Verdi: Ritorna vincitor! (from Aida)

With the revival of Bellini’s Norma in the Met’s 1927-28 season Ponselle achieved perhaps the greatest triumph of her career. After the first performance on 16th November, Olin Downes, writing in The New York Times, remarked that the opera’s success was due to Ponselle, ‘probably the most beautiful voice of any soprano of her generation.’

“Zinka Milanov as Aida…turned phrases so eloquently that they became not merely acceptable musical phrases, but heart- storming expressions of emotion” Cecil Smith reporting on Milanov’s debut in Chicago, 1940.

“She was called “the voice of the century”. And with the opening notes of Aida’s “O patria mia”, heard full and clear through the crackle and needle-hiss of the 1923 recording, you realise why. Not only the voice itself, rich and seamless throughout the compass, but the life force pulsing through it. The soft, sustained high B flat of Leonora’s “Invan la pace”, from La forza del destino, thrills you to the marrow, as does the duet from the Nile scene of Aida, with Martinelli. Most of the disc is Verdi; some are alternative takes, one or two even better than the published versions.” The Sunday Times

“The very first phrases of the opening aria [“In questa reggia] command attention and let you know that something rather special has arrived on the scene … it becomes quite clear that here is an exceptional singer, distinctive in timbre, distinguished in artistry … the voice glitters rather than soothes, shines rather than warms … the Lady Macbeth … is superb.” Gramophone 09/77