Customer Reviews

Portrait of Zinka Milanov

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This is a must for Zinka fans. In addition to samples of her immortal performances, the recording contains several songs from her native Croatia, some accompanied lovingly by her brother Bozidar Kunz.

Firstly, most of the numbers on this album are live performances, and you will hear audience noise from time to time, but it is NOT distracting, nor is the sound quality at all poor. You are right there within it.

Here we get to see what the Milanov sound was like in the theatre, and well, those used to her commercial recordings only are in for a real treat. We finally get to hear that voice that so grabbed the hearts and souls of the listeners.

Her dramatic and emotional intensity is unbelievable, almost to the point of overdoing it (but NEVER to that point). Here we hear Mozart as we have never heard it before. Finally there is life, I mean real life, in his music. I have found Mozart at times one of the most boring of composers. His music is wonderfully lovely, yes, but so often he is performed in this "instrumental perfection sort of way" to the point that there is no soul to his music (Callas found him boring, and I happen to agree with her teachings from her Jiuliard classes: Mozart must be sung with emotion or he falls flat). Well, we are introduced to Mozart with the great recitative leading to Donna Anna's vengence aria, and what a show we are treated to. This woman is totally beside herself over the death of her father, and the attempted rape Giovanni failed at. She is livid expressing her disdain to Octavio as she related the history behind things. Finally we are hearing this dramatic scene with real and understandable emotions we can all relate to. Not only that, here is a voice that really could "blast the rafters off the building." There is no holding back, no delicacy; instead we are treated to a full-throated rendering of the feelings and the dynamics (which by the way, were written that way by Mozart himself). To some, her presentation may appear more "Verdian or Verismo" than classical Mozart, but really that is not the case, she respects his musical line and intentions completely. Her second number, from the same opera, just melts with tenderness.

From Mozart we are treated to Verdi, and what Verdi do we get! Now that is singing and that is drama, and something we don't often see today. I have no clue how she actually acted on stage, but with her voice she is equal to Callas, but in a very different way. The Ballo pieces were as we would expect from such a great Verdi singer, it was Rigoletto that was the revelation. We are accustomed to hearing chirping birds sing this role, and of course, we are all delighted with them (some even end Caro Nome on a high E, as Leontyne Price recorded it). Gilda, is after all, a woman. In a sense, Milanov's voice is far too mature for such a character, but what a moving sound she gives with the last act of Rigoletto. Here we are witnessing a real woman willing to sacrifice all for the man she loves (even though he is a jerk) and when paired with Warren, well we are brought to tears with the emotional intensity.

The recording is glorious, and a real revelation, especially for those of us who know her work soully through her commerical recordings, which often seem so lifeless even if meltingly sung. One sees instantly, we are not hearing a lifeless performer, not one bit.