Young Spiro Malas and Sherrill Milnes sing There, but for you, Go I

[clown84700]

Bravi a voi !!!

[saiserieht]

This is hard to say ... - Milnes

I saw a man with his head bowed low ... - Malas

I saw a man walking by the sea ... - Milnes

Lonely men around me ... Malas

I saw a man who had never known - both

[legatofancier]

Excellent points in every respect! The fact of the matter remains that we do not know the facts for certain. We can only speculate and wonder. Singers have said to me that they thought Milnes deliberately colored his voice. On the other hand, you might be right. Yes, Merrill's voice did darken and take on weight as he entered his 40's. The truth of the matter is that a singing voice is ALWAYS CHANGING.!

[Agorante]

I heard Goldovsky's Don Giovanni at Constitution Hall in Washington DC in the mid 60s. I remember the Don who I thought was Milnes but maybe not. And I remember the Leporello who may have been Malas. I know Milnes did sing the Don with Goldovsky at some point. Anyone know more?

Malas sounds particularly good in this excerpt.

Milnes sang all those high notes and if they wrecked his voice, so what? Without them he was going nowhere.

[legatofancier]

Wish Milnes had continued to sing this way, with the more open sound that was better suited to his essentially bright baritone. Later on, he began to excessively cover his voice in an attempt to darken it. He wound up impersonating Leonard Warren in way that was not really becoming to Milnes' natural vocal quality.

[eljolras]

@legatofancier good points but are you sure about that? I mean yes Warren was a god but Milnes also. But I would like to hear any more words about "your?" theory.

[legatofancier]

@eljolras - Am I sure about that? Of course not, it's just an informed opinion based on having heard Milnes live at the Met a number of times. It's not a judgement being handed down from Olympus, far from it. Everyone I spoke to who heard Milnes early in his career said that his voice was much more attractive at that time. Having never heard Warren live, I only know him from his records. Frankly, I have never liked his voice. The soft grained, excessively covered sound is not to my taste.

[eljolras]

@legatofancier thanks for the info. I have heard Milnes had some vocal problems. Maybe the changing of his voice was just a way to "fix" these vocal problems? This is just a "maybe" of course.

[legatofancier]

@eljolras - Milnes vocal problems came much later. The problems may have been brought on by too many interpolated high notes and forte high notes. The coloring of his voice by excessive covering may have been intended to give himself a more commercial sound. All of this amounts to a definite "maybe", of course

[stevevandien]

@legatofancier Then again, maybe they just happened, as they do with many professional singers (myself included). Some suffer them without doing ANYTHING beyond the ordinary. The voice and the vocal cords are complex things; sometimes they incur damage while the singer is doing everything correctly. Some singers, on the other hand, endure for decades with less than healthy technique.

If you're going to argue that Milnes "colored his voice by excessive covering," you should post -- read on --

[stevevandien]

@stevevandien Sorry; by "maybe they just happened," I mean vocal cord hemorhages," which Milnes has acknowledged that he suffered -- me too:) -

[hightenor123]

You have my agreement in this respect, it has to do with how the blood vessels react to such full time use, and how close the vessels are to the vibrating surface. Even something like taking excessive aspirin or medications that increase bleeding capacity can cause them as well as any sort of allergy, sickness swelling or misuse. People like to speculate, but no one can know. Some people are health nuts and die at 40, and some heavy livers live to 80. It is the same with the voice.

[stevevandien]

@legatofancier I believe Milnes' voice darkened naturally in mid-career. I don't think he strove for tonal darkening any more than most baritones who sing these roles. Compare Merrill's 1940s recordings to those he made in the 60s.  Merrill's tone certainly darkened naturally I heard Milnes live as Iago in Chicago in 1985, and I can attest that this was an enormous, powerful voice. Nor do I agree that he ever tried to impersonate Warren. Some argue that he did -- read on:) --

[stevevandien]

@stevevandien -- But they fail to acknowledge a pertinent fact: At his peak, Milnes -- without trying to -- SOUNDED a lot like Warren, in terms of timbre. Does it necessarily follow that a singer who sounds like a great one from the previous generation is trying to IMITATE him or her? Nope.

[henryasher]

Thank you so much for one of the most wonderful postings in a long, long time. I remember Spiro fondly from the late 70's at the Aspen Festival. Larger and warmer than life.

And Milnes wasn't exactly shabby here, either!

Henry Asher

[hightenor123]

@henryasher thanks for enjoying!

[Chiliarches]

Both of these are very interesting indeed - thank you!