductor Cellini. Tricky
things, discographies. But this Preiser
is a worthy addition to Milanov’s legacy
and strongly recommended.
Jonathan Woolf
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Zinka Milanov (soprano) with 
