Category Archives: Needle Drop

Episode 103. Gilbert Price

August 22, 2021African American Singers, BHM2023WK2, Black History Month, Broadway, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century MusicAl Carmines, Alan Jay Lerner, Andrew Davis, Anthony Newley, Bruce Hubbard, Edward Elgar, Emily Yancey, Frederick Loewe, George Forrest, Gilbert Price, I’ve Gotta Be Me, Janet Baker, Jerico-Jim Crow, Jerome Kern, Langston Hughes, Leonard Bernstein, Leslie Bricusse, María Irene Fornés, Merv Griffin, Micki Grant, Oscar Hammerstein II, Robert Wright, The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, Theater des Westens Berlin, Timbuktu!, Ty McConnell, Unchained Melodycountermelody

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Never heard of Gilbert Price? This episode will remedy that situation. With a voice that was easily produced, full-ranged, tonally refulgent, technically poised, the three-time Tony nominee Gilbert Price (1942-1991) deserves to be more fully remembered today for his deeply expressive portrayals, including a starring role in Leonard Bernstein’s failed Bicentennial musical, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He also starred in Timbuktu!, Promenade, The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, and Langston Hughes’s 1964 musical pageant Jerico-Jim Crow, which also featured the recently deceased Micki Grant in one of her first featured roles. I feature Gilbert Price in numerous live performances, both on stage and on television, as well as four obscure singles he made for Columbia Records, in addition to considering his tragic demise. The episode also features an 88th birthday tribute to Janet Baker as well as commemorations of Grant and other recently departed musicians.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available.

Episode 102. John Reardon

August 15, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century MusicAdolph Green, Alban Berg, Alexander Young, Arrigo Boito, Arthur Siegel, Betty Comden, Bliss Hebert, Candide, Chester Biscardi, Chester Kallman, Christoph von Dohnányi, Denis Deal, Douglass Cross, Edvard Grieg, Evelyn Lear, Franz Allers, Franz Lehár, Fred Rogers, George Cory, George Forrest, Gian Carlo Menotti, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Helena Scott, Henry Butler, Herbert Grossman, Igor Stravinsky, Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Jo Sullivan Lehman Engel, John Koch, John Reardon, Jorge Mester, Judith Raskin, Jule Styne, June Carroll, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Lisa Della Casa, Marie Collier, Marvin David Levy, NBC Opera, New Faces of 1956, Newell Jenkins, Nicholas Flagello, On the Town, Oscar Hammerstein II, Peter Herman Adler, Ragnar Ulfung, Richard Owen, Robert Craft, Robert Oliver, Robert Wright, Samuel Krachmalnick, Sarah Caldwell, Song of Norway, Stephen Crane, The Flood, The Magic Flute, The Merry Widow, The Rake’s Progress, The Saint of Bleecker Street, W.H. Auden, Walter de la Mare, William Blake, William Orvis, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Here’s another great baritone to help get us through another week: the extraordinarily versatile and talented John Reardon (1930-1988). Possessed of a voice of extraordinary beauty and flexibility, as well as deeply intuitive interpretive powers and a profound musicality and dramatic sensibility, he had everything it took to make his mark in the fields of musicals, operetta, and opera (the latter in both standard, and, even more significantly, contemporary repertoire). I have several rare live recordings as well as some uncommon studio recordings to share with my listeners. Guest stars include Leontyne Price, Judith Raskin, Jo Sullivan, Lisa Della Casa, Alexander Young, Ragnar Ulfung, Evelyn Lear, and Bliss Hebert, in a rare outing as a pianist accompanying Reardon in a 1967 recording of American art songs. I also pay homage to his television appearances, both on NBC Opera and, especially, between 1968 and 1986, as the character “Reardon” in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which served to introduce countless multitudes of children to the glories of opera.

Episode 101. Heinrich Rehkemper

August 8, 2021Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Gustav Mahler, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Richard Wagner, SchubertEduard Mörike, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Rother, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Rückert, Fritz Zweig, Gerhard Hüsch, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Rehkemper, Heinrich Schlusnus, Jascha Horenstein, Julius Prüwer, Karl Schmitt-Walter, Manfred Gurlitt, Michael Raucheisen, Opera in Translation, Robert Schumann, Waldemar Liachowsky, Wilhelm Müller, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I continue my salute to Great Baritones with an examination of the recorded legacy of one of my favorite German baritones, the nearly-forgotten Heinrich Rehkemper (1894-1949) who left a small but important cache of discs, many of them devoted to the Lieder of Franz Schubert. He also made the first complete recording of Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. I place Rehkemper in the context of the other significant German baritones of his era, Heinrich Schlusnus, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Karl Schmitt-Walter, and Gerhard Hüschand examine the specter of Nazism that hangs over all German artists from this period. But it is first and foremost the unique legacy of Rehkemper’s art song recordings that concerns me here, and I discuss what makes his work so important, and what today’s singers can learn through close study of his recordings.

Episode 100. Claudia Muzio

August 1, 2021Claudia Muzio, Giuseppe Verdi, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, VerismoAlfredo Catalani, Arrigo Boito, Claudia Muzio, Frédéric Chopin, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacomini, Giuseppe Verdi, Licinio Refice, Lorenzo Molajoli, Magda Olivero, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Stefano Donaudy, Umberto Giordano, Victor Herbertcountermelody

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Countermelody celebrates its landmark 100th episode with a tribute to the artist that is my ne plus ultra, the Italian soprano Claudia Muzio (1889-1936). What better artist to salute on this occasion, as her voice is heard at the top of every episode of the podcast, and her beautiful presence graces the Countermelody logo. I discuss my theory that each individual listener has a singer whose voice penetrates to the core of their being. For me, as for many others, Claudia Muzio is that singer. I explore her recorded legacy, which falls into three distinct periods recording for three distinct record companies. In the case of “L’altra notte,” the classic aria from Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, Muzio left three different recordings, one from each period. I examine these, and many of her other roles, in my attempt to plumb the depths of the Muzio mystique. Incidentally, there is a special bonus episode on Muzio that has been concurrently published for my Patreon supporters. What better time to celebrate this artist, and this occasion, than by signing up to become a monthly supporter on Patreon? (www.patreon.com/countermelody)

The episode begins with a tribute to the late Italian dramatic tenor Giuseppe Giacomini, who died this past week at the age of 80.

Episode 99. Yi-Kwei Sze (斯義桂)

July 25, 2021Art Song, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicAlexander Tcherepnin, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Brooks Smith, Dichterliebe, Eduard Mörike, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, George van Renesse, Giuseppe Verdi, Heinrich Heine, Hugo Wolf, Italienisches Liederbuch, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, Modest Mussorgsky, Nancy Lee Sze, Robert Freeman, Robert Schumann, Serge Rachmaninov, Songs and Dances of Death, Sunless (song cycle), The Magic Flute, Victor Babin, Vier ernste Gesänge, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yi-Kwei Sze, 斯義桂countermelody

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The Chinese-American bass Yi-Kwei Sze (1915-1994) was the first Chinese singer to achieve worldwide prominence in the world of Western classical music. From his first studies with Vladimir Shushlin at the Shanghai Conservatory, Sze’s sound and artistic soul carried on the great tradition of the Russian basses, including that of Alexander Kipnis, with whom he studied after emigrating to the United States in 1947. This episode captures Sze’s legacy in both his live and (comparatively rare) studio recordings, including operatic arias by Verdi, Mozart and Handel, and songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov. Alongside my tribute to this great artist, I also consider the plight of the Asian musician as eloquently set forth in a riveting article published in The New York Times. Over the course of the past nearly two years since I have been producing the podcast, I consider Yi-Kwei Sze to be one of the greatest artistic discoveries on my own path. A note for my Patreon supporters: a second Yi-Kwei Sze episode is being published today that further explores his recorded legacy.

Episode 98. John Raitt

July 18, 2021Broadway, Crossover, Great Baritones, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Pop IconsAlan Jay Lerner, Anne Jeffreys, Barbara Cook, Bill Reddie, Bonnie Raitt, Burton Lane, Carousel, Cesare Bixio, Doretta Morrow, Ernesto de Curtis, Florence Henderson, Folk Songs, Franz Allers, Frederick Loewe, George Bassman, George Forrest, Gioacchino Rossini, Glenn Osser, Harold Hastings, Irving Berlin, Jay Blackton, Jerome Kern, Jerry Ross, Joe Guercio, John Raitt, Joseph Littau, Karen Morrow, Neopolitan Songs, Oscar Hammerstein II, Pete King, Ralph Blane, Richard Adler, Richard Rodgers, Robert Wright, Rosemary Cloooney, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Today I feature as part of my summer series on Great Baritones, one of the greatest Broadway baritones of all time, John Raitt (1917-2005). Wait: did I say one of the greatest? Make that possibly the greatest! Along with Alfred Drake and a handful of others, John Raitt completely redefined the Broadway leading man: strapping, robust, virile, handsome, with an operatic caliber voice and splendid acting chops to match. His creation of the role of Billy Bigelow in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s magnum opus, Carousel, turned a deeply problematic character into a sympathetic one. In this episode we hear excerpts from this role, as well as some of Raitt’s other hits (and non-hits), both on—and away from—Broadway: The Pajama Game, Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun, Three Wishes for Jamie, Show Boat, and others, as well as a bit of opera! I also feature tracks from four of his solo records, recorded and released between 1955 and 1970, which include Neopolitan songs, folk songs, and pure late 60s pop as well as Broadway standards not normally associated with him. Some of his duet partners include Barbara Cook, Rosemary Clooney, Florence Henderson, Doretta Morrow, Anne Jeffreys, as well as his daughter Bonnie, herself one of the great blues singers and guitarists of the late 20th century. We also hear Bonnie’s deeply personal song “Circle Dance,” which concerns their sometimes fraught—but eventually fully reconciled—relationship. Was he really a baritone, was he a tenor masquerading as a baritone, or was he a true “baritenor”? I consider all these possibilities but leave it to my listeners to draw their own conclusions. No matter how you assess John Raitt’s voice, in the end, it sustained him through a career that lasted seven decades; it is a thrill to present him to my listeners in his full baritenorial splendor.

Episode 97. Owen Williams and Leslie Scott: Two Forgotten Black Pop Baritones

July 11, 2021African American Singers, Broadway, Crossover, Great Baritones, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest SongsAfrican-American singers, Andre Previn, Billy Moore Jr., Burton Lane, Carolyn Leigh, Charles Trenet, Cy Coleman, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, Henri Salvador, Ira Gershwin, Irene Williams, Jan Corduwener, Jerry Herman, Leslie Scott, Mack Gordon, Michael Jary, Nana Gualdi, Owen Williams, Paul Abraham, Porgy and Bess (Gershwin), Richard Rodgers, Spirituals, Sy Oliver, Victor Young, Walter Kollo, Willy Hoffmann, Xavier Cugat, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Today I present to you two Black baritones who made their mark in Europe and the United States over the course of several decades. Leslie Scott (ca. 1920-1969), who appeared on the State Department-sponsored tour of Porgy and Bess in the 1950s, and who played Jake in the now-obscure 1959 film version of the piece, began his career as a big-band singer. About his fellow singer, bass-baritone Owen Williams, I have been unable to discover much of anything, in spite of the fact that, like his compatriot Kenneth Spencer, he was featured in German film and television in the 1950s and 1960s and also recorded extensively in the 1960s, in his case, for Philips Records. Both Williams and Scott display undeniable vocal and interpretive gifts that are sometimes obscured by other factors, such as the tackiness of the arrangements and the pervasive and unchecked plantation nostalgia of the period, especially in Germany. Close examination of the recorded legacies of both Williams and Scott provides a partial glimpse into their lives and careers, even if too much of it today remains hidden in obscurity.

Episode 96. Great Baritones Sing Charles Ives

July 4, 2021Art Song, Great Baritones, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAlan Feinberg, Alan Mandel, Charles Ives, Craig Rutenberg, Dalton Baldwin, Donald Gramm, Donald Hassard, Gerald Finley, Jerry Hadley, Julius Drake, Kneebody, Kurt Ollmann, Mary Dibbern, Richard Cumming, Samuel Ramey, Sanford Sylvan, Steven Blier, Theo Bleckmann, Thomas Stewart, Warren Jones, William Parker, William Sharpcountermelody

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To help me and all my American friends celebrate the Fourth of July, I bring you a gorgeous bevy of great low-voiced singers performing songs by that emblematic US-American composer Charles Ives. I offer thirty of his songs which display a wide range of compositional, musical, and literary styles. Some of the greatest Ives interpreters are on display here, including Thomas Stewart, Samuel Ramey, Donald Gramm, Sanford Sylvan, Kurt Ollmann, Gerald Finley, William Sharp, and William Parker, accompanied by Alan Mandel, Dalton Baldwin, Alan Feinberg, Warren Jones, Steven Blier, Craig Rutenberg, and others. I finish the program with late Jerry Hadley performing that most celebratory of Ives’s songs, “The Circus Band.”

Episode 95. Queer Blues and Beyond (Pride 2021)

June 27, 2021African American Singers, BHM2023WK2, Black History Month, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Voiceless WondersAda “Bricktop” Smith, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday, Bricktop, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, Ethel Waters, Gladys Bentley, Joan Armatrading, Joséphine Baker, Laura Love, Lucille Bogan, Lucille Hegamin, Ma Rainey, Mabel Mercer, Meshell Ndegeocello, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tiny Davis, Toshi Reagon, Victoria Spiveycountermelody

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For my second Queer Pride episode this month, I offer you a panoply of blues and other popular music sung by women of color over the past 100 years and over a wide range of the LGBTQ spectrum. The focus is on the queer and bisexual women of color who enlivened the Harlem blues scene in the 1920s, including the newly popular and celebrated Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, as well as other vital and iconoclastic singers of that era, including Bricktop, Lucille Bogan, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters, Victoria Spivey, Lucille Hegamin, and the fascinating Gladys Bentley. The net is further extended to include jazz (Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington), pop, rock ‘n’ roll (Big Mama Thornton), gospel (Sister Rosetta Tharpe), cabaret (Mabel Mercer, Joséphine Baker), soul (Carolyn Franklin) and folk (Joan Armatrading, Meshell Ndegeocello, Toshi Reagon, and Laura Love). Of course in this episode the musical categories are as flexible as are the sexual and gender boundaries, so expect to see a lot of genre-hopping as well among these subversive, innovative, and pathbreaking women of color.

Episode 94. Odetta (Juneteenth 2021)

June 20, 2021African American Singers, BHM2023WK3, Black History Month, Holiday Music, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Twentieth Century MusicArmando Manzanero, Arthur Freed, Bill Lee, blues, Folk Songs, gospel music, Harlem Boys Choir, Huddie Ledbetter, John Lennon, Labi Siffre, Larry Mohr, Leadbelly, Liam Clancy, Mark Carpentieri, Nacio Herb Brown, Odetta, Protest Songs, Randy Newmancountermelody

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In honor of the first commemoration of Juneteenth as a national holiday, there is no artist more worthy of celebration than the great Odetta (1930-2008). The breadth of her influence and the scope of her accomplishment should be trumpeted from the rooftops. From her first appearance on primetime national television opposite Harry Belafonte, to her prominence as the artist at the forefront of the folk music revival, to the importance of her music as a centerpiece to the Civil Rights Movement, to her additional contributions to blues and gospel music (and even, less expectedly, jazz and soul), Odetta Felious Holmes remains one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. From her first recording in 1954, to one of her final live performances, I present a wide-ranging portrait highlighting the significance of an artist who, for once, merits the designation “cultural icon.”

Episode 93. Evelyn Lear sings Sondheim and Bernstein (and other Queer Composers)

June 13, 2021Art Song, Broadway, Crossover, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicAaron Copland, Adolph Green, Alan Mandel, Betty Comden, Charles Ives, Evelyn Lear, Franz Schubert, Jewish Cantorial Chant, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Martin Katz, Maxwell Anderson, Nina Quartin, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Reynaldo Hahn, Stephen Foster, Stephen Sondheim, Thomas Stewart, Zavel Kwartincountermelody

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I had intended a no-holds-barred Queer Pride extravaganza for this week’s episode, but life got in the way, so I elected to do a more modest, chamber-music-sized celebration instead, which encompasses both the life and artistry of Evelyn Lear, the ninth anniversary of whose death we observe on July First. Her 1980 release Evelyn Lear sings Sondheim and Bernstein, recorded in collaboration with her most frequent recital partner, pianist Martin Katz, finds this artist lending her distinctive voice, style, and interpretive flair to ten songs by these two composers, who are seen today as, among other things, queer icons. I round out the episode with performances by Evelyn Lear and her husband Thomas Stewart, of songs by a number of other composers (Schubert, Hahn, Tchaikovsky, Copland and Foster) who are, by my assessment at least, also guiding beacons for the queer community.

Episode 92. Blessed Memory (In Memoriam III)

June 6, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Twentieth Century Music, Verismo, Voiceless WondersAdele Stolte, Aimé Doniat, Alice Goodman, André Campra, Arnold Schoenberg, Arthur Loosli, Arthur Woodley, Barbara Scherler, Bernard Ładysz, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Caroline Kaart, Catherine Gayer, Cecilia Fusco, Cesare, Christian Martin Fuchs, Claudio Nicolai, Cora Canne Meijer, Cristóbal Halffter, Edith Selig, Edith Thallaug. Erland Hagegård, Eldar Aliev, Eugenia Ratti, Galina Savova, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Bononcini, Giuseppe Verdi, Hedi Klug, Hiroshi Wakasugi, Hugh Beresford, Inés Rivadeneira, James Maddalena, Janine Reiss, Jean-François Paillard, Jerzy Marchwiński, Jerzy Semkow, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Adams, John Macurdy, Jolanda Meneguzzer, Jose Tellaeche, Juan Vert, Julius Rudel, Kent Nagano, Kurt Azesberger, Kurt Eichhorn, Kurt Weill, Leonard Mróz, Ludwig van Beethoven, Matti Piipponen, Michael Rippon, Neil Howlett, Okko Kamu, Othmar Schoeck, Paul Méfano, Peter Maag, Pierrot lunaire, Pietro Mascagni, Ralf Gothoni, Reveriano Soutullo, Richard Wagner, Rico Saccani, Robert Gilbert, Robert Stolz, Roberto Benzi, Seppo Nummi, Serge Rachmaninov, Siepi, Silvano Carroli, Sophie Boulin, Stanisław Moniuszko, The Death of Klinghoffer, Thomas Daniel Schlee, Thomas Hammons, Umberto Giordano, Vaclovas Daunoras, Vasile Moldoveanu, William Peterson-Berger, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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The final episode (for now) in my series commemorating recent deaths in the musical community, this one presents a further group of treasurable (and often less well-known) musical artists, refracted through the lens of memory: personal memory, collective memory, eternal memory, blessed memory. Prepare to make or renew acquaintance with Adele Stolte, Silvano Carroli, Inés Rivadeneira, Eugenia Ratti, Caroline Kaart, Galina Savova, Bernard Ładysz, Cora Canne Meijer, Arthur Woodley, Jolanda Meneguzzer, Eldar Aliev, Sophie Boulin, and Edith Thallaug, among many others. Some were “voiceless wonders,” relatively speaking, others were gifted with enormous vocal gifts. All were artists and human beings who each made their mark in their own distinctive way. Guest stars include Vasile Moldoveanu, Cesare Siepi, Aimé Doniat, and Ralf Gothóni.

Episode 91. Unforgotten (In Memoriam II)

May 30, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Renata Scotto, Sylvia Sass, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAl Jarreau, Anthony Payne, Antoine Hodge, Celia Cruz, Chick Corea, Christopher Plummer, Dmitri Shostakovich, Eleanor Parker, Giuseppe Verdi, Jane Manning, Jim Steinman, Joan Sutherland, Joan Weldon, Johnny Pacheco, Liza Lehmann, Lorenzo Anselmi, Maria Kouba, Mary Ellen Pracht, Mary Wilson, Maxim Shostakovich, Milva, Mirella Freni, Neal Davies, Oscar Hammerstein II, Pauline Tinsley, Pervis Staples, Renata Scotto, Richard Bonynge, Richard Haydn, Richard Rodgers, Robert Gard, Robert L. Larsen, Rudolf Kelterborn, Steuart Bedford, Sylvia Sass, The Staples Singers, Theodore Lambrinos, Veronica Dunne, Yevgeny Nesterenkocountermelody

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We continue our memorial tributes this week with the second of (at least) three episodes commemorating the recent deaths of singers and musicians who have helped make our existence a little more manageable, our world a bit more beautiful. From Milva to Rudolf Kelterborn, from Yevgeny Nesterenko to Mary Wilson, from Jane Manning to Antoine Hodge, may they all rest in peace and power. Above all, this episode is dedicated to George Floyd on the first anniversary of his murder.

The two Countermelody episodes from a year ago devoted to music of protest and emancipation:

www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-37-no-more-slavery-chains

www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-38-something-in-the-air

Episode 90. Gone But Not Forgotten (In Memoriam I)

May 23, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Voiceless WondersAngelo Mori, Anne Feeney, Barbara Hendricks, Bedřich Smetana, Biserka Cvejić, Charley Pride, Elias Rahbani, Ennio Morricone, Francesco Cilea, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Gerry Marsden, Giuseppe Verdi, Harold Budd, Jimmie Rodgers, John Shirley-Quirk, Julian Bream, Leon Fleisher, Libuše Domanínská, Marcella Reale, Margherita Roberti, Michel Trempont, Muriel Smith, Osian Ellis, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Sándor Sólyom Nagy, SOPHIE, Tamara Sorokina, Vladislav Piavko, Zoltán Kodálycountermelody

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Christa Ludwig, celebrated two weeks ago, is not the only great singer and musician to have departed this earthly realm in recent months. This episode presents a wide cross-section of great musicians we have lost, not just singers, and not just classical musicians. Included are many opera singers who today are less well-known, including Sándor Sólyom Nagy, Libuše Domanínská, Margherita Roberti, Tamara Sorokina, Angelo Mori, Marcella Reale, Biserka Cvejić, and Michel Trempont. A wide range of composers including Ennio Morricone, Elias Rahbani, and Harold Budd, also receive a nod, as do instrumentalists Leon Fleisher, Osian Ellis, and Julian Bream, and non-classical artists such as Anne Feeney, Charley Pride, Gerry Marsden, Jimmie Rodgers, and SOPHIE. Only once before on the podcast have I presented such a kaleidoscopic memorial episode; it is good to be reminded of the full range of expression pursued by great musicians of all stripes. Guest stars today include Barbara Hendricks, Muriel Smith, and John Shirley-Quirk. The tributes continue next week.

Pictured: Biserka Cvejić as Amneris

Episode 89. The Radiant Heather Harper

May 16, 2021Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Twentieth Century MusicAlban Berg, Anthony Lewis, Anton Webern, Benjamin Britten, Bernard Haitink, Carlos Païta, Claudio Monteverdi, Colin Davis, David Atherton, Francesco Cavalli, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, Frederick Delius, Frederik Prausnitz, Gary Bertini, George Frideric Handel, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Heather Harper, Helen Donath, Henry Purcell, Horst Stein, Jessye Norman, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Somary, John Shirley-Quirk, Kieth Engen, Leif Segerstam, Luigi Dallapiccola, Maurice Ravel, Meredith Davies, Michael Tippett, Nicolai Gedda, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Norman Mittelmann, Otakar Kraus, Paul Hamburger, Peter Grimes, Pierre Boulez, Raymond Leppard, Rudolf Kempe, Sanford Sylvan, Steuart Bedford, Walter Süsskind, War Requiem, William Walton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I have dreamed of doing an episode on the great Irish soprano Heather Harper (1930 – 2019) since before I began the podcast. As we we find ourselves in close proximity to both the anniversary of her birth on 8 May 1930 and her death on 22 April 2019, I feel compelled to bring that dream to life. A peerless artist, probably most renowned today for her close collaboration with Benjamin Britten, whose War Requiem she learned ten days before the premiere when the scheduled artist, Galina Vishnevskaya, was refused by the Soviet government to participate in the performance. Her crackerjack musicianship is heard to full advantage in 20th century works by Michael Tippett, Leif Segerstam, Anton Webern, Luigi Dallapiccola, Francis Poulenc, William Walton, and Alban Berg. But her focused, flexible instrument also made her an ideal performer of the Baroque repertoire (we hear her in Purcell, Monteverdi, Cavalli, Bach and Handel). And the surprising stores of power she could summon made her a vital and sympathetic heroine in the operas of Wagner, Mozart, Strauss, and Gounod, as well Britten’s Ellen Orford, of which she was the definitive interpreter. She also excelled in the intimate medium of the Lieder recital. Vocal guest stars include Jessye Norman, Helen Donath, Nicolai Gedda, John Shirley-Quirk, Norman Mittelmann, Nicolai Ghiaurov, and others. Conductors heard include Pierre Boulez, Rudolf Kempe, Colin Davis, Raymond Leppard, Gary Bertini, Meredith Davies, Horst Stein, Anthony Lewis, Carlos Païta, Bernard Haitink, Steuart Bedford, Hans Swarowsky, David Atherton, and Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Fasten your seat belts and settle for an overdue tribute to the dazzling versatility and artistry of the great Heather Harper.

Episode 88. Jorma Hynninen @ 80: A Celebration in Song

May 9, 2021Art Song, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Schubert, Twentieth Century MusicCesare Bixio, Die schöne Müllerin, Eduard Mörike, Eliahu Inbal, Erik Bergman, Ernst Josephson, Franz Schubert, Fredrik Pacius, Gustav Mahler, Heikki Sarmanto, Hugo Wolf, J.H. Erkko, Jean Sibelius, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Jorma Hynninen, Jorma Panula, Kalevi Kiviniemi, Kiril Kozlovsky, Kullervo Karjalainen, Leif Segerstam, Markku Johansson, Oskar Merikanto, Pentti Koskimies, Ralf Gothoni, Robert Schumann, Selim Palmgren, Soile Isokoski, Taneli Kuusisto, Toivo Kuula, Ulf Söderblom, Väino Hannikainen, Wilhelm Müller, Yrjö Kilpinencountermelody

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A month ago the great Finnish baritone Jorma Hynninen turned 80, and on May 2, his closest collaborator, the Finnish pianist Ralf Gothóni turned 75. We celebrate these two birthdays somewhat belatedly, but no less enthusiastically, with a program comprised primarily of art song, beginning with some choice German Lieder recordings, but ultimately focusing on the songs of their native Finland. We hear Hynninen in performances across the span of his entire career, from 1968 through 2015. Needless to say, their great compatriot Jean Sibelius is foregrounded, but, as is often the case in this country, there are a surprising number of fascinating composers whose work in this genre rewards further exploration. If the music of Oskar Merikanto, Yrjö Kilpinen, Erik Bergman, Selim Palmgren, Fredrik Pacius, Väinö Hannikainen, Taneli Kuusisto, or Toivo Kuula is not familiar to you, prepare to be delighted, surprised, and moved by the depth and variety of their creation. Soile Isokoski also joins the gentlemen in an excerpt from Gothóni’s cantata Der Ochs und sein Hirte. And Hynninen gives further evidence of his versatility with performances of pop standards and tango. Hyvää myöhästynyttä syntymäpäivää, Maestri!

Episode 87. Christa Ludwig In Memoriam

May 2, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, SchubertAlban Berg, Charles Spencer, Christa Ludwig, Cosi fan tutte, Das Lied von der Erde, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Fidelio, Franz Schubert, Gioacchino Rossini, Gloria Davy, Gundula Janowitz, Gustav Mahler, Gwyneth Jones, Herbert von Karajan, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jonathan Alder, Karl Böhm, Karl Richter, La Cenerentola, Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Ludwig, Lohengrin, Lovro von Matačić, Ludwig van Beethoven, Reri Grist, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Victoria de los Angeles, Walter Berry, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wozzeckcountermelody

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The world of singing sustained an enormous loss a week ago: the death of the great German singer Christa Ludwig on April 24 at the age of 93. A singer whose repertoire centered around the great German composers but who also sang Verdi and French repertoire with often stunning results; a mezzo-soprano who was unparalleled in Wagner, Mahler, and Brahms, but who also sang the great soprano heroines of Richard Strauss; a Lieder singer of great perception and textual acuity whose supple technique nonetheless centered on legato singing: the greatness of this artist simply cannot be overestimated. In this, the first of several episodes that, over the next few months, I will devote to one of my favorite singers, I focus on the key composers (Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Wagner) and conductors (Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, and Leonard Bernstein) with whom she was most closely associated, while also examining some roles that might surprise you: Cenerentola, Amneris and Marie in Wozzeck. Vocal guest stars include Gloria Davy, Victoria de los Ángeles, Reri Grist, Gundula Janowitz, Gwyneth Jones, and Ludwig’s one-time husband Walter Berry. A bonus Patreon episode published concurrently with this one explores Ludwig’s mastery in the field of Lieder.

Episode 86. Cathy Berberian’s Second Hand Songs

April 25, 2021Art Song, Comic Relief, Crossover, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicArnold Schoenberg, Bruno Canino, Cathy Berberian, César Cui, Claude Debussy, Claudio Monteverdi, Folk Songs, Frédéric Chopin, Georges Bizet, Giancarlo Menotti, Gioacchino Rossini, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, Harold Arlen, Harold Lester, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Lennon, John Newmark, Kathleen Ferrier, Liza Lehmann, Luciano Berio, Ludwig van Beethoven, Manuel de Falla, Marcel Proust, Massimiliano Damenini, Maurice Ravel, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Paolo Tosti, Paul McCartney, Pauline Viardot, Pierrot lunaire, Reynaldo Hahn, The Beatlescountermelody

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I return to Cathy Berberian, Prima Donna of the Avant Garde (or “The Divine Miss B” as she was sometimes called in the mid-seventies) for a further exploration of her career and influence on vocalism in the twentieth century and beyond. This time around I consider her explorations outside of the avant garde, specifically the recital. Based on her 1967 recording of Beatles Arias, the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt invited Cathy Berberian to take part in his groundbreaking 1969 period instrument recording of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. In 1969 Cathy Berberian began to perform recitals that exploited her entire stylistic and vocal range, a program which eventually became known as “From Monteverdi to The Beatles.” In 1971 her ex-husband Luciano Berio wrote a theater piece for her called Recital I (For Cathy), in which she portrayed an increasingly deranged performer who eventually descends into madness. Her interest in Reynaldo Hahn and Marcel Proust eventually led her to create a program entitled À la recherche de la musique perdue. Additional late-career recitals were called Cathy Berberian’s Second Hand Songs and Cathy Sings America. This episode features excerpts from all of those works, as well as a smattering of folk music and a recorded excerpt of her singing the title role of Carmen, a tantalizing prospect which never came to be. The episode also includes a tribute to Kathleen Ferrier, whose 109th birthday was observed this past week.

Episode 85. George Shirley @ 87

April 18, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Operetta, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Richard WagnerAlessandro Scarlatti, Benjamin Britten, Claude Debussy, Colin Davis, David Garvey, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Erich Leinsdorf, Fernando Previtali, Ferruccio Busoni, Georg Solti, George Shirley, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, Howard Swanson, Igor Stravinsky, Ilva Ligabue, Jacques Offenbach, Jascha Horenstein, Jess Thomas, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Joanna Neal, John Pritchard, Josef Krips, Josephine McGill, Judith Raskin, Karl Weigl, Langston Hughes, Leontyne Price, Pierre Boulez, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Shirley Verrett, Sylvia Olden Lee, Thomas Schippers, Wayne Sanders, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today I finally get to pay tribute to one of the singers who was a formative influence on me as a budding opera and vocal aficionado. George Shirley, born on April 18, 1934 in Indianapolis, Indiana, was one of the most versatile tenors of the second half of the twentieth century, and a pathbreaker as the first African American tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. I first encountered him through his matchless portrayal of Pelléas in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande opposite Elisabeth Söderström. But his Mozart is equally celebrated: the podcast also features live and studio recordings of George Shirley as Tamino (opposite Judith Raskin), Don Ottavio, Ferrando (opposite Leontyne Price), as well as his extraordinary Idomeneo. Extant live performances of George Shirley including assumptions of roles as diverse as Don José (opposite Shirley Verrett), David in Die Meistersinger, Pinkerton (opposite an incandescent young Renata Scotto), Mephistopheles in Busoni’s Doktor Faust, and even Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos. All of these are included in the episode, as are rare song recordings from throughout his career. Raise a glass to the great George Shirley, and join me in thanking him for having shared his extraordinary artistic gift with us for all these years!

Episode 84. Cathy Berberian, Part I: MagnifiCathy

April 11, 2021Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Twentieth Century MusicArnold Schoenberg, Bruno Canino, Cathy Berberian, Claude Debussy, crossover, Edith Sitwell, Erik Satie, Fernando Obradors, folk music, Harold Lester, Henri Pousseur, Henry Purcell, humor in music, Igor Stravinsky, Italo Calvino, Jacques Offenbach, James Joyce, John Cage, Komitas Vardapet, Kurt Weill, Liza Lehmann, Louis Andriessen, Luciano Berio, Marius Constant, Pierre Boulez, Pierrot lunaire, Reynaldo Hahn, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Steely Dan, Steuart Bedford, Sylvano Bussotti, The Beatles, Umberto Eco, Victor Herbert, W.H. Auden, William Waltoncountermelody

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This episode is the first part of a tribute I have been wanting to create for quite some time. It honors the extraordinary artist and musician Cathy Berberian (1925-1983), the cosmopolitan Armenian-American vocalist who made an indelible mark on contemporary classical music and the public recital. Possessed of an extraordinarily flexible intelligence and sensibility, she influenced an entire generation of composers, including John Cage, Sylvano Bussotti, Henri Pousseur, and, in particular, her one-time husband Luciano Berio. Each of these composers wrote music with Berberian specifically in mind, and Berberian’s input strongly influenced the shape and form that these works assumed. Divorcing Berio in 1964 freed her to pursue her own musical interests, which included her own compositions, a musical friendship with Igor Stravinsky, a burgeoning interest in folk music, and the music of the Beatles. Her 1967 recording of so-called Beatles Arias (titled Revolution in its US release) is a unique document, which both explores the hidden depths of this material, at the same time poking fun at the entire crossover genre. Her daring theatricality and vibrant personality continue to exert an indelible influence that extends far beyond the avant garde. In two weeks I will explore the directions that she pursued in her later career.

Cathy Berberian resources:

Music is the Air I Breathe, a 1994 documentary on Cathy Berberian by the late filmmaker Carrie de Swaan:

Links to audio interviews and performances on CathyBerberian.com.

Episode 83: Frühlingslieder [Spring Songs]

April 4, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Great Baritones, Holiday Music, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAksel Schiotz, Alan Jay Lerner, Alec Wilder, Benjamin Luxon, Bernard Kruysen, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bryn Terfel, Buddy Clark, Burt Bacharach, Charles Gounod, Claude Debussy, Comedian Harmonists, David Triestram, Dionne Warwick, Dorothy Fields, Edith Mathis, Edvard Grieg, Elly Ameling, Emilio de Gogorza, Emily Skinner, Erik Werba, Felix Mendelssohn, Fran Landesman, Frank Loesser, Franz Schubert, Georgia Brown, Gerald Moore, Gilbert Kalish, Gordon MacRae, Hans Hotter, Hugo Wolf, Jan DeGaetani, Jean Fournet, Jean-Paul Jeannotte, Jerome Kern, John Ireland, Judith Raskin, Kirsten Flagstad, Kurt Weill, Liane Augustin, Luther Henderson, Mabel Mercer, Martina Arroyo, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Milton Babbitt, Ned Rorem, Noël Lee, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Weston, Peter Schreier, Polly Bergen, Rebecca Luker, Richard Rodgers, Roberta Alexander, Sergei Rachmaninov, Tamara Milashkina, Tom Lehrer, Tommy Wolf, Vernon Duke, Walter Jurmann, Wilhelm Müller, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Dear listeners, it is Easter Sunday. While we are strictly non-sectarian at Countermelody, I did want to offer a program of spring favorites to welcome in the earth’s rebirth. (I also had to scramble to create a “filler” episode due to having lost two days of work this week after receiving my first jab on Wednesday.) Hence today’s offering: a Blumenstrauss of songs celebrating the beloved season of spring. I decided to limit today’s selections exclusively to song, omitting opera, operetta, and oratorio, but somewhat arbitrarily including songs from musicals amidst the classical and pop offerings. Even so, what a lineup of stars today: everyone from Mabel Mercer to Jan DeGaetani, from Hans Hotter to Dionne Warwick, from Georgia Brown to Roberta Alexander, from Kirsten Flagstad to Gordon MacRae. We hear composers ranging from Alec Wilder to Franz Schubert, from Milton Babbitt to Burt Bacharach, and from Hugo Wolf to Tom Lehrer. May these songs and songsters help us to welcome in the long-awaited spring!

Episode 82. Magda Olivero: La Verissima

March 28, 2021Giuseppe Verdi, Happy Birthday, Needle Drop, VerismoAdriana Lecouvreur, Alfredo Catalani, Arrigo Boito, Arturo Basile, Beniamino Gigli, Francesco Cilea, Franco Alfano, Fulvio Vernizzi, Giacomo Puccini, Gianni Schicchi, Giuseppe Verdi, La Fanciulla del West, La Traviata, Lino Puglisi, Loreley (Catalani), Magda Olivero, Manon Lescaut, Mefistofele (Boito), Otello (Verdi), Sammy Fain, Turandot, Ugo Tansinicountermelody

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This week we celebrate the recent 111th birthday of the great Italian verista Magda Olivero. An extraordinary artist whose unusual career saw her taking a ten-year hiatus just as her career was gaining steam, to return in 1950 at the express request of the composer Francesco Cilea, who felt that her portrayal of the title role of his Adriana Lecouvreur was definitive (and of course he was right!) Olivero made a Metropolitan Opera debut as Tosca at the advanced age of 65; even after her official retirement, she continued to make occasional appearances in concert, including her final one at the age of 99! She began with a modest but capable voice and developed it into a finely-tuned instrument capable of taking on the most dramatic repertoire, including Cherubini’s Medea and Minnie in La fanciulla del West, but always capable of the finest pianissimo shadings. Her voice displays an extraordinary range of color and her dramatic acumen has never been matched. This week’s episode features a number of her live appearances in Amsterdam, including an extraordinary Adriana Lecouvreur from 1965 which features her at her artistic and vocal peak. The episode also features excerpts from an extraordinary live concert at the Church of San Jacopino in Firenze on 28 March 1969 which includes nearly superhuman displays of vocal skill and dramatic insight. Magda Olivero lived to the age of 104; though she is no longer with us on earth, her artistry continues to inspire and delight lovers of opera and singing.

This episode was prepared with the kind assistance and input of Denis Robert, who maintains the Magda Olivero Archives page on YouTube. He was a personal friend of the artist and has done much to meticulously preserve her artistry and keep her legacy alive. He has provided me with high-quality masterings of many of the recordings featured on today’s episode and also regaled me with wonderful personal anecdotes and reminiscences of this great artist.

Episode 81. Happy Songs (straight up)

March 21, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Giuseppe Verdi, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Richard Strauss, Voiceless WondersAaron Copland, Alberta Hunter, Andy Kim, Anthony Newley, Arlene Saunders, Arpad Sandor, Barbara [Monique Serf], Barbra Streisand, Christa Ludwig, Claramae Turner, Conchita Supervia, Dorothy Maynor, Frances Wayne, Franz Allers, Franz Lehár, George Frideric Handel, Gerald Moore, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Harold Arlen, Horace Everett, James Levine, Janet Williams, Jeff Barry, Jo Bouillon, Johannes Brahms, Johnny Nash, Joséphine Baker, Joy Clements, Kathleen Battle, Leopold Stokowski, Leslie Bricusse, Lisa Della Casa, Mahalia Jackson, Margaret Bonds, Maria Callas, Max Hansen, Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone, Norman Treigle, Oleta Adams, Peter Matz, Pointer Sisters, Ralph Benatzky, Richard Cassilly, Richard Fredricks, Richard Strauss, Robert Gilbert, Ted Koehler, The Archies, The Tender Land (Copland & Everett), Tullio Serafin, Woody Herman, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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This week I offset the gloom of last week’s music with straight-up joy. No gimmicks, no goofiness, no weird accents. Whether the composer is Giuseppe Verdi, Ralph Benatzky, Aaron Copland, Oleta Adams, or Harold Arlen, and whether sung by Nancy Wilson, Dorothy Maynor, Tina Turner, Maria Callas, Max Hansen, Conchita Supervia, Barbra Streisand, Mahalia Jackson, Lisa Della Casa, or the Pointer Sisters, all today’s selections are guaranteed to make you feel a little lighter, a little more joyous. And in today’s continuing climate of pandemic uncertainty, who doesn’t need a little more of that?

Episode 80. Sad Songs (with a twist)

March 14, 2021Art Song, Comic Relief, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Gustav Mahler, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Schubert, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAlexander Young, Alfredo Simonetto, Andréa Guiot, Ariettes oubliées, Banalités (Poulenc), Bernard Kruysen, Bethany Beardslee, Brigitte Fassbaender, Castor et Pollux (Rameau), Cathy Berberian, Charles Griffes, Charles Panzéra, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Claude Debussy, Claudio Monteverdi, Das Lied von der Erde, Dido and Aeneas, Die schöne Müllerin, Dylan Thomas, Eduard Mörike: Mörike-Lieder (Wolf). Irmgard Seefried, Felix de Nobel, Fiona MacLeod, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, Gabriel Faure, George Szell, Georges Pretre, Gérard Souzay; Dalton Baldwin, Giacomo Puccini, Giovanni Francesco Busenello, Guillaume Apollinaire, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Heine, Henry Purcell, Hugo Wolf, Igor Stravinsky, Irwin Gage, Jacques Leguerney, James Joyce, Janet Baker, Jayme Ovalle, Jean Fournet, Jean-Baptiste Rameau, Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, Jeanette Scovotti, Johannes Brahms, John Dowland, Jorma Hynninen, Julian Bream, Kurt Ollmann, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Les dialogues des Carmélites, Lois Marshall, Madeleine Panzéra-Baillot, Magda Olivero, Manuel Bandeira, Maria Callas, Mary Dibbern, Nan Merriman, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Noël Lee, Orphée et Eurydice, Paul Verlaine, Peter Pears, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Pierre Bernac, Ralf Gothoni, Renée Doria, Reynaldo Hahn, Robert Helps, Robert Schumann, Seiji Ozawa, Suor Angelica, Victor Graef, Vier ernste Gesänge, Wilhelm Müller, William Sharp (Fiona MacLeod)countermelody

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It’s been a year since the pandemic sent us all into various degrees of lockdown, panic, and depression. In certain parts of the world there is no end in sight, while in other parts, medical expertise is being blatantly defied as lockdown measures are carelessly lifted. I did a survey of my friends and listeners this week regarding their favorite sad songs, and I got hit with an avalanche of a wide range of not-happy music. In this episode I am limiting myself to so-called “classical” music. Because the music itself is so heavy, I impersonate (at the top of the episode) a radio announcer for WOKE-FM, a fictional Milwaukee “Top 40 Classical Radio Station,” who is taking calls from all over the world from listeners requesting their favorite sad music. These spurious callers have invariably good taste, and request some glorious music, albeit very sad indeed, by some transcendent performers, including Irmgard Seefried, Maria Callas, Janet Baker, Pierre Bernac, Nan Merriman, Lois Marshall, Peter Pears, and two beautiful French sopranos, Renée Doria and Andréa Guiot, who, at extremely advanced ages, each recently departed this earth. Composers from Dowland, Rameau, and Monteverdi are represented, alongside Poulenc, Schubert, Mahler, Debussy, and Stravinsky. The episode also includes guest vocal appearances by singers, including Cathy Berberian, Magda Olivero, Charles Panzéra, Jorma Hynninen, and Bethany Beardslee, who will receive full-episode treatment in the near future. Ultimately, we return to the atmosphere of a normal Countermelody episode, and are deeply moved by the singers, composers, and music represented.

Episode 79. Dusty Springfield Sings Carole King

March 7, 2021Broadway, Full-Figured Baroque, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer PrideCarole King, Carole Pope, Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, Dusty Springfield, Gerry Goffin, Janis Ian, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karla Bonoff, Kevan Staples, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Martha Reeves, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Michel Legrand, Norma Tanega, Scherrie Payne, Tom Jonescountermelody

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How exciting to go straight from Black History Month to Women’s History Month! Over the course of this coming month, I am going to feature programs on my favoritest singers of all time! For the first episode, I break with normal Countermelody protocol and feature the quintessential pop singer, Dusty Springfield, whose career spanned the early 1960s through the mid-1990s. I’ve been waiting for an excuse to do an all-Dusty episode and since this past week was the 22nd anniversary of her premature death at the age of 59 of cancer, the time seemed right to present her to my listeners in all her eclectic glory. Because we are celebrating women this month, I decided to present Dusty singing material exclusively by female composers and lyricists, including all of extant recordings of songs by the great Carole King, most in collaboration with her longtime songwriting partner, the late Gerry Goffin. Other songwriters represented include Janis Ian, Karla Bonoff, Scherrie Payne, Norma Tanega, and Carole Pope; lyricists include Dorothy Fields and Marilyn Bergman, and vocal guest stars include Tom Jones and Martha Reeves and The Vandellas. This week’s bonus episode, available to Patreon subscribers, features further Dusty performances, both live and studio. Come and let me guide you through the glory of All Things Dusty!

Episode 78. Twentieth Century Pioneers (Black History Month 2021 VI)

February 28, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (Bernstein & Lerner), A Picnic Cantata (Bowles & Schuyler), Adele Addison, Adolph Green, Alan Jay Lerner, Amadou Moustapha Wade, Andre Previn, Arthur Gold, Barbara Hendricks, Betty Comden, Carl Sandburg, Carol Brice, Charles Chaynes, Charles Holland, Chester Kallman, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Colin Davis, David Del Tredici, David Garvey, David Robertson, Dennis Russell Davies, Eberhard Wächter, El Cimarrón (Henze), Elisabeth Höngen, Emma Lazarus, Franz Kafka, Gian Carlo Menotti, Gilbert Amy, Gloria Davy, Hall Johnson, Hans Werner Henze, Helen Thigpen, Howard Swanson, Igor Stravinsky, James Schuyler, Jessye Norman, Jill Gomez, John Nelson, Josephine Barstow, Judith Weir, Julius Rudel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kathleen Battle, Langston Hughes, Lawrence Winters, Lee Hoiby, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Lewis Carroll, Lukas Foss, Mareda Gaither, Margaret Bonds, Martha Flowers, Martina Arroyo, Maya Angelou, Ned Rorem, Nelly Sachs, Olive Moorefield, R. Nathaniel Dett, Raimund Herincx, Robert Fizdale. Paul Bowles, Robert Tear, Roberta Alexander, Shulamit Ran, The Knot Garden (Tippett), The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti), The Ordering of Moses (Dett), The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky), Thomas Carey, Toni Morrison, Troubled Island (Still), W.H. Auden, William Grant Still, William Levi Dawson, William Pearson, Yvonne Mintoncountermelody

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To round off #BlackHistoryMonth2021, I bring you an array of artists singing a wide range of 20th Century repertoire. Included are singers who have previously been featured in full episodes (including Lawrence Winters, Gloria Davy, Charles Holland, and Carol Brice), legendary favorites (including Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, Roberta Alexander, and Barbara Hendricks), important concert singers (including Adele Addison and Betty Allen), lesser-known artists (including Helen Thipgen, Martha Flowers, William Pearson, Mareda Gaither, and Olive Moorefield), and iconic singers (including Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, and Christiane Eda-Pierre) for whom important new work was created by Judith Weir, André Previn, and Charles Chaynes. The range of composers represented is equally vast and includes Leonard Bernstein, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Virgil Thomson, Michael Tippett, Lee Hoiby, Shulamit Ran, Gian Carlo Menotti, Judith Weir, Paul Bowles, Lukas Foss, and David Del Tredici. with special attention given to African American composers Margaret Bonds, Howard Swanson, William Grant Still, Hall Johnson, and Robert Nathaniel Dett. In other words: something for everyone and just a foretaste of future Countermelody programs that will continue to celebrate the contributions of African American singers.

Episode 77. Margaret Tynes (Black History Month 2021 V)

February 24, 2021African American Singers, BHM2023WK1, Black History Month, Broadway, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Needle Drop, Richard StraussA Drum Is a Woman (Ellington & Strayhorn), Aida (Verdi), Anita Turner-Butler, Billy Strayhorn, Brock Peters, Creole Folk Songs, DuBose Heyward, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, George Shirley, Georges Bizet, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Giuseppe Verdi, Ira Gershwin, LeVern Hutcherson, Lili Chookasian, Macbeth (Verdi), Margaret Tynes, Massimo Bruni, Pál Varga, Paul Belanger, Porgy and Bess (Gershwin), Richard Strauss, Salome (Richard Strauss), Spirituals, Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), Thomas Schippers, Warren Edward Vincentcountermelody

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For a special bonus episode this week (without the usual paywall!), I bring you the extraordinary soprano Margaret Tynes, who in September celebrated her 101st birthday! Tynes is a unique artist, fearlessly forging her own musical, dramatic, and vocal path, aided and abetted by a strong voice with a powerful top register. Though she made a number of significant appearances in her homeland earlier in her career (including an appearance in Duke Ellington’s jazz suite, A Drum Is a Woman), her later successes were focused primarily in Europe, where she was particularly celebrated for her extraordinary Salome, with which she created a sensation in Spoleto in 1961, and her Lady Macbeth. All these and more are featured on this episode, which also includes spirituals and Creole folk songs, as well as excerpts from Aida, Carmen, and Porgy and Bess. Guest artists include LeVern Hutcherson, most remembered today for his appearances on stage and screen in Porgy, and George Shirley, the first African American tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera.

Episode 76. William Warfield (BHM 2021 IV)

February 21, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Broadway, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle DropA Lincoln Portrait (Copland), Aaron Copland, Alexander Smallens, Arthur Gold, Bach Aria Group, Carl Loewe, Celius Dougherty, David Garvey, Dorothy Maynor, George Gershwin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Karl Weigl, Langston Hughes, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Leopold Simoneau, Liederkreis Op. 39 (Schumann), Old American Songs (Copland), Otto Herz, Porgy and Bess, Robert Fizdale, Robert Schumann, Spanische Liebeslieder (Schumann), Spirituals, Vier ernste Gesänge (Brahms), Vincent Youmans, Virgil Fox, Voice of Firestone, William Marshall, William Warfieldcountermelody

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This week’s subject is one of the towering figures of 20th century music: the African American bass-baritone William Warfield (1920–2002). Though he sprang to prominence as Joe in the 1951 MGM remake of Show Boat and as Porgy opposite his then-wife Leontyne Price in the US State Department-sponsored 1952 international tour of Porgy and Bess, in my opinion his greatest accomplishments were as a concert singer. This episode focuses on his performances of Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs, his interpretations of German lieder, and, from later in his career, his narration of Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait and the poetry of Langston Hughes. I knew William Warfield, universally known to his students and younger colleagues as “Uncle Bill,” when I was one of the accompanists in his vocal studio at the University of Illinois where I was obtaining my master’s degree. His kindness and his dedication to his craft inspired us all to give of our best. It is my privilege to celebrate the unique and multi-faceted artistry of this unforgettable and treasurable man.

Episode 75. Lenora Lafayette (BHM2021 III)

February 14, 2021African American Singers, BHM2023WK1, Black History Month, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in TranslationAida (Verdi), Baton Rouge Louisiana, Black History Month 2021, Clemens Krauss, Dusolina Giannini, Frederick Delius, Georgine von Milinkovič. Georgine von Milinkovic, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, John Barbirolli, Josef Gostic, Koanga (Delius), Lenora Lafayette, Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Richard Lewiscountermelody

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Every so often I discover a singer who had previously not come under my radar, but who simply blows me away with their voice, artistry, and communicative powers. Such an artist is the Baton Rouge-born African American soprano Lenora Lafayette (1926-1975), historically important as the first Black artist to perform at Covent Garden. Relocating to Basel shortly after finishing her training under Dusolina Giannini at Juilliard, Lafayette encountered early career success in Switzerland, winning the Geneva Competition and making a highly successful debut at the Basel Opera as Aida, a role which, along with Madama Butterfly, she performed hundreds of times. And yet, despite enormous career success in Europe, she was never able to establish herself in her native country. Her recorded legacy is slim but revelatory: an Aida in German under Clemens Krauss; a 1958 BBC recording of Frederick Delius’s opera Koanga; and a single commercial recording of Puccini duets with Welsh tenor Richard Lewis under the baton of John Barbirolli, who also led her Covent Garden debut. All of these precious documents are sampled on this episode. She was struck down with cancer in her early forties and died prematurely at the age of 49. And yet listening to her recordings, one is struck by the emotional power of her utterance, the firmness of her vocal technique, and the bloom of her exquisite voice. Lenora Lafayette deserves a place among the greatest singers of her generation.

Episode 74. Lucretia West (Black History Month 2021 II)

February 11, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, BHM2023WK3, Black History Month, Full-Figured Baroque, Gustav Mahler, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, SchubertAlto Rhapsody (Brahms), Carl Orff, Carl Schuricht, Claudio Monteverdi, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Ferdinand Leitner, Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Hermann Scherchen, Johannes Brahms, Jonathan Brice, Kindertotenlieder (Mahler), Kurt Rapf, Leo Taubmann, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Mahler), Lucretia West, Raymond Wolansky, Sam Morgenstern, Spiritualscountermelody

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The great African American contralto Lucretia West, born on 13 November 1922, is one of the great singers of German Lieder in general and of the music of Gustav Mahler in particular. Though she occasionally appeared in her native country, the majority of her life and career was spent in Germany. She was a favorite of some of the greatest conductors of the 1950s and 1960s, including Hans Knappertsbusch, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Carl Schuricht, and Hermann Scherchen. Her collaborations with them are all featured in this episode. Her recorded legacy is not large, but it is impressive, and includes releases of Schubert Lieder and two albums of spirituals which are among the most significant contributions to that genre. Though she did not sing much opera, I did uncover a 1958 recording with Ferdinand Leitner of Carl Orff’s realization of Claudio Monteverdi’s Orpheus, in which she sings the role of La Messaggera (Die Botin in Orff’s German-language version). All of her work reveals a singer of enormous expressivity and makes an interesting contrast with that of her near-contemporary, Carol Brice.

I had originally intended to post this extra episode as a bonus for my Patreon supporters, but I decided that all of my Black History Month episodes should be available to all interested listeners, whether they are Patreon subscribers or not. Please enjoy, and please pass on the word to all persons who might enjoy learning more about some of the lesser-known African American singers of past generations. And, if you are so inspired, please do consider becoming a monthly supporter on Patreon. I’m so happy that you are here to join in the celebration of this magnificent artist!

Episode 73. Carol Brice (Black History Month 2021 I)

February 7, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, BHM2023WK3, Black History Month, Broadway, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Protest SongsAlto Rhapsody (Brahms), Black History Month 2021, Burton Lane, Carol Brice, Claibe Richardson, DuBose Heyward, Edward H. Boatner, El amor brujo, Finian’s Rainbow, Franz Schubert, Frederick John Easthope Martin, Fritz Reiner, George Gershwin, Giuseppe Sarti, Gustav Mahler, Hall Johnson, Harold Arlen, Jean Berger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Alden Carpenter, John DeMain, Johnny Mercer, Jonathan Brice, Kenward Elmslie, Larry Marshall, Leo Taubmann, Lucretia West, Magnificat (Bach), Manuel de Falla, Marc Blitzstein, Mercer), Odette Myrtil, Porgy and Bess, Regina (Blitzstein), Robert Franz, Robert MacGimsey, Robert Shaw, Roland Hayes, Samuel Krachmalnick, Saratoga (Arlen, Serge Koussevitzky, Spirituals, Stephen Foster, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, The Grass Harp, Thomas Carey, We Shall Overcome, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Countermelody’s Black History Month celebration for 2021 begins with the great African American contralto Carol Brice (1916-1985) who had a distinguished and varied career singing everything from Bach to Harold Arlen. I first heard Carol Brice many years ago in her recording of “Sweet Little Jesus Boy,” which exemplifies all her musical virtues: simplicity and directness of utterance, lack of sentimentality, and deep identification with both text and music. Add to this a voice of such depth and refinement and a technique so secure that she is almost without equal. From her early career outings as the first African American to win the coveted Naumburg Award, through her appearances on the Broadway stage and in Porgy and Bess, Carol Brice brought an emotional honesty to her performances such as is rarely encountered in any field of genre. On this episode I feature her in a wide range of live and commercial recordings from Marc Blitzstein’s Regina to concert pieces by Brahms and Mahler, focusing in particular on a matchless 1947 song recital with her brother Jonathan Brice as her collaborator. I also feature her husband, the baritone Thomas Carey in a pair of recordings. I hope you will be as moved by Carol Brice’s singing as I am every time I hear this radiant artist.

This week’s bonus episode for my Patreon supporters features another great African American contralto, Lucretia West, who spent a significant portion of her life and career in Germany, where she was celebrated for her performances of Mahler and Lieder in particular.

Episode 72. Igor Gorin (Great Baritones II)

January 31, 2021Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, VerismoAdolf Baller, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Sarti, Antonio Vivaldi, Attila (Verdi), Avodath Hakodesh (Bloch), Donald Voorhees, Ernest Bloch, Francis Poulenc, Fritz Kreisler, Gaetano Donizetti, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Henry Penn, Howard Barlow, Idabelle Firestone, Igor Gorin, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Irving Berlin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Maria di Rohan (Donizetti), Max Rabinowitsch, Maximilian Pilzer, Mischa Spoliansky, Modest Mussorgsky, Nathaniel Shilkret, Pagliacci, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Russian Folk Songs, Stella Roman, Wilfred Pelletier, William G. Jamescountermelody

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I recently rediscovered the great Ukranian-American baritone Igor Gorin (1904-1982) and was bowled over by the sheer beauty of his voice. In fact, I am tempted to call his the most beautiful baritone voice I have ever heard. His is a fascinating life story, beginning in pre-Soviet Ukraine and moving back and forth from Vienna to the United States until finally, with forged documents, he emigrated to the US and became a naturalized citizen. Through a series of happy circumstances, he became one of the top US radio stars of the 1930s and 1940s and eventually appeared as well on early television broadcasts. A career in regional opera resulted, including starring roles at Lyric Opera of Chicago and one single appearance at the Metropolitan Opera at the age of 59. This episode features live, radio, and studio performances by Gorin in opera, operetta, Broadway, and folk and art songs over a period of nearly 40 years, including exceptional a live late career performance of Ernest Bloch’s Avodath Hakodesh, in which he returned to his cantorial roots. If you do not (or do) already know this artist, you are in for a treat.

A bonus episode on Igor Gorin for my Patreon subscribers includes complete performances of two constrasting song cycles by Modest Mussorgsky, The Nursery and the Songs and Dances of Death.

Episode 71. Eidé Noréna

January 24, 2021Art Song, Bel canto, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in TranslationAgathe Backer-Gröndahl, Ambroise Thomas, Charles Gounod, Edvard Grieg, Eide Norena, Gabriel Faure, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Harold Arlen, Herman Bemberg, Jacques Offenbach, Kaja Eide, Kaja Eidé Noréna, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Piero Coppola, Victoria Clark, Waldemar Thrane, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Kaja Eidé Noréna (1884-1968, née Karoline Hansen), the Norwegian lyric-coloratura soprano, is one of the greatest singers of her generation, and nearly forgotten today. She made her concert debut at the age of 19 and in 1907 began her operatic career as Amor in Orfeo ed Euridice. In 1909 she married the actor Egil Eide, through whose coaching she became celebrated for her dramatic portrayals. Under her married name Kaja Eide she became one of the Norway’s most famous singers, though her career was essentially a provincial one until, mid-career, she restudied her technique and rebuilt her voice, which led to her La Scala debut as Gilda under the baton of Arturo Toscanini (and under her new professional name, Eide Norena). She went on to an international career, performing in the world’s most celebrated opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, and, particularly, the Paris Opéra. Her repertoire was a wide one, ranging from Ophélie to Desdemona, and her vocal technique was solid to the point of near-perfection, her legato singing being particularly remarkable. What sets her apart, and what makes her one of my favorite singers, is her profoundly musical interpretations allied to her keen dramatic sense. The majority of the recordings featured on the episode are from the 1930s. Noréna retired in 1938 and spent the remainder of her life in Switzerland, where she died in 1968. Noréna is, for me, everything that a great singer should be, and it is a particular honor for me to feature her on the podcast.

A bonus episode posted today on my Patreon page (www.patreon.com/countermelody) features Noréna in the role of Juliette in Gounod’s opera, including both live and studio recordings of duets with Charles Hackett and Gaston Micheletti.

And a link to the article about Noréna that I wrote in 2007 for my long-defunct blog: www.counterleben.blogspot.com/2007/07/fairy-from-ice.html

Episode 70. Paul Robeson: Ballad of an American

January 17, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, BHM2023WK1, Black History Month, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Protest SongsAlan Booth, Alexander Gretchaninov, Boris Godunov, Duke Ellington, Earl Robinson, Elisabeth Welch, Folk Songs, George Gershwin, Hanns Eisler, Henry Thacker Burleigh, Hirsch Glick, Jerome Kern, John LaTouche, Lawrence Brown, Marc Blitzstein, Mischa Spoliansky, Modest Mussorgsky, Nathaniel Shilkret, Oscar Hammerstein II, Othello, Paul Robeson, Porgy and Bess, Protest Songs, Selim Palmgren, Show Boat, Spirituals, William Shakespearecountermelody

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January 23 is the 45th anniversary of the death of Paul Robeson, who remains one of the most celebrated, and controversial, of all artists. A man of fierce intelligence and convictions, he was naturally gifted in a number of different media. Today I will focus on his accomplishments as a singer, but within the context of his political activism and activities on behalf of oppressed people the world over. He was vilified and hunted as much (if not more) than he was revered and celebrated. In this episode I remember some of his most famous performances and recordings, focusing on his performances of African American spirituals and protest songs, folk songs from around the world, including Russia and China, and works that celebrated the brand of left-wing populism that was in vogue in the 1930s and 1940s, focusing in particular on his recording of the hybrid work, Ballad for Americans, by composer Earl Robinson and lyricist John LaTouche. As the United States faces the potential of a better future that could be offset by violence and divisiveness, let us remember the life and career of a truly great American who paid an enormous price for his convictions, but created the potential context for a better, more just world and country.

Previous episodes that included music by Paul Robeson:

Episode 37 (No More Slavery Chains). www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-37-no-more-slavery-chains

Episode 55 (Season Two Teaser): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-55-season-two-teaser

Episode 65 (The Year 1935): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-65-1935-hb2u-mommie-dearest

Episode 69. Voiceless Wonders: An Introduction

January 10, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Drag Performance, Full-Figured Baroque, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Voiceless WondersA Little Night Music (Sondheim), Abel Meeropol, Adele Astaire, Alberta Hunter, Alec Wilder, André Cluytens, Andy Razaf, Audrey Hepburn, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Barbara, Bertolt Brecht, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Bourvil, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Bud McCreary, Celius Dougherty, Chita Rivera, Claude Debussy, Divine, Dody Goodman, Emmerich Zillner, Erich Kunz, Eugen Jochum, Fats Waller, Follies (Sondheim), Frances Gershwin, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, Fred Astaire, Fred Ebb, Geoffrey Parsons, George Bizet, George Gershwin, Georges Tzipine, Gerhard Stolze, Hans Werner, Harry Plunket Greene, Helmut Krebs, Henry Mancini, Hildegard Knef, Hoagy Carmichael, Hugues Cuenod, Ira Gershwin, Jacques Offenbach, Jane Bathori, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Kander, Johnny Mercer, Josef Hochmuth, Joséphine Baker, Judi Dench, Julie Wilson, Julius Patzak, Kander and Ebb, Karl Erb, Kurt Weill, L’aigle noir, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lotte Lenya, Lou Reed, Mabel Mercer, Madeleine Grey, Manos Hadzidakis, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Ravel, Meg Christian, Melina Mercouri, Michel Sénéchal, Mildred Bailey, Moon River, Never On Sunday, Noël Coward, Pete Seeger, Pierre Bernac, Povla Frijsh, Randall Thompson, Rudolf Sieczyński, Schubert Winterreise, Shoot Your Shot, Stephen Sondheim, Strange Fruit, The Fugs, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Winterreisecountermelody

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Some of the greatest singers in history are not necessarily the most vocally-gifted. This is the first of what I hope will be a series of episodes devoted to such artists. I consider singers across many genres: recitalists (Pierre Bernac, Madeleine Grey, Povla Frijsh, Jane Bathori), cabaret (Mabel Mercer, Noël Coward, Julie Wilson, Barbara, Lotte Lenya), musicals (Fred and Adele Astaire, Chita Rivera), pop music (Bob Dylan, Lou Reed), jazz (Billie Holiday, Alberta Hunter), actors (Audrey Hepburn, Melina Mercouri, Judi Dench, Hildegard Knef, Divine), and even comedians (Dody Goodman, Bourvil), with special focus on a few of the voiceless tenors who hold a special place in my heart (Hugues Cuenod, Karl Erb, Helmut Krebs, Julius Patzak). At the end, I feature two aging icons (Marlene Dietrich and Joséphine Baker) in unforgettable live performances of two protest songs that are painfully relevant at this moment in time. Composers include Alec Wilder, George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, Franz Schubert, Stephen Sondheim, Francis Poulenc, Abel Meeropol, Claude Debussy, Kander and Ebb, Pete Seeger, Carl Orff, Manos Hadzidakis, Fats Waller, Maurice Ravel, and Rudolf Sieczyński. Please join me for this very special episode. But prepare yourselves for an emotional wallop.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available.

Episode 68. Margaret Marshall, Songbird

January 3, 2021Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard StraussAlban Berg, Alfreda Hodgson, Ann Murray, Antal Dorati, Antonio Salieri, Antonio Vivaldi, Baldassare Galuppi, Brigitte Fassbaender, Charles Groves, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Cosi fan tutte, Edward Elgar, Felicity Palmer, Francisco Araiza, Geoffrey Parsons, George Frideric Handel, Gerald Finzi, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Günter Kehr, Handel Messiah, Hans Dokoupil, Hans Hotter, Hans Thamm, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Eliot Gardiner, John Fraser, Joseph Haydn, Margaret Marshall, Neville Marriner, Orfeo ed Euridice, Philip Ledger, Rafael Kubelik, Ralf Weikert, Riccardo Muti, Richard Strauss, Rudolf Ewerhart, Sesto Bruscantini, Vittorio Negri, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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Welcome to 2021 chez Countermelody! Today’s episode is a birthday tribute to the splendid Scottish soprano Margaret Marshall, who was born on 4 January. Since she burst upon the scene in the late 1970s, she has been a favorite of lovers of great singing. Her timbre, artistry, and technical facility evoke comparisons with many treasured singers of the past. Though she retired from public performance in 2005, this past year, in tandem with her daughter Nicola and a group of dedicated supporters, she launched a website called Songbird, which focuses on the early years of her career, and which features many rare soundclips, both live and studio, from that period, many of which have been assembled into a new downloadable release entitled “Margaret Marshall Songbird.” Today’s episode features a wide range of her live and studio recordings, including a few samples from the Songbird release. Included are works by Galuppi, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Salieri, Gluck, Elgar, Finzi, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg in recordings and performances between 1975 and 1990, with collaborators including conductors Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti, John Eliot Gardiner, Vittorio Negri, Charles Groves, Antal Doráti, Philip Ledger, and Rafael Kubelik and fellow singers Ann Murray, Francisco Araiza, Alfreda Hodgson, and Sesto Bruscantini. Compiling this episode has provided my ears and spirit with many blissful hours; I wish my listeners the same experience! Many thanks to both Margaret and Nicola for providing advice and guidance in the selection of today’s material, and many happy returns to the “Scottish supersoprano”!

Link to the Margaret Marshall Songbird website: www.margaretmarshallsongbird.com

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 67. Good Bye 2020 (and Good Riddance!)

December 27, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Finnish Opera, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard StraussAlbert Remedios, Anne Howells, Arlene Saunders, Arnold Schoenberg, Arvo Pärt, Aulis Sallinen, Bernhard Landauer, Charles Mackerras, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Claudia Muzio, Cole Porter, Colin Davis, Das Marienleben, Derek Lee Ragin, Die Liebe der Danae, Dominic Cossa, Elena Gragera, Ellen Schuring, Erwartung, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Esther Hinds, Fun Home, Giacomo Puccini, Gidon Kremer, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Giya Kancheli, Håkon Austbø. Peter Schat, Helga Pilarczyk, Herbert von Karajan, Iphigenia in Brooklyn, Jane Manning, Jerome Kern, Joaquin Rodrigo, John Ferrante, John Wustman, Josep Soler, La Boheme, Licinio Refice, Luciano Pavarotti, Madama Butterfly, Michael Tippett, Mirella Freni, Nicholas Maw, Norma Procter, Norman Del Mar, Paolo Tosti, PDQ Bach, Peter Schickele, Rainer Maria Rilke, Rebecca Luker, Richard Strauss, Robert Craft, Roger Sessions, Seiji Ozawa, Sherrill Milnes, Soile Isokoski, Teresa Berganza, The Midsummer Marriage, The Secret Garden, Walt Whitmancountermelody

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Is there anyone out there who will not be relieved to bid farewell to 2020, this annus horribilis? I know I’ll be delighted to kick its ass out the door. How to make any sense of this year of pandemic, panic, political shenanigans, poverty, racial injustice, climate disaster and general global upheaval? I have no answers, except to return to music. The episode begins with a mini-tribute to Broadway great Rebecca Luker, who lost her hard-fought against ALS on December 23rd. Then I return to the year 1935, since, as I discovered as I was preparing my mom’s birthday episode a couple weeks ago, so many interesting musicians were born in that year. Some of those artists are still with us, others died some time ago, while still others were among the many casualties of 2020. I take a journey through the composers (Arvo Pärt, Aulis Sallinen, Nicholas Maw, Peter Schat, Josep Soler, Giya Kancheli, and Peter Schickele [aka P.D.Q. Bach]) and singers (Helga Pilarczyk, Sherrill Milnes, Dominic Cossa, Arlene Saunders, Albert Remedios, and Teresa Berganza) born in that year, and conclude with those beloved artists Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti (both of whom were also born in 1935) in an extended excerpt from a live 1975 performance of La bohème, that exemplifies near-perfection, operatically speaking. Let’s “tak a cup o’ kindness yet” at the passing of this challenging year as we also look forward to a new year better in every imaginable way than its predecessor!

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Links to related Countermelody episodes:

Episode 64: Jorma Hynninen in Opera (Features the baritone in several operas by Aulis Sallinen): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-64-jorma-hynninen-in-opera

Two episodes in memory of Mirella Freni:

Episode 25: Freni on the Fringe (Freni sings unexpected repertoire): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-25-freni-on-the-fringe-mirella-in-memoriam-ii

Episode 24: Freni in Duet (Freni with various distinguished partners): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-24-freni-in-duet

And three episodes devoted to great artists that we have lost recently:

Episode 59: In Memoriam Rosanna Carteri: www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-59-rosanna-carteri

Bonus Episode 5: In Memoriam Christiane Eda-Pierre (available to my Patreon subscribers at any level of support): www.patreon.com/posts/42459803

Episode 15: Hail and Farewell (a tribute to all the great musicians who died in 2019): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-15-hail-and-farewell

Episode 66. Christmas (Art) Songs

December 20, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Eileen Farrell, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Richard StraussAlexander Sander, Bernard Kruysen, Bernarda Fink, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Carl Loewe, Charles Bressler, Charles Ives, Claude Debussy, Claudio Muzio, Dalton Baldwin, Denise Duval, Edvard Grieg, Eileen Farrell, Elizabeth Harwood, Elly Ameling, Engelbert Humperdinck, Erik Werba, Erkki Melartin, Francis Poulenc, Franz Rupp, Gabriel Faure, Genevieve Touraine, George Trovillo, Gerard Souzay, Gilbert Kalish, Hansjörg Albrecht, Helmut Deutsch, Hermann Prey, Hugo Wolf, Ian Partridge, Igor Gorin, Irmgard Seefried, Jan DeGaetani, Jennifer Partridge, Joaquín Nin, Joaquin Rodrigo, Johannes Brahms, John McCabe, John Wustman, Jorma Hynninen, Joseph Canteloube, Joseph Haas, Julius Severin, Karl Erb, Kathleen Ferrier, Leonard Hokanson, Lilli Paasikivi, Lorenzo Molajoli, Marian Anderson, Marianne Hirsti, Marilyn Horne, Marni Nixon, Maurice Emmanuel, Maurice Ravel, Max Gilbert, Noël Lee, Norman Del Mar, Norman Shetler, Olaf Bär, Paul Hindemith, Peter Cornelius, Peter Schreier, Peter Warlock, Phyllis Spurr, Ralf Gothoni, Regine Crespin, Richard Trunk, Roger VIgnoles, Rosario Bourdon, Rudolf Jansen, Ruth-Margret Pütz, Susan Dunn, Ulf Söderblom, Willem Pijper, William Primrose, Wolfgang Anheissercountermelody

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In preparation for the upcoming holiday, this week I offer a cross-section of art songs and arrangements of folk songs, not only from Germany, which is the epicenter of the Christmas Lied, but also France, Norway, the United States, Finland, England, and Spain The performers, recorded between 1927 and 2010, include Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Régine Crespin, Hermann Prey, Claudia Muzio, Elly Ameling, Marian Anderson, Ian Partridge, Karl Erb, Wolfgang Anheisser, Jan DeGaetani, Jorma Hynninen, Bernarda Fink, Olaf Bär, Susan Dunn, Kathleen Ferrier, and Bernard Kruysen, among many others, in songs by composers including, in part, Johannes Brahms, Joaquín Nin, Hugo Wolf, Peter Warlock, Claude Debussy, Charles Ives, and Paul Hindemith. The episode features several performances by my teacher, the esteemed accompanist John Wustman, who on Christmas Day celebrates his 90th birthday.

Links to my 2019 Christmas episodes:

Episode 13: Christmas with the Tenors (including everyone from Fritz Wunderlich to Georges Thill to Roland Hayes): www:countermelodypodcast.com/episode-13-christmas-with-the-tenors

Episode 14: Christmas Potpourri (including my choices for the six most depressing pop Christmas songs ever!): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-14-christmas-potpourri-ii-hard-try

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 65: 1935 (HB2U, Mommie Dearest!)

December 13, 2020African American Singers, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Happy Birthday, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop IconsAdelaide Hall, Alberta Hunter, Alexander Smallens, Allan Jones, Allie Wrubel, Andre Previn, Anne Brown, Arthur Freed, Benny Goodman, Bessie Smith, Bette Davis, Billie Holiday, Bob Merrill, Carlos Gardel, Carmen Miranda, Celina Lindsley, Cole Porter, Comedian Harmonists, Connee Boswell, Connie Boswell, Der Kuhhandel, Diahann Carroll, Don Reid, Eberhard Büchner, Edith Piaf, Elisabeth Welch, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Erich Korngold, Ethel Merman, Fats Waller, Frank De Vol, Fred Astaire, Fred E. Ahlert, George Gershwin, Gerd Albrecht, Giorgio Tozzi, Grace Moore, Gretchen Cryer, Harold Arlen, Helen Ward, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Ivor Novello, Jacques Dalin, Jan-Latham König, Jerome Kern, Jerry Orbach, Johnny Mathis, Joséphine Baker, Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Kurt Weill, Lehman Engel, Leo Robin, Libby Holman, Lloyd Arriola, Lorenz Hart, Lucienne Boyer, Marguerite Monnot, Marlene Dietrich, Max Reinhardt, Michael Feinstein, Mischa Spoliansky, Mort Dixon, Nacio Herb Brown, Nancy Ford, Nat King Cole, Noël Coward, Patsy Montana, Paul Robeson, Pinocchio, Porgy and Bess, Ralph Rainger, Richard Rodgers, Richard Whiting, Robert Vambery, Ruby Elzy, Rudy Vallee, Ruth Etting, Todd Duncan, Xavier Cugat, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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This coming Saturday, December 19, is an important day for my family: it’s my mother Jane’s 85th birthday. To pay tribute to this event, and to this very special woman, I’m presenting a program focusing on the year 1935, and important milestones in film, musicals, and the hit parade. There was such a dizzying variety of musical material in this year that it was challenging to organize, but I focus on young artists who were just entering the scene (Judy Garland, Carmen Miranda, and Édith Piaf) to émigrés to and from America (including Marlene Dietrich, Paul Robeson, Joséphine Baker, Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Welch, and Erich Korngold), to Broadway shows that debuted in that year (in performances by, among others, Ethel Merman, Libby Holman, and Nat King Cole). Along the way I pay particular focus to what was, in retrospect, the most important Broadway event of the year, the premiere of Porgy and Bess. From that show, I present performances by Todd Duncan, Anne Brown, and Ruby Elzy, all of whom created their roles. I also examine the “Latin” influence on US culture from artists like Xavier Cugat, Carlos Gardel, and Miranda, and of the enormous cultural impact (in spite of repression and discrimination) that African American artists were making (Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Alberta Hunter, Fats Wallter, and Adelaide Hall.) Finally I look at musicians who were also born in 1935 who made their mark in subsequent decades in a wide variety of styles (including Johnny Mathis, Julie Andrews, Diahann Carroll, Elvis Presley, Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer, and Jerry Orbach). This is not to forget figures ranging from Ruth Etting to Grace Moore to Fred Astaire to Patsy Montana to Allan Jones to Noël Coward to Benny Goodman to Lucienne Boyer to the Comedian Harmonists to Bette Davis. Please join me in celebrating all these artists, and in wishing my mother a very Happy Birthday!

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 64. Jorma Hynninen in Opera (Great Baritones I)

December 6, 2020Finnish Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Mirella Freni, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, VerismoAarre Merikanto, Aleksis Kivi (Rautavaara), Antonio Ros Marbá, Aulis Sallinen, Claude Debussy, Don Giovanni, Eeva-Liisa Saarinen, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Elektra, Eri Klas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Eugene Onegin, Fuat Manchurov, Gabriel Suovanen, Giuseppe Verdi, Hildegard Behrens, Il Prigioniero (Dallapiccola), Il Trovatore, Ilkka Kuusisto, Jean Sibelius, Jorma Hynninen, Juha (Madetoja), Juha (Merikanto), Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Jussi Jalas, Kalevi Kiviniemi, Kullervo (Sallinen), Le nozze di Figaro, Leevi Madetoja, Luigi Dallapiccola, Markus Lehtinen, Mathis der Maler, Matti Salminen, Mirella Freni, Okko Kamu, Pagliacci, Paul Hindemith, Pekka Haapasalo, Pekka Nuotio, Pelleas et Melisande, Pohjalaisia (Madetoja), Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Riccardo Muti, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Savonlinna Opera Festival, The Ostrobothnians (Madetoja), The Red Line (Sallinen), Thomas (Rautavaara), Tristan und Isolde, Ulf Söderblom, Un ballo in maschera, Victoria de los Angeles, Vincent (Rautavaara), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yevgeny Onegincountermelody

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This is the first of two episodes I have planned in honor of the great Finnish baritone Jorma Hynninen, who turns 80 in 2021. The focus today is on his work in opera. His stylistic range was unusually large: during the years in which he appeared internationally he triumphed in roles ranging from Mozart to Verdi to the title role in Eugene Onegin in opera houses around the world. What is perhaps less well-remembered is that he also was a phenomenal Pelléas and also a distinguished Wagnerian, singing Wolfram, Amfortas, and Kurwenal, among other parts. All of these are featured in today’s episode, as well as arias and scenes from operas by Strauss, Dallapiccola, and Hindemith. Jorma Hynninen made his greatest contribution to the field, however, in his legendary creations in the world of Finnish opera. The second portion of the program features excerpts of his performances in works by pioneers Leevi Madetoja and Aarre Merikanto and continues with roles he created in operas by Aulis Sallinen and Einojuhani Rautavaara. Though he retired from opera in 2012, he continues to concertize in Finland; in the fall of 2019 he embarked on a brief concert tour with a voice nearly untouched by the years. Mirella Freni, Hildegard Behrens, and Victoria de los Ángeles are also featured in the episode. Join me in an exploration of the operatic career of this extraordinary singer.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 63. Polyglot Wagner (Opera in Translation I)

November 29, 2020Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Richard WagnerAntonina Nezhdanova, Aureliano Pertile, Bernhard Sönnerstedt, Birgit Nilsson, Boris Christoff, César Vezzani, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die Walküre, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Eugène Bigot, Georges Thill, Germaine Lubin, Gustav Cloëz, Ivan Ershov, Karin Branzell, Leonid Sobinov, Lohengrin, Mafalda Favero, Marcella Pobbe, Margareta Bergström, Maria Callas, Marjorie Lawrence, Mark Reizen, Martial Singher, Miguel Fleta, Ninon Vallin, Paul Franz, Piero Coppola, Richard Wagner, Rolando Panerai, Sergei Lemeshev, Set Svanholm, Siegfried, Sigurd Björling, Sixten Ehrling, Sven-Erik Vikström, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Vittorio Gui, Wagner in French, Wagner in Italian, Wagner in Russian, Wagner in Swedishcountermelody

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Something a little different today: Wagner sung in a variety of languages, none of them German. Throughout much of the 20th Century, it was not at all unusual for Wagner’s operas to be performed in the vernacular. I have chosen to present this phenomenon in recordings and live performances over nearly six decades (1903-1962) and in four different languages (French, Italian, Swedish, and Russian). We examine how the language being sung influences phrasing and expression, even characterization. Operas represented include Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal. Singers include Germaine Lubin, Maria Callas, Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Söderström, Mafalda Favero, Marjorie Lawrence, Ninon Vallin, Marcella Pobbe, Karin Branzell, Aureliano Pertile, Georges Thill, Leonid Sobinov, Miguel Fleta, Paul Franz, Ivan Ershov, Sergei Lemeshev, César Vezzani, Set Svanholm, Martial Singher, Bernhard Sönnerstedt, Rolando Panerai, Sigurd Björling, Boris Christoff, and Mark Reizen. Hop aboard the Wagner Express for a most unusual journey!

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 62. Gustav Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Music for a World in Crisis VI)

November 22, 2020Art Song, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Margaret Price, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle DropAafje Heynis, Achim von Arnim, Adrian Boult, Anny Felbermayer, Bernard Haitink, Bernd Weikl, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bruno Walter, Christa Ludwig, Clemens Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, George Schick, Geraint Evans, Grete Stückgold, Gustav Mahler, György Lehel, Hans Zender, Irmgard Seefried, István Gáti, Janet Baker, Jennie Tourel, John Shirley-Quirk, Judith Raskin, Kathleen Ferrier, Klaus Tennstedt, Leonard Bernstein, Lucia Popp, Maureen Forrester, Walter Berry, Wyn Morriscountermelody

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This week I turn to the music of Gustav Mahler, specifically his orchestral settings of poems from the influential collection of folk poetry, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, collected by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano and published in three separate volumes between 1805 and 1808. The themes of war, death, and humor, the latter often of the grimmest variety, pervades the texts that Mahler set. I present recordings of each of the fifteen orchestrated songs (several of which form movements of three of his symphonies) by such singers as Janet Baker, Christa Ludwig, Maureen Forrester, Lucia Popp, Brigitte Fassbaender, Irmgard Seefried, Bernd Weikl, Geraint Evans, Walter Berry, and many others, in performances conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Klaus Tennstedt, Wyn Morris, Bernard Haitink, and Adrian Boult. I also include a tribute to the Hungarian baritone István Gáti on the occasion of his 72nd birthday and a commemoration of the Dutch contralto Aafje Heynis on the fifth anniversary of her death. From chaos to transfiguration, Mahler conjures and depicts a world perhaps not far-removed from our own.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 61. Margaret Price I: The Voice of Consolation (Music for a World in Crisis V)

November 15, 2020Art Song, Giuseppe Verdi, Lieder, Margaret Price, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, SchubertAdrian Boult, Alain Lombard, Alban Berg, Andre Previn, Carl Maria von Weber, Claudio Abbado, Cosi fan tutte, Der Freischütz, Don Carlo, Edward Elgar, Ein deutsches Requiem [A German Requiem], Enrique Granados, Franz Schubert, Geoffrey Parsons, Giuseppe Verdi, Hans Sotin, Heinz Wallberg, James Lockhart, Johannes Brahms, John Pritchard, Lamberto Gardelli, Margaret Price, Otello, Otto Klemperer, Phyllis Tate, Renato Bruson, Riccardo Muti, Robert Schumann, Simon Boccanegra, The Kingdom (Elgar), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yvonne Mintoncountermelody

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Our world seems to be falling apart, both in the personal and in the global sense. I sustained an enormous personal loss this week when my dear friend Fred Berndt, the great German stage director, died suddenly on Friday. But we are all feeling an enormous sense of despair, of hopelessness, even of rage. Even before Fred’s death, I recognized that this episode needed to offer a message of hope to those who are finding it difficult to negotiate the world right now. The voice that has spoken to me most in my sadness is the Welsh soprano Margaret Price (1941-2011), whose distinctively cool yet engaged timbre, scrupulous musicianship, and communicative gifts prove unfailingly capable of conveying comfort and consolation to those who are distressed or grieving. I offer a survey of the career of this exemplary singer, a personal favorite of mine, in a wide range of repertoire including opera, oratorio, and art song. Composers include her specialties Mozart and Verdi, as well as Brahms, Strauss, Schumann, Schubert, Weber, Elgar, and the undervalued British composer Phyllis Tate. Collaborators include Otto Klemperer, Claudio Abbado, John Pritchard, Alain Lombard, Adrian Boult, and her mentor, the pianist and conductor James Lockhart, among many others. I hope that Margaret Price and her voice of consolation bring you much solace.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 60. The Bach Aria Group (Full-Figured Baroque I)

November 8, 2020African American Singers, Eileen Farrell, Full-Figured Baroque, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle DropAlexander Schneider, Antonio Janigro, Bach Aria Group, Bernard Greenhouse, Eileen Farrell, Eleanor Steber, Jennie Tourel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lois Marshall, Mack Harrell, Maureen Forrester, Maurice Wilk, Norman Farrow, Pablo Casals, Paul Ulanowsky, Richard Lewis, Robert Bloom, Samuel Baron, Thomas Paul, William H. Scheide, William Warfieldcountermelody

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Today’s episode, dedicated to historical performances of Johann Sebastian Bach, is the first in an ongoing series I have dubbed “Full-Figured Baroque.” It begins with a bang with the great Canadian soprano Lois Marshall rocketing her way through the opening salvos of “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen,” an apt way to celebrate the US election outcome after a week of even greater anxiety than usual. I describe my love for old-fashioned Bach performance, and why it still speaks to us in a genuine and elevating manner. In particular, I foreground the early years of the Bach Aria Group, founded in 1946 by the American philanthropist and collector William H. Scheide. All the singers in this episode (including Lois Marshall) performed under the aegis of this ensemble, either as members or featured guests: Eileen Farrell, Maureen Forrester, Richard Lewis, Norman Farrow, Mack Harrell, William Warfield, and Jennie Tourel. Many of the great instrumentalists associated with the group are heard in duet with these singers, including Robert Bloom, Samuel Baron, and Bernard Greenhouse. The episode ends with that most radiant of singers, Eleanor Steber, also an occasional guest of the Bach Aria Group in a fleet but full-voiced outpouring of celebratory coloratura.

YouTube Link to the documentary about the Bach Aria Group referenced in the episode:

A Time for Bach (1948)

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 59. Rosanna Carteri In Memoriam

November 1, 2020Bel canto, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Needle Drop, Operetta, VerismoArtur Rodzinski, Carlo Bergonzi, Cesare Valletti, Charles Gounod, Ettore Bastianini, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Francis Poulenc, Gabriele Santini, Gaetano Donizetti, Georges Pretre, Giacomo Puccini, Gilbert Bécaud, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe di Stefano, Giuseppe Gismondo, Giuseppe Taddei, Giuseppe Verdi, Leonard Warren, Mario Rossi, Nicolai Gedda, Pierre Monteux, Pietro Mascagni, Rosanna Carteri, Serge Prokofiev, Tullio Serafin, Vincenzo Bellezza, Vittorio Guicountermelody

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I had been planning a 90th birthday tribute to this extraordinary artist in December, but alas, the great Rosanna Carteri departed this earth a week ago today, just a few weeks short of that landmark celebration. But let us celebrate today nonetheless, that this long-lived artist, who abandoned her performing career in 1966 when she was only 35 years old, brought her full-throated voice and impeccable artistry to operatic stages around the world for fifteen exceptional years. Carteri’s was a lyric yet full-bodied voice with facility that allowed her to undertake soubrette parts as well as some spinto roles. I feature extended examples of her versatility over the course of that entire career, including excerpts from La traviata, La bohème, La rondine, Guglielmo Tell, Falstaff, L’elisir d’amore, Madama Butterfly, Roméo et Juliette, Otello, Pietro Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz and Iris, Prokofiev’s War and Peace (the final version of which she created in Florence in 1954), the premiere recording of Poulenc’s Gloria and Gilbert Bécaud’s Opéra d’Aran (which she premiered in Paris in 1962). These operas represent just a fraction of her repertoire, in which are featured, among others, Giuseppe di Stefano, Nicolai Gedda, Leonard Warren, Carlo Bergonzi, Ettore Bastianini, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Giuseppe Taddei, Cesare Valletti, and Giuseppe Gismondo and conductors Tullio Serafin, Pierre Monteux, Vittorio Gui, Georges Prêtre, Gabriele Santini, and Artur Rodzinski. In other words, the crème de la crème of the operatic firmament in the 1950s and 1960s, in which company Carteri most emphatically belonged.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 58. Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder (Music for a World in Crisis IV)

October 25, 2020Art Song, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard StraussAlceo Galliera, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Bernard Haitink, Christa Ludwig, Claudio Abbado, Daphne, Die Ägyptische Helena, Edda Moser, Elektra, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Fritz Busch, Georg Solti, Heinrich Hollreiser, Hilde Güden, Hugo von Hoffmansthal, Karl Böhm, Leon Goossens, Lucia Popp, Marek Janowski, Margaret Price, Martin Katz, Milan Horvat, Richard Strauss, Rose Pauly, Sena Jurinac, Soile Isokoski, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Walter Berry, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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As the worldwide pandemic renews its threat and creates general unrest, panic, anger, and depression, as well as illness and death for so many, we turn as always to music for solace. One of the central pieces that I have always turned to in times of personal turmoil has been Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. Over the years I have listened to and derived comfort from dozens and dozens of recordings and live performances. In this episode, I feature eight different sopranos, (Elisabeth Söderström, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Edda Moser, Soile Isokoski, Margaret Price, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Lucia Popp, and Sena Jurinac), each of whom makes her mark in a distinctive way on one of the four songs in the series. I also read each of the poems in my own English translation. These performances are supplemented by excerpts from Elektra, Daphne, and Die Ägyptische Helena performed by Rose Pauly, Hilde Güden, Christa Ludwig, and Walter Berry, as well as the world premiere 1985 performance of “Malven,” Strauss’s last completed work, sung by Kiri Te Kanawa; and the Oboe Concerto played by Léon Goossens in its first commercial recording from 1947. Featured conductors in the episode include Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Marek Janowski, Georg Solti, Karl Böhm, Heinrich Hollreiser, Fritz Busch, Alceo Galliera, and Milan Horvat. A bonus episode for my Patreon supporters will feature twelve more of my favorite sopranos, each one singing one of these autumnal Lieder. As we world citizens face the great unknown, these artists help lift our spirits and reorient our perspective.

Links to my previous Music for a World in Crisis episodes:

Episode 26: Calling You

Episode 27: That Time of Evening

Episode 29: A Social Isolation Schubertiade

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.

Episode 57. Francisco Araiza @ 70

October 18, 2020Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, Happy Birthday, Ileana Cotrubas, Lieder, Needle Drop, Operetta, SchubertÁdám Fischer, Alzira, Andrea Chénier, Carlo Maria Giulini, Charles Gounod, Claudio Abbado, Colin Davis, Cosi fan tutte, Daniel García Blanco, Das Lied von der Erde, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die Zauberflöte, Don Pasquale, Edith Mathis, Eduardo Mata, Fernando Lozano, Fidelio, Francisco Araiza, Franz Lehár, Franz Schubert, Gabriele Ferro, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Kuhn, Heinz Wallberg, Herbert von Karajan, Idomeneo, Ileana Cotrubas, Irma González, Irwin Gage, Jacques Offenbach, Jean Lemaire, Jésus “Chucho” Monge Ramírez, Jules Massenet, L’elisir d’amore, La Boheme, La Cenerentola, Lamberto Gardelli, Leonard Bernstein, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lucia Popp, Ludwig van Beethoven, Manuel M. Ponce, mariachi, Mariella Devia, México Lindo, Ralf Weikert, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Rolando Panerai, Roméo et Juliette, Stefan Soltesz, Stephen Sondheim, Umberto Giordano, West Side Story, Winterreise, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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On October 4, the great Mexican tenor Francisco Araiza celebrated his 70th birthday. On that day I promised my listeners a full episode on this exceptional artist in the very near future. And here it is! I’m thrilled to trace Araiza’s career path, from his studies with the great soprano Irma González through his early career encounters with Herbert von Karajan. Through the 1980s through the 1990s, Araiza was simply the greatest lyric tenor on the planet. I share live and studio recordings of his nonpareil performances of Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti, and the heroes of the French repertoire through his assumption of heavier repertoire including Verdi, Puccini, Beethoven, and Wagner. Though his critics dubbed these journeys ill-advised, I would argue that Araiza’s singing, always rooted in a very secure technique, in fact followed the natural trajectory of his voice and allowed him to retain vocal health and longevity. I also highlight his deeply-felt Lieder performances, including an exceptional live performance of Schubert’s Winterreise.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 56. Happy Birthday to moi! (A festive playlist)

October 10, 2020African American Singers, Broadway, Crossover, In Memoriam, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Renata ScottoABBA, Alanis Morissette, Annie Lennox, Aretha Franklin, Barbara Cook, Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday, Bonnie Raitt, Céline Dion, Charles Trenet, Claudia Muzio, Cyndi Lauper, Dalida, Dinah Washington, Dolly Parton, Eartha Kitt, Edith Piaf, Enzo Mascheroni, Eurythmics, Freda Payne, Hamilton Camp, Jackie DeShannon, Jake Shears, Joey Heatherton, Judy Garland, Juliette Gréco, Laura Lee, Les Baxter, Linda Ronstadt, Marlene Dietrich, Nicole Croisille, Norman Luboff Choir, Rosemary Clooney, Scissor Sisters, Sven Ratzke, The Clooney Sisters, Tony Pastor, Yma Sumaccountermelody

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I was born this very day a specific number of years ago. My friends know exactly whe this landmark event took place. Today also marks the rollout of Season Two of Countermelody complete with a brand new theme song, once again sung by my girl Claudia Muzio. In celebration of these events, I’ve decided to give you a playlist of a few of my favorite pop divas, my association of some of whom stretches all the way back to my childhood. And what a motley assortment it is! Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Barbara Cook, Eartha Kitt, the recently deceased Juliette Gréco, ABBA, Barbra Streisand, Bonnie Raitt, Billie Holiday, Eurythmics, Jackie DeShannon, Dolly Parton, Laura Lee, Yma Sumac, Nicole Croisille, Linda Ronstadt, Freda Payne, Joey Heatherton, Dinah Washington, Dalida, Aretha, and of course my beloved Dusty. I’ve even thrown a few guys into the mix! This is a playlist worthy of any diva-loving late-middle aged homosexual that any lover of sometimes good music and mostly fantastic singing can enjoy. And you will enjoy it, dagnabbit. Cuz it’s my birthday and I said so!

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 55. Season Two Teaser

October 4, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music, Needle Drop, Pop IconsAdolph Green, Alec Wilder, Alexander Kipnis, Anita Cerquetti, Antonín Dvořák, Betty Comden, Brenda Lewis, Brigitte Fassbaender, Burton Lane, Carol Brice, Carol Neblett, Charles Cambon, Cyndi Lauper, Donald Gramm, Dory Previn, Dusty Springfield, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Eide Norena, Felix Mendelssohn, Francis Poulenc, Francisco Araiza, Franz Schubert, Friedrich von Flotow, Gaspare Spontini, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Puccini, Giorgio Zancanaro, Giuseppe Verdi, Guillaume Apollinaire, Heather Harper, Heinrich Heine, Helen Reddy, Irmgard Seefried, Jack Beeson, Johannes Brahms, John Duke, John Reardon, Judith Blegen, Jule Styne, Jules Massenet, Kenward Elmslie, Lotte Lenya, Marlene Dietrich, Milada Šubrtová, Nicholas Lenau, Patricia Brooks, Paul Robeson, Pierre Bernac, Robert Schumann, Roberta Alexander, Ruby Elzy, Russell Oberlin, Sándor Kónya, Sergei Rachmaninov, Stephen Sondheim, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yi-Kwe Sze, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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This week represents the limbo between the first and second seasons of Countermelody. I have been collating ideas for programs for the coming year and I have some short snippets representing singers and topics that we’ll be encountering there. We begin the episode with Francisco Araiza, who celebrates his 70th birthday on October 4th. And we conclude the episode celebrating the live of Helen Reddy, whose song “I Am Woman” formed the soundtrack to the burgeoning Women’s Movement in the 1970s. In between I present short clips of some of my favorite singers who will be featured in upcoming episodes, including Anita Cerquetti, Alexander Kipnis, Russell Oberlin, Ruby Elzy, Eidé Noréna, Sándor Kónya, Heather Harper, Paul Robeson, Cyndi Lauper, Milada Šubrtová, Carol Brice, John Reardon, Yi-Kwe Sze, Judith Blegen, Charles Cambon, Dory Previn, Donald Gramm, Pierre Bernac, Irmgard Seefried, Lotte Lenya, Dusty Springfield, and many others. This episode is also a thank you to all listen and support the podcast in whatever ways they are able. I can’t wait to bring you the first episode of Season Two next week!

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 54. Transatlantic Crossover (Crossover Classics IX)

September 27, 2020African American Singers, Broadway, Crossover, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop IconsABBA, Anna Moffo, Arlene Saunders, Barbara Hendricks, Barry McDaniel, Carl Millöcker, Carrie Jacobs-Bond, Charles Holland, Cole Porter, crossover, David Shire, Donald Grobe, Duke Ellington, Ennio Morricone, Felicia Weathers, Fletcher Henderson, Franz Lehár, Fred Ebb, George Gershwin, Geraldine Farrar, Gilbert Bécaud, Grace Bumbry, Hans May, Hans-Arno Simon, Ira Gershwin, J.B. Lenoir, Jarmila Novotna, Jerome Kern, Jerry Bock, Jimmy Webb, Johann Strauss II, John Kander, Kenneth Spencer, Lawrence Winters, Leonard Bernstein, Lotte Lehmann, Margaret Tynes, Maria Ewing, Mary Lewis, Muriel Smith, musicals, operetta, Reri Grist, Richard Maltby Jr., Robert Trehy, Roberta Alexander, Rodgers and Hammerstein, schlager, Sheldon Harnick, Shirley Verrett, South Pacific, Stephen Sondheim, Tatiana Troyanos, West Side Story, Wilbur Evans, Willy Mattescountermelody

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Today is the final episode of the Crossover Classics series and the final episode of Season One of Countermelody. The subject is US-American singers who spent significant portions of their lives and careers in Europe. I begin with an historical survey of early Twentieth Century singers who emigrated from the US to Europe (Geraldine Farrar, Mary Lewis) as well as from Europe to the US (Jarmila Novotná, Lotte Lehmann). Singers are featured in operetta (Barry McDaniel, Donald Grobe, Arlene Saunders), musicals (Reri Grist, Tatiana Troyanos, Wilbur Evans, Robert Trehy, Maria Ewing), jazz (Margaret Tynes, Charles Holland, Shirley Verrett), and pop, soul, and schlager (Lawrence Winters, Anna Moffo, Kenneth Spencer, Grace Bumbry, Felicia Weathers). The range of composers represented is enormous, from Cole Porter to Carrie Jacobs-Bond to Jimmy Webb to Rodgers and Hammerstein to ABBA to Duke Ellington to Gilbert Bécaud to J.B. Lenoir to Franz Lehár. The tone ranges from tongue in cheek to dead serious, from the quasi-bel canto pop vocalism of Muriel Smith to the intimate, Lieder-like shadings of Roberta Alexander to the raw blues stylings of Barbara Hendricks. Tune in next week for an sneak preview of Season Two.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 52. Operaish Broadway (Crossover Classics VIII)

September 13, 2020African American Singers, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Adam Guettel, Adolph Green, Alan Jay Lerner, Alfred Drake, Anton Coppola, Audra McDonald, Barbara Cook, Betty Comden, Bruce Yarnell, Camilla Williams, Candide, Carol Brice, Carolyn Leigh, Cesare Siepi, Claibe Richardson, Cy Coleman, Dorothy Sarnoff, Du Bose Heyward, Eve Queler, Ezio Pinza, Florence Henderson, Franco Corelli, Franz Allers, George Forrest, George Gershwin, Georges Bizet, Giorgio Tozzi, Giuseppe Verdi, Harold Arlen, Harold Rome, Helen Traubel, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jacques Brel, Jerome Kern, Jerry Ross, Joe Darion, John Raitt, John Reardon, José Van Dam, Judy Kaye, Jule Styne, Kenward Elmslie, Lawrence Winters, Lee Venora, Lehman Engel, Leonard Bernstein, Leslie Scott, Lisa Vroman, Lorenz Hart, Madeline Kahn, Marin Mazzie, Mitch Leigh, Mona Paulee, Nicolai Gedda, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Gemignani, Porgy and Bess, Rebecca Luker, Richard Adler, Richard Rodgers, Risë Stevens, Robert Gilbert, Robert Trehy, Robert Wright, Rosemary Clooney, Sheldon Harnick, Shirley Verrett, Show Boat, Stephen Sondheim, The Grass Harp, The Light in the Piazza, Victoria Clark, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Today’s episode (in celebration of Countermelody’s first birthday!) picks up where the last one left off: more musicals, more opera (and operaish) singers! Excerpts from cast recordings, radio broadcasts, telecasts, and live performances highlight the work of singers who divided their time, to a greater or lesser extent, between the Broadway stage and the operatic stage. We begin with the great bass-baritones (Ezio Pinza, Cesare Siepi, Giorgio Tozzi, and José Van Dam) and move through the great Broadway (and sometime opera) baritones (Alfred Drake, John Raitt, Bruce Yarnell, Robert Trehy, Leslie Scott, Lawrence Winters, and John Reardon) with a nod to other opera singers who have also graced the Broadway stage (Helen Traubel, Shirley Verrett, Mona Paulee, Dorothy Sarnoff, Risë Stevens, Lee Venora, Camilla Williams, and Carol Brice). We then consider singers whose vocal abilities could easily have put them on the opera stage, had they chosen to so devote themselves (Alice Ghostley, Madeline Kahn, Barbara Cook, Florence Henderson, Judy Kaye, Lisa Vroman, Audra McDonald, Victoria Clark, Rebecca Luker, and the late Marin Mazzie). The episode also features tributes to two recently deceased divas (Gabriella Tucci and Christiane Eda-Pierre) as well as a spotlight on the gorgeous soprano Margaret Tynes, who just celebrated her 101st birthday.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 51. Legitimate Broadway (Crossover Classics VII)

September 6, 2020African American Singers, Broadway, Crossover, Needle Drop, OperettaAlexander Borodin, Alfred Drake, Anderson), Anne Jeffreys, Barbara Cook, Bitter-Sweet (Coward), Blossom Time (Friml), Brenda Lewis, Brian Sullivan, Candide, Carol Brice, Claramae Turner, Cris Groenendaal, Dennis King, Edvard Grieg, Eleanor Steber, Elmer Rice, Erie Mills, Follies (Sondheim), Frank Loesser, Franz Allers, Franz Lehár, Fritzi Scheff, George Dvorsky, George Forrest, George Metaxa, Gian Carlo Menotti, Helen Goes to Troy, Helena Bliss, Helena Scott, Henry Calvin, Inia Te Wiata, Irra Petina, Jacques Offenbach, Jan Kiepura, Jarmila Novotna, Jeanne Lehman, Jerome Kern, Jo Sullivan, John Brownlee, John McGlinn, John Reardon, John Stanford, Kalem Kermoyan, Kismet, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, Lawrence Tibbett, Lee Venora, Leo Robin, Leonard Bernstein, Licia Albanese, Lotte Lenya, Lydia Fredericks, Marc Blitzstein, Marie Powers, Marta Eggerth, Maurice Abravanel, Mlle Modiste (Herbert), Noël Coward, Norman Cordon, Oscar Hammerstein II, Patricia Neway, Peggy Wood, Polyna Stoska, Rebecca Luker, Regina, Richard Banke, Richard Wilbur, Robert Rounseville, Robert Weede, Robert Wright, Rudolf Friml, Samuel Krachmalnick, September Song (Weill, Sigmund Romberg, Song of Norway, Stephen Sondheim, Street Scene, Sylvan Levin, Tandy MacKenzie, The Consul (Menotti), The Girl in Pink Tights, The Happiest Girl in the World, The Medium (Menotti), The Most Happy Fella, The New Moon (Romberg), The Vagabond King (Friml), Very Warm for May, Victor Herbert, Walter Cassel, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Today’s topic is operetta and opera on Broadway. From the early days of the Great White Way, a large amount of the musical theatre repertoire was actually operetta. I begin with a discussion of the composers of such operettas (Victor Herbert, Rudolf Friml, and Sigmund Romberg, with a significant nod to Jerome Kern as well) and the singers who appeared in those works. Then I present an array of works adapted from the classical repertoire (primarily Wright and Forrest’s Song of Norway and Kismet), followed by examples of that curious hybrid, Broadway opera, including Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium and The Consul; Marc Blitzstein’s Regina; Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella; Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes’s Street Scene; and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. A wide range of singers is included, some celebrated (Lotte Lenya, Patricia Neway, Barbara Cook, Marta Eggerth, Lawrence Tibbett), some less so (Helena Scott, Lee Venora, Fritzi Scheff, Robert Rounseville), the careers of some of whom stretch back to the beginning of the century, but all singers which straddled the fence between musicals, operetta, and opera. But rest assured: this is no dry history lesson: it’s a fast-paced romp through a fun and fascinating topic!

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 49. Eileen Farrell (Crossover Classics V)

August 23, 2020Art Song, Crossover, Eileen Farrell, Giuseppe Verdi, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Queer PrideAdolph Green, Alec Wilder, André Kostelanetz, Andre Previn, Betty Comden, Claude Debussy, Depuis le jour, Die Walküre, Dory Langdon, Dory Langdon Previn, Dory Previn, Edvard Grieg, Eileen Farrell, George Gershwin, Gian Carlo Menotti, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustave Charpentier, Harold Arlen, Helen Traubel, House of Flowers, Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Jule Styne, Knoxville Summer of 1915, La forza del destino, Leonard Bernstein, Londonderry Air (Danny Boy), Loonis McGlohon, Lorenz Hart, Luther Henderson, Maurice Ravel, Mitchell Parish, My Funny Valentine, On the Town, Oscar Hammerstein II, Peer Gynt, Percy Faith, Peter DeRose, Renato Cellini, Richard Rodgers, Richard Wagner, Robert Farnon, Samuel Barber, The Consul, The Lamp Is Low, Truman Capote, Victor Herbert, William Engvickcountermelody

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The American dramatic soprano Eileen Farrell (1920–2002) was one of the finest and most versatile singers the United States has ever produced. Her singing career lasted more than fifty years, and this episode covers the entire chronological range of that career, from her early work as a radio singer in the 1940s to her final pop albums in the 1990s. While the episode focuses on her crossover work (and includes work by, among others, Harold Arlen, Jule Styne, Alec Wilder, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, as heard on two of her lesser-known pop albums with Percy Faith and the late André Previn), we also sample her opera and concert work, with examples from Verdi and Wagner, to Debussy and Charpentier, to Barber and Menotti. A late reunion with her frequent collaborator Leonard Bernstein caps the episode. In all her singing Farrell combines ease of delivery and a relaxed, insouciant response to the words and music with a vocal and interpretive precision that inevitably strikes a bullseye. Bow down to the Queen of Crossover, nay, the Queen of Song!

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 48. Cesare Siepi (Crossover Classics IV)

August 16, 2020Art Song, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Lieder, Needle DropAlfredo Mazzucchi, Cesare Siepi, Cole Porter, Easy to Love, Eduardo di Capua, Ezio Pinza, Funiculi funicula, Giuseppe Verdi, I Get a Kick out of You, In the Still of the Night, Johannes Brahms, La sonnambula, Luigi Denza, Nabucco, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paolo Tosti, Renato Brogi, Richard Rodgers, Roland Shaw Orchestra, Sigmund Romberg, Some Enchanted Evening, South Pacific, Vincenzo Bellini, Visione venezianacountermelody

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Last month marked the tenth anniversary of the death of the great Italian basso Cesare Siepi, one of the most important basses of the twentieth century, after such figures as Nazzareno de Angelis, Tancredi Pasero, and, particularly, Ezio Pinza, the latter, like Siepi, particularly associated with the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. His dashing good looks, solid technique, sonorous voice and appealing artistry, placed him in the forefront of the opera world, particularly in the 1950s through the 1970s. In this episode, rather than his celebrated Mozart and Verdi portrayals, however, we will focus primarily on his 1958 Decca/London album, Easy to Love: The Songs of Cole Porter. Siepi also made two appearances on Broadway, including 1962’s Bravo, Giovanni, from which we hear two excerpts. Other musical selections in this episode include two operatic arias, several favorites from the Neapolitan song repertoire, and live and television performances from Brahms to Sigmund Romberg. Revisiting this artist, and particularly his spot-on Cole Porter performances, is a nostalgic journey for me, and I hope to convey to you his enormous appeal.

Episode 46. Julia Migenes (Crossover Classics II)

August 2, 2020Crossover, Needle Drop, OperettaAdolf Dallapozza, Alban Berg, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Arline Woods, Astor Piazzolla, Berg Lulu, Bill Withers, Bob Merrill, Brent Ellis, Charles Strouse, Der Vetter aus Dingsda, Eduard Künneke, Ernesto Lecuona, Evening Primrose, Fiddler on the Roof, Francis Lai, Francis Poulenc, Franz Lehár, Funny Girl, Georges Pretre, Giacomo Aragall, Giacomo Puccini, Heitor Villa-Lobos, I Remember (Evening Primrose), Ileana Cotrubas, Im Prater blüh’n wieder die Bäume, Ira Gershwin, Isaac Albéniz, Jean Cocteau, Jerry Bock, Jule Styne, Julia Migenes, Kurt Weill, La Boheme, La voix humaine, Lecuona The Breeze and I, Lehár Friederike, Leigh Harline, Leonard Bernstein, Loulou Gasté, Luiz Bonfá, Manhã de Carnaval, Maximiano Valdes, Michael Kamen, Michel Legrand, Morris Albert, Ned Washington, People (Funny Girl), Rags (Strouse & Schwartz), Richard Strauss, Robert Stolz, Schicksalsmelodie, Sheldon Harnick, Silvio Varviso, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim, Strauss Salome, The Windmills of Your Mind, Theme from Love Story, Tim Rice, Weill Lady in the Dark, West Side Story, When You Wish upon a Star (Pinocchio)countermelody

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Today’s featured artist, the cosmopolitan yet earthy Julia Migenes, is certainly one of the most compelling and successful of all “crossover artists.” Beginning early in her career, she assumed roles in musicals, operetta, opera, and beyond that showcased her versatility and contributed to her worldwide eminence. Her multilingual facility and fascinating cultural background rendered her a true artistic chameleon. I explore in particular her success in the European market, particularly Germany and France. This episode features Migenes in live and studio recordings over the course of her entire career (showcasing in particular her 1980 release, Latin Lady) in shows ranging from West Side Story to Salome, and composers from Astor Piazzolla to Richard Strauss. A celebration of a peripatetic, treasurable, idiosyncratic artist who never was afraid to be anything but herself.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Frequent guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 45. Muriel Smith (Crossover Classics I)

July 26, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, Crossover, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Muriel Smith, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, SmithBHMWK4Angela Morley, April Olrich, Auyar Hosseini, Body and Soul, Carmen Jones, Charles Zwar, Franz Waxman, Georges Auric, Georges Bizet, Hoagy Carmichael, Hugh Martin, Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Julian Bream, Kenneth Leslie-Smith, Luther Saxon, Marc Blitzstein, Mörike-Lieder, Moulin Rouge, Muriel Smith, Ned Washington, Nimmersatte Liebe, Norman Gimbel, Oscar Hammerstein II, Ralph Blane, Reginald Burston, Richard Rodgers, Robert MacGimsey, Rodgers & Hammerstein South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein The King and I, South Pacific, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, The King and I, The Nearness of You, Wallace Stott, Wally Stottcountermelody

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For the first of my Black History Month episodes back in February, I did a program featuring the extraordinary artist Muriel Smith, who in 1943, while still a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, created the title role in Oscar Hammerstein II’s Carmen Jones, which used George Bizet’s opera as the springboard for a hybrid musical featuring an all-Black cast. After several other Broadway appearances (including in a revival of Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, Muriel Smith moved to London, where she was featured in the “exotic” roles in the London premieres Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific and The King and I. For several years she was the toast of London, appearing on records, on radio, on television, and in concert, as well as singing Bizet’s gypsy in performances of Carmen at Covent Garden in 1957. Most of the currently extant examples of Smith’s singing are of popular music, which she performed with her unique blend of bel canto precision and pinpoint interpretive accuracy. I have recently gotten my hands on numerous rare 78s of Smith’s mid-1950’s pop records, as well as her 1953 EP, I’m in the Mood for Love, all of which are featured on this episode. I also share examples of her famous turns in musicals, capped with a rare recording of her singing Hugo Wolf’s “Nimmersatte Liebe.” Two excerpts from her 1955 Songs of Christmas 45 render this episode a veritable Christmas in July celebration! Musical guest stars include, among others, Marc Blitzstein, Georges Auric, Harvey Fuqua, Auyar Hosseini, Franz Waxman, Luther Saxon, Martin and Blane, Julian Bream, and the extraordinary Angela Morley.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 40. Sisters in Sappho [Queer Pride I]

June 21, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, Ileana Cotrubas, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, SchubertAida, Alban Berg, Alessandro Scarlatti, Andrzej Hiolski, Aribert Reimann, Ariodante, Arleen Augér, Beautiful Soul, Best Friend (The Unicorn Song), Brigitte Fassbaender, Cecilia Gasdia, Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, Cord Garben, Cosi fan tutte, Cris Williamson, Deidre McCalla, Der Rosenkavalier, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Die Teufel von Loudun, Don Carlo, Dusty Springfield, Endimione e Cintia, Erik Werba, Felix Mendelssohn, Ferron, Francesco Cavalli, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Giuseppe Verdi, Gundula Janowitz, Gustav Mahler, Holly Near, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Ileana Cotrubas, Janet Baker, Janis Ian, John Wustman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Kurt Weill, La Calisto, La Clemenza di Tito, Lulu, Margaret Price, Margie Adam, Maurice Ravel, Meg Christian, Meshell Ndegeocello, Nicolai Gedda, O don fatale, Raymond Leppard, Reri Grist, Rheinenlegendchen, Richard Heuberger, Richard Strauss, Ronnie Gilbert, Scherza infida, Serge Rachmaninov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Tatiana Troyanos, Toshi Reagon, Vincenzo Bellini, Wie lange noch, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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The first of my two Queer Pride episodes is devoted to a group of pioneering lesbians in the 1970s and beyond, in both classical and pop music. Two iconic mezzo-sopranos whose careers began in the 1960s and extended through the 1990s are the Greek-American Tatiana Troyanos and Brigitte Fassbaender, daughter of the German baritone Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender. I explore the similarities and differences in the repertoire and career paths of these two unique artists, and share examples of them singing repertoire from Handel to Weill, Scarlatti to Penderecki, with particular focus on Fassbaender’s Lieder performances and Troyanos’s work in bel canto. Then I turn to key figures in the Women’s Music Movement of the 1970s, including Meg Christian, Cris Williamson, Margie Adam, Holly Near, and Deidre McCalla, while also paying tribute to those who, in turn, paved the way for them, including Janis Ian, Dusty Springfield, and Ronnie Gilbert. We also acknowledge the work of queer African American singers, including Deidre McCalla, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Toshi Reagon. We all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to these extraordinary artists, who created a world of possibility for their musical and artistic descendants, at the same time setting standards that will stand the test of time. Vocal guest stars include Janet Baker, Ileana Cotrubas, Margaret Price, Nicolai Gedda, Gundula Janowitz, Arleen Augér, Cecilia Gasdia, and Reri Grist.

Episode 39. Pathos à la Cotrubas

June 14, 2020Art Song, Ileana Cotrubas, Needle DropAlfredo Kraus, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Bruno Bartoletti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carlos Kleiber, Colin Davis, Cosi fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte, Ein deutsches Requiem, Gaetano Donizetti, Geoffrey Parsons, George Enescu, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Georges Pretre, Helmut Winschermann, Hermann Prey, Idomeneo, Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit, Ileana Cotrubas, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Pritchard, La Calisto, La Traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Les pecheurs de perles, Lorin Maazel, Luciano Pavarotti, Luigi Alva, Raymond Leppard, Sept Chansons de Clément Marot, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Several weeks ago I began a series on particular vocal and artistic qualities that I find most important in a singer’s artistic profile. I had already done episodes on Charm and Glamour. Then the BLM protests intervened and I felt impelled to respond with two episodes examining Protest in Music. Today I resume my previous series with that all-important artistic trait Pathos. And who better exemplifies Pathos than the great Romanian soprano Ileana Cotrubas, who celebrated her 81st birthday this past week? Cotrubas was a deeply expressive and communicative artist who gained heights and plumbed depths that (in my estimation) no other artist of her generation was able to achieve. In this episode, I examine the earliest projects that brought her to international prominence, including the Glyndebourne production of Cavalli’s La Calisto, in which she sang the title role. I devote ample time to her traversals of Mozart operas, including her surprising (and surprisingly effective) assumption of Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Pausing briefly to acknowledge her work in the French repertoire and the bel canto soubrette parts, I then turn to her two greatest assumptions, Mimì in La bohème and Violetta in La Traviata. In relation to these I offer excerpts from live performances with Carlos Kleiber and Bruno Bartoletti. I conclude with a discussion of how her vocal flaws revealed her humanity in a way that an artist with a more perfect voice and technique might not have achieved, while never compromising musical values. The episode begins with a brief tribute to another singer of a different stripe who also exemplified Pathos: Judy Garland, who celebrated her 99th birthday this past week, and the 51st anniversary of whose death we commemorate next week.

Episode 37. No More Slavery Chains

May 31, 2020African American Singers, Crossover, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest SongsAbe Meeropol, Alfred Hayes, Ballad for Americans, Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Burt Bacharach, Cher, Die Antwort weiss ganz allein der Wind, Earl Robinson, Joe Hill, Joe Worker, John Lathouche, Keedron Bryant, Leonard De Paur, Mahalia Jackson, Marc Blitzstein, Marlene Dietrich, Martin Luther King Jr., Micki Grant, Mississippi Goddamn, Neil Young, Nina Simone, Odetta, Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, Prince, Shirley Verrett, Stephen Stills, Strange Fruit, The Cradle Will Rock, To Be Young Gifted and Black, We Shall Overcome, Weldon Irvine, Woody Guthriecountermelody

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I woke up this morning intending to produce an episode on French Glamour. Because I had been keeping my head in the sand over the past several days, I was not aware how the situation in Minneapolis had escalated since the last time I had checked in. I quickly realized that I could not in good conscience proceed as if this catastrophe wasn’t happening. On the other hand, I defer to those on the front lines to speak of their own experience and truth. I offer solidarity with those who rage and mourn, and a program of protest songs ranging over the course of the early twentieth century to the present day. We hear from a wide range of singers, from Donny Hathaway, Micki Grant, Pete Seeger, Mahalia Jackson, Odetta, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, to Joan Baez, Nina Simone, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Paul Robeson, and Marlene Dietrich. If you don’t want to hear a political program, for goddess’s sake, keep away, but if you do want to be infuriated, engaged, and uplifted, please listen in.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 36. Glamour

May 24, 2020African American Singers, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop IconsAlice Faye, Anna Moffo, Annie Lennox, Bellini I Puritani, Bernard Herrmann, Betty Carter, Canzone di Doretta, Carol Neblett, Cassandra Wilson, Cesare Andrea Bixio, Charles Gerhardt, Citizen Kane, Das Wunder der Heliane, Dave Stewart, David Garvey, Diahann Carroll, Die tote Stadt, Dorothy Kirsten, Eleanor Steber, Eurythmics, Florence Quartararo, Franz Lehár, Fritz Wunderlich, George Gershwin, Gershwin Oh Kay!, Giacomo Puccini, Giuditta (Lehár), Giuseppe Verdi, Hana Janků, Harold Arlen, Harold Simpson, Harry Revel, Helen Traubel, Hercule Gilles de Fontenailles, Hilde Güden, Hildegarde, House of Flowers, I Lombardi, I Put a Spell on You, Il Trovatore, Ira Gershwin, Italian Street Song (Naughty Marietta), James Bland, Jeanne Dortzal, José Carreras, Jules Massenet, Karl Friedrich, Kiri Te Kanawa, Knickerbocker Holiday, Kurt Weill, La rondine, Landon Ronald, Leontyne Price, Liane Augustin, Lisa Kirk, Lorenz Hart, Lotte Lehmann, Mack Gordon, Maria Nemeth, Massenet Thaïs, Miguel Fleta, Montserrat Caballé, Moonlight in Vermont, Muddy Waters, My Funny Valentine, Naughty Marietta, Ned Rorem, Noël Coward, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Robert Gilbert, Robert Stolz, Rosa Ponselle, Teresa Żylis-Gara, The Incomparable Hildegarde, Truman Capote, Victor Herbert, Vier letzte Lieder, Vincenzo Bellini, Zarah Leandercountermelody

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The Oxford English Dictionary defines “glamour” as “magic; enchantment; spell” and “a magical or fictitious beauty attaching to any person or object; a delusive or alluring charm.” Further down in the entry are “charm; attractiveness; physical allure,” certainly the definition we most closely associate with the term. And yet, it’s fascinating to examine the concept of glamour from its spellbinding origins. In the first of my episodes on Glamour, I examine many singers both from the spell-binding sense of the term and the sense of vocal and personal allure. Among others, I examine such varied singers as Alice Faye, Eleanor Steber, Annie Lennox, Carol Neblett, Betty Carter, Diahann Carroll, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Liane Augustin, Dorothy Kirsten, Florence Quartararo, Hana Janků, Helen Traubel, Hilde Güden, Kiri Te Kanawa, Leontyne Price, Lisa Kirk, Lotte Lehmann, Anna Moffo, Maria Nemeth, Montserrat Caballé, Rosa Ponselle, Zarah Leander, and The Incomparable Hildegarde with an eye to what makes their work glamourous in all senses of the term. And the gentlemen are by no means excluded: I spend particular time on the seductive and dulcet tenor tones of Fritz Wunderlich, José Carreras, Karl Friedrich, and Miguel Fleta.

Episode 35. Charm: A Second Helping

May 17, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Comic Relief, In Memoriam, Needle Drop, OperettaAksel Schiotz, Alan Jay Lerner, Anton Paulik, Brigadoon, Burton Lane, Carl Nielsen, Carl Zeller, Charles Trenet, Conchita Supervia, Danny Kaye, Der Vogelhändler, Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Dorothy Warenskjold, Dusolina Giannini, Eduardo di Capua, Edwin Schneider, Elisabeth Schumann, Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Logan, Emmerich Kálmán, Enrique Granados, Erich Kunz, Franz Lehár, Frederick Loewe, Fritzi Massary, Gabriel Bacquier, Gilbert & Sullivan, Harold Adamson, Hermann Prey, Hilde Güden, HItting a New High, Im Prater blüh’n wieder die Bäume, Jean Laforge, Jimmy McHugh, Johann Strauss II, John McCormack, Joséphine Baker, Judith Blegen, Julie Andrews, Julius Patzak, Lily Pons, Lois Marshall, Lucia Popp, Lucrezia Bori, Magda Kalmár, Marc Berthomieu, Maria Kurenko, Marta Eggerth, Maurice Ravel, Maxine Sullivan, Müde bin ich geh’ zur Ruh, O Sole Mio, Richard Tauber, Robert Stolz, The Last Rose of Summer, Tito Schipa, Weißt Du wieviel Sternlein stehen, Yip Harburg, Yvonne Printempscountermelody

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Last week we had such an overflowing of vocal, artistic, and personal charm that I was compelled to produce a second episode on the subject with a fresh batch of charmers. We begin the episode with a tribute to Gabriel Bacquier, the iconic French (bass-)baritone who died this past week just four days short of his 96th birthday. I feature him in three rare selections that represent him in repertoire which is a far cry from his operatic roles. I then resume the survey of charm as demonstrated by artists as varied as Conchita Supervia, Joséphine Baker, Hilde Güden, Ella Fitzgerald, Yvonne Printemps, John McCormack, Lois Marshall, Charles Trenet, Lucrezia Bori, Lily Pons, Hermann Prey, Dusolina Giannini, Tito Schipa, Richard Tauber, Julie Andrews, Julius Patzak, Maria Kurenko, Judith Blegen, Danny Kaye, Marta Eggerth, Elisabeth Schumann, Fritzi Massary, Maxine Sullivan, Magda Kalmár, Ella Logan, Dorothy Warenskjold, Aksel Schiøtz, Erich Kunz, and Lucia Popp. Repertoire ranges from operetta (including Franz Lehár in three different languages), folk song arrangements, musicals, art song, pop music, and children’s songs. Amazingly, opera is nowhere to be seen in this episode, but that will certainly change in the next week, when we take up consideration of Charm’s cousin, Glamour.

Episode 34. Charm

May 11, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Comic Relief, Lieder, Needle DropÁguas de Março [Waters of March], Anna Wheaton, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Ar hyd y nos [All Through the Night], Arne Dorumsgaard, Arthur Schwartz, Barbara Cook, Bidu Sayao, Buddy De Sylva, Carlos Gardel, Charles Gounod, Con amores la mia madre, David Lochary, Dawn Davenport, Divine, Don Shirley, Edith Massey, Eileen Farrell, Elisabeth Welch, Elly Ameling, Ernani Braga, Ezio Pinza, Female Trouble, George Gershwin, Georges Brassens, Gerald Moore, Gerard Souzay, Howard Dietz, Hugues Cuenod, I Wanna Be Loved By You, Jacques Offenbach, James Herrod, Jerome Kern, John Waters, Jorma Hynninen, Juan de Anchieta, Judy Holliday, La Périchole, Le Fiacre, Lehman Engel, Léon Xanrof, Louis van Dijk, Love Walked In, Marcel Delannoy, Marilyn Monroe, Martha Flowers, Mary Martin, Mary Vivian Pearce, Narciso Yepes, Naughty Marietta, Ninon Vallin, On the Sunny Side of the Street, Patachou, Paul Zakrzewski, Philippine (Delannoy), Regine Crespin, Reynaldo Hahn, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Richard Lewis, Russell Oberlin, Seymour Barab, Stephen Schwartz, Susannah McCorkle, Teresa Berganza, The Girl from Ipanema, The Quaker Lover, Till the Clouds Roll By, Victor Herbert, Victoria de los Angeles, Vincent Youmans, Wally Harper, Yvette Guilbertcountermelody

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I have planned a series on five different artistic traits that guide a singer through their artistic journey. The designations are my own, and as such, purely idiosyncratic. Charm is defined as “the power or quality of giving delight or arousing admiration.” In this episode, we examine singers of many genres singing music from many lands. Featured artists include Bidú Sayão, Carlos Gardel, Mary Martin, Régine Crespin, Richard Lewis, Victoria de los Angeles, Eileen Farrell, Ezio Pinza, Patachou, Judy Holliday, Hugues Cuenod, Elisabeth Welch, Ninon Vallin, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Jorma Hynninen, Susannah McCorkle, Barbara Cook, Ninon Vallin, Teresa Berganza, Yvette Guilbert, and many others. Because there is so much charm and enchantment in the world, the episode threatened to stretch to an untenable length, I will present additional examples of Charm in the next episode. I also pay tribute to the Lebanese-American mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, who died a week ago at the age of 90.

Episode 33. Florence Quivar (Mezzo Madness IV)

May 3, 2020African American Singers, BHM2023WK4, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Needle DropAfrican American spirituals, Ara Guzelimian, Cher, Cyd Charisse, Edward Boatner, Florence Quivar, Giacomo Aragall, Give Me Jesus, Hall Johnson, Harry T. Burleigh, I Am Seeking for a City, India Adams, Jaime Aragall, James Miller, Jeannette Pilou, Joan Crawford, Jules Massenet, Larry Woodard, Marc Cohn, Margaret Bonds, Max Saunders, On My Journey, Ride On King Jesus, Roland Hayes, Round About the Mountain, Serge Baudo, Suor Angelica, Teresa Stratas, The Band Wagon, The Gospel Train, Torch Song, Walking in Memphis, Witnesscountermelody

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Today I am thrilled and proud to present the superlative American mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar in a selection from her 1990 recording of spirituals. I am not the only person out there who thinks that her work here represents the pinnacle in the performance of African American spirituals as well as a high point in her singing career. I also feature live recordings of the artist in recital and in opera. And just when you least expect it, a certain gay icon pops in to offer some relevant and valuable musical commentary. Also included are brief tributes to two artists: the pop singer India Adams, who died on 25 April at the age of 93 and who provided the ghost voice for iconic performances by Cyd Charisse and Joan Crawford; and the Greek soprano Jeannette Pilou, who left an indelible mark in the 1970s with her performances around the globe of French opera in particular, and who died on 28 April at the age of 83.

Episode 32. Fedora Barbieri (Mezzo Madness III)

April 25, 2020Art Song, Mezzo Madness, Needle DropAlessandro Parisotti, Alessandro Scarlatti, Amilcare Ponchielli, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Vivaldi, Argeo Quadri, Arlene Saunders, Benedetto Marcello, Chi vuol la zingarella?, Claudio Monteverdi, Come raggio di sol, Demofoonte (Cherubini), Dick Marzollo, Die Liebe der Danae, Fedora Barbieri, Francesco Cavallo, Francesco Conti, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Carissimi, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Il mio bel foco, La Gioconda, La Gioconda (Ponchielli), Le violette, Luigi Cherubini, Suor Angelica, Teresa Żylis-Garacountermelody

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The Italian mezzo-soprano Fedora Barbieri (1920-2003) was never a great favorite of mine. That is, until I recently came across her rare 1953 recording entitled Fedora Barbieri Sings Old Italian Songs and Airs, accompanied by Dick Marzollo, an assistant of Toscanini’s and one of the principal coaches at the Met in the 1950s. Though possessed of an extraordinary voice, Barbieri’s vocal problems prevented her from making her full mark in much of the dramatic mezzo-soprano repertoire in which her compatriot and arch-rival Giulietta Simionato excelled. However, in this recording of songs by Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Paisiello, Cherubini, Scarlatti, and others, recorded in New York for the Vox label, Barbieri reveals herself as that true rara avis, a classicist with guts. The episode also includes recordings from either end of Barbieri’s five-decade-long career and begins with a tribute to the great American jugendlich dramatisch Sopran Arlene Saunders, who died last week at the age of 89.

Episode 31. Janet Baker (Mezzo Madness II)

April 19, 2020Art Song, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, SchubertAnthony Lewis, Ariodante Dopo notte, Brahms Komm bald, Carmen, Che farò senza Euridice, Das Lied von der Erde, Die Götter Griechenlands, Dominick Argento, Dusty Springfield, Eduard Mörike, Edvard Grieg, Ernest Lush, Fauré Le Secret, Friedrich Rückert, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, Gabriel Faure, Geoffrey Pratley, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice, Gustav Mahler, Handel Ariodante, Handel Tamerlano, Hugo Wolf, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, Johann Mayrhofer, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Josef Krips, Kathleen Raine, Kerstin Meyer, London Bach Society, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde, Mahler Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, Mahler Rückert-Lieder, Mahler Von der Schönheit, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, Martin Isepp, Matthäus-Passion, Maurice Ravel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mörike-Lieder, Orfeo ed Euridice, Paul Hamburger, Paul Steinitz, Peter Aston, Rafael Kubelik, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ravel Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, Raymond Leppard, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rückert-Lieder, Schubert Abendstern, Songs of Travel, St. Matthew Passion, Stan Vincent, Tchaikovsky Adieu forêts, The Maid of Orleans, Virginia Woolf, Wolf Verborgenheitcountermelody

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Few singers have more affected my life in a more fundamental way than the great Janet Baker. This episode seeks to pay humble tribute to that exceptional artist. I have sought long and hard to find repertoire and performances that my listeners might not have heard before. While this is not an exhaustive survey (methinks a second JB episode is lurking around the corner), I do touch on many of the cornerstones of her repertoire, including Ralph Vaughan Williams, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Gabriel Fauré, Dominick Argento, and Gustav Mahler. I also feature composers less often associated with her, including Edvard Grieg, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Hugo Wolf, and Peter Aston. Her musical collaborators represented in the episode include Martin Isepp, Paul Hamburger, Josef Krips, Rafael Kubelik, Colin Davis, Geoffrey Parsons, Anthony Lewis, and Michael Tilson Thomas, among others. I present to you The High Priestess of Song. (I also pay passing tribute to the Swedish mezzo-soprano Kerstin Meyer, who died this past week at the age of 92, and Dusty Springfield, whose 81st birthday we celebrated posthumously this week.)

Episode 30. Giulietta Simionato (Mezzo Madness I)

April 12, 2020Giuseppe Verdi, Mezzo Madness, Needle DropAcerba voluttà (Adriana Lecouvreur), Adriana Lecouvreur, Aida, Annie Get Your Gun, Anything You Can Do, Canzone del velo, Cavalleria Rusticana, Che farò senza Euridice, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Don Carlo, Ettore Bastianini, Francesco Cilea, Franco Corelli, Franco Ghione, Già i sacerdoti adunansi (Aida), Giacomo Meyerbeer, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Gioacchino Rossini, Giulietta Simionato, Giuseppe Verdi, Gli Ugonotti, Herbert von Karajan, Hertha Töpper, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Jon Vickers, La Cenerentola, La Scala, Les Huguenots, Margarete Sjöstedt, Maria Callas, Mezzo Madness, Non più mesta, Norma, O don fatale, Oh rimembranza (Norma), Orfeo ed Euridice, Pietro Mascagni, Salzburg Festival, Teatro San Carlo, Una voce poco fa, Vincenzo Bellinicountermelody

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Today’s episode, a celebration of the delicious and versatile Italian mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato (1910-2010), kicks off a miniseries in celebration of the mezzo-soprano voice. The centerpiece of the episode is a 10-inch London/Decca recording entitled Operatic Recital by Giulietta Simionato which features arias of Rossini, Bellini, and Verdi. The remainder of the episode features live and studio recordings, primarily from La Scala and Salzburg, by Simionato with distinguished partners, including Maria Callas, Franco Corelli, Jon Vickers, Ettore Bastianini, Gianadrea Gavazzeni, Antonino Votto, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Herbert von Karajan. Works include Il barbiere di Siviglia, Cavalleria rusticana, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Don Carlo, Adriana Lecouvreur, Orfeo ed Euridice, Norma, La Cenerentola, Gli Ugonotti, L’Italiana in Algeri, and Aida, with one special Easter egg at the end. This episode, dedicated to my dear friend Gloria Parker, also features a tribute to the late German mezzo-soprano Hertha Töpper. A te la buona Pasqua!

Episode 29. A Social Isolation Schubertiade (Music for a World in Crisis III)

April 5, 2020Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, SchubertAbram Makarov, Alexander Kipnis, András Schiff, Aribert Reimann, Barry McDaniel, Bernard Diamant, Boris Abramovich, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bruno Walter, Bryn Terfel, Christa Ludwig, Dalton Baldwin, Der Einsame, Der Winterabend, Die Taubenpost, Elisabeth Schumannn, Erik Werba, Faron Young, Frank Bibb, Franz Grillparzer, Franz Schubert, Franz von Schober, Friedrich Reil, Friedrich Rückert, Frühlingstraum, Georg Philipp Schmidt, George Schick, Gerard Souzay, Gundula Janowitz, Hans Altmann, Hans Hotter, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Rehkemper, Helen Watts, Hermann von Nordberg, Hertha Klust, Hubert Giesen, Im Abendrot, Irmgard Seefried, Irwin Gage, Janet Baker, Johann Gabriel Seidl, Johann Ludwig Uhland, Johann Mayrhofer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Newmark, John Shirley-Quirk, Judith Raskin, Karl Erb, Karl Lappe, Karl von Leitner, Leise flehen meine Lieder, Lied der Anne Lyle, Louis Halsey, Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty, Ludwig Rellstab, Malcolm Martineau, Manfred Gurlitt, Paul Hamburger, Peter Schreier, Richard Tauber, Schubert Am Bach im Frühling, Schubert Am Fenster, Schubert An die Apfelbäume, Schubert An die Apfelbäume wo ich Julien erblickte, Schubert Der Atlas, Schubert Der Wanderer, Schubert Erlafsee, Schubert Frühlingsglaube, Schubert Im Freien, Schubert Lachen und Weinen, Schubert Schwanengesang, Schubert Ständchen, Schubert Winterreise, Schubert Zögernd leise, Schwanengesang, Sehnsucht, Sergei Lemeshev, Sir Walter Scott, Steuart Bedford, Viola Tunnard, Walter Berry, Walter Martin, Walter Scott, Walther Ludwig, Wandrers Nachtlied, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreisecountermelody

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Franz Schubert is the composer who speaks to me like no other. His insight into the human condition is profound: in particular, he explores that narrow strip of land where joy and sorrow meet, converse, and commiserate. I have devoted this episode entirely to performances of his Lieder, the songs divided into three separate (and often overlapping) categories: those dealing with mental states, those that seek to bridge gaps of time and space, and those that address social isolation. Featured are some of my favorite singers: Irmgard Seefried, Walter Berry, Alexander Kipnis, Janet Baker, Hans Hotter, Judith Raskin, Gundula Janowitz, Heinrich Rehkemper, Christa Ludwig, Peter Schreier, Brigitte Fassbaender, Gérard Souzay, and Karl Erb (with a few additional surprises along the way), accompanied by such great collaborative pianists as Erik Werba, Irwin Gage, Hertha Klust, John Newmark, Dalton Baldwin, Aribert Reimann, András Schiff, Paul Hamburger, and Bruno Walter, among others. I am particularly proud of this episode and hope that it brings you comfort and solace, as only Schubert can.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please also visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 28. Alternate Universe Bel Canto (April Fool’s 2020)

March 29, 2020African American Singers, Bel canto, Comic Relief, Giuseppe Verdi, Needle DropAddio del passato, Caro nome, Congress Woman Malinda Jackson Parker, Cousin Mosquito, Dein ist mein ganzes Herz, How Great Thou Art, Howard Salat, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Mari Lyn, Mrs Miller, My Pal Foot Foot, Natalia de Andrade, Olive Middleton, Pace pace mio Dio, Sing, Sirach Van Bodegraven, Summertime, The Golden Treasury of Song, The Howard Salat Quartet Local 802, The Phantom of the Opera, There Goes My Everything, Wingcountermelody

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We need a laugh right now. At least I did, and that was the inspiration for today’s episode. I have long cherished the art of truly terrible singing, and this episode acknowledges that fixation, as well as celebrating some of its prime practitioners. I cover a wide range of genres, from opera to self-styled pop music. Along the way we hear such paragons of bad singing as Wing, Olive Middleton, Congress Woman Malinda Jackson Parker, Mari Lyn, Mrs. Miller, Sirach Van Bodegraven, The Shaggs, and (my personal favorite) Natalia de Andrade. These artists were never ones to be hemmed in by the confinements of good taste, solid vocal technique, or a composer’s intentions: they let their souls run rampant over their material, providing us with a unique experience in the process. Please accept this tribute in the spirit in which it is intended: respectfully, yet with equal parts shock, awe, disgust, and envy.

Countermelody is a new podcast devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please also visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 27. That Time of Evening (Music for a World in Crisis II)

March 22, 2020African American Singers, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle DropAlto Rhapsody, Carol Brice, Claude Debussy, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Edwin Bitcliffe, Eleanor Steber, Françoise Ogéas, Franz Rupp, Ginette Guillamat, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, James Agee, Jewel Brown, Johannes Brahms, Knoxville Summer of 1915, La damoiselle élue, Marian Anderson, Samuel Barber, Serge Koussevitzkycountermelody

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Today’s episode, spontaneously crafted over the course of a few hours, features live performances of three longer works that, each in its own way, has something very specific to offer us as we face the uncertainty of our immediate future. First, a 1946 performance of Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody featuring the African American contralto Carol Brice with Serge Koussevitzky leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There follows a live performance from 1954 of French soprano Françoise Ogéas performing the title role of Debussy’s Rossetti-based cantata La damoiselle élue with mezzo-soprano Ginette Guillamat as the Récitante. Debussy specialist Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht leads the forces of the ORTF. The third major work in today’s episode is Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, in a live Carnegie Hall performance from October 10, 1958 by Eleanor Steber, who commissioned and premiered the work, accompanied by pianist Edwin Bitcliffe. Guest vocal appearances by Jewel Brown singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” and Marian Anderson performing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” round out the episode.

Episode 26. Calling You (Music for a World in Crisis)

March 15, 2020Art Song, Crossover, Eileen Farrell, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop IconsAida, Alfredo Catalani, Andre Previn, Anne Roselle, Anytime Any Place Anywhere, Bagdad Cafe, Blow the Wind Southerly, Calling You, Chi Coltrane, Claudia Muzio, Danny Boy, Don Shirley, Dusty Springfield, Ebben ne andro lontana, Edvard Grieg, Eide Norena, Eileen Farrell, Elinor Ross, Frieder Weissmann, Giuseppe Verdi, Hina Spani, I Will Come to You, Il Trovatore, Its Not Easy, Janis Ian, La forza del destino, La Wally, Lee Wiley, Licinio Refice, Linden Lea, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Ma dall arido stelo divulsa, Martha Flowers, Meta Seinemeyer, Ned Washington, O patria mia, Ombra di nube, Peter Serkin, Rosa Ponselle, Spring Is Here, Un ballo in maschera, Våren, Victor Youngcountermelody

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The world is in chaos. We don’t know from one day to the next, or one hour to the next, what is going to happen. I am currently halfway around the world from home and wondering what the coming weeks will bring. This week I have decided to feature music that addresses reaching out to loved ones across enormous gaps of time and space, the yearning for a home lost and the ambivalence with which we face the changing seasons. But all is not hopelessness: at the end of the episode, I offer several pop songs by some of my favorite singers that address the promise of healing and reunion, no matter how difficult the process. In this episode, marking the six-month anniversary of Countermelody, I’m featuring Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Hina Spani, Rosa Ponselle, Meta Seinemeyer, Anne Roselle, Claudia Muzio, Eidé Noréna, Eileen Farrell, Kathleen Ferrier, Martha Flowers, Janis Ian, Chi Coltrane, and Dusty Springfield. I also offer a recording I made in 2006 of “Danny Boy,” and I explain the song’s significance to me.

Countermelody is a new podcast devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please also visit the Countermelody website for updates, additional content, and to pledge your support. www.countermelodypodcast.com

Episode 25. Freni on the Fringe (Mirella in Memoriam II)

March 8, 2020In Memoriam, Mirella Freni, Needle DropBeatrice di Tenda, Beim Schlafengehen, Bruno Bartoletti, Claudio Abbado, Dove sono, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, I vespri siciliani, Jorma Hynninen, Le nozze di Figaro, Leone Magiera, Madama Butterfly, Maurizio Arena, Mercè dilette amiche, Michel Plasson, Mireilla, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Piero Bellugi, Richard Strauss, Scene de la Crau, Serse, Signore ascolta, Turandot, Va godendo, Vaclav Smetacek, Vier letzte Lieder, Vincenzo Bellini, Voici la vaste plaine, Yevgeny Onegincountermelody

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Episode 25 – Freni on the Fringe (Mirella in Memoriam II)

Today’s episode continues last week’s homage to the late, great Mirella Freni. This time around, I explore some her performances of operas and works which she performed only rarely, or to which she turned later in her career. Featured works include excerpts from Handel’s Serse, Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (in which Freni sings the Countess rather than her usual Susanna), the title role in Gounod’s Mireille, Tatyana in Yevgeny Onegin, and Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. The Finnish baritone Jorma Hynninen, one of my favorite singers, is heard as Onegin. Conductors include Claudio Abbado, Bruno Bartoletti, Michel Plasson, and Václav Smetáček. The episode concludes with a relatively obscure 1977 studio recording of Freni singing “Signore, ascolta” from Turandot which represents the absolute pinnacle of her vocal art.

Episode 24. Freni in Duet (Mirella In Memoriam I)

March 1, 2020Bel canto, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Mirella Freni, Needle Drop, Renata Scotto, VerismoAlfredo Kraus, Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Don Giovanni, Franco Bonisolli, Franco Corelli, Giacomo Puccini, Gianni Schicchi, Giuseppe Verdi, Gundula Janowitz, I Puritani, La Boheme, La Traviata, Lamberto Gardelli, Le due illustri rivali, Le nozze di Figaro, Leone Magiera, Luciano Pavarotti, Luis Lima, Manon Lescaut, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Gedda, Otello, Peter Dvorsky, Renata Scotto, Saverio Mercadante, Vincenzo Bellinicountermelody

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Today, in the first of two consecutive episodes. I pay tribute to the great Mirella Freni, who died on February 7 and who would have celebrated her 85th birthday on February 27th. Celebrated for the freshness of her timbre, her musical integrity and commitment, her vocal prowess and longevity, and her expressivity, Freni sang a repertoire which covered a wide range of styles and languages. Today’s selections, from over the course of her entire career, feature her exclusively in duet, and include selections from Gianni Schicchi, I Puritani, L’Elisir d’amore, Le nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, Otello, Manon Lescaut, Don Carlo, Le due illustri rivali, Don Giovanni, and La Traviata with Alfredo Kraus, Nicolai Gedda, Gundula Janowitz, Franco Corelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Peter Dvorsky, Luis Lima, Renata Scotto, and her husband Nicolai Ghiaurov. Three selections from a rare 1977 LP of Puccini and Verdi duets with the superlative (and notorious!) Italian tenor Franco form the centerpiece of this loving tribute.

Episode 23. Lawrence Winters and Robert McFerrin (Black History Month IV)

February 23, 2020African American Singers, BHM2023WK3, Black History Month, Broadway, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Needle Drop, Operetta, Protest Songs, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, VerismoAdele Addison, Bess You Is My Woman Now, Bonanza Theme Song, Call Me Mister, Camilla Williams, Fausto Cleva, Grace de la Cruz, Hall Johnson, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Harold Rome, I Loves You Porgy, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, Laszlo Halasz, Laurel Hurley, Lawrence Winters, Lehman Engel, Lost in the Stars, Maria Stader, Marie Powers, Porgy and Bess, Rigoletto, RobertMcFerrin, Spirituals, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, The Red Ball Express, Todd Duncan, Troubled Island, William Grant Still; George Gershwin; Ira Gershwin; DuBose Heywardcountermelody

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Episode 23 – Winters and McFerrin: A Tale of Two Baritones (Black History Month IV)

Today’s episode, the fourth in a sequence honoring African American singers, this one pays tribute to two great baritones, Lawrence Winters (1915-1965) and Robert McFerrin (1921-2006). Winters was a trailblazer on records and on stage at the New York City Opera and in major German opera houses; while McFerrin, the first African American male to sing a major role at the Metropolitan Opera, made his debut in 1955 as Amonasro in Aida three weeks after Marian Anderson made history on the same stage as the first black solo singer to perform there. This episode examines the early life and rise to prominence of each singer; the role that Porgy played in the careers of both singers; and each one’s credentials as a Verdi baritone par excellence. Highlights include an excerpt from William Grant Still’s opera Troubled Island, which premiered at NYCO in 1949, and a memorable cache of spirituals recordings from both singers. Guest aritsts heard on this episode include Todd Duncan, Camilla Williams, Marie Powers, Maria Stader, Adele Addison, Laurel Hurley, and Grace de la Cruz.

Episode 21. Charles Holland (Black History Month II)

February 8, 2020African American Singers, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, Broadway, Crossover, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAirborne Symphony, Al Jolson, Après un rêve, Arthur Goldschmidt, Au fond du temple saint, Benny Carter, Charles Gounod, Charles Holland, Cinq mélodies de Venise, Clair de lune, Dennis Russell Davies, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, En sourdine, Fi-Yer!, Fletcher Henderson, Four Saints in Three Acts, Frank Morgan, Gabriel Faure, George Frideric Handel, Gertrude Stein, Hall Johnson, Harlem Madness, Harry de Groot, Honor Honor, Hullabaloo (1940), Jack P. Loorij, Jacqueline Bonneau, Langston Hughes, Laurie Anderson, Leo Driehuys, Leonard Bernstein, Les pecheurs de perles, Live a-Humble, Marc Blitzstein, Marco Bakker, Morgenlich leuchtend, My Mammy, New Born Again, O Superman, Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, Peanuts Holland, Prepare Me One Body, Ralph Linsey, Robert Shaw, Roland Hayes, Roméo et Juliette, Semele, Spirituals, Talk About a Child That Do Love Jesus, Virgil Thomsoncountermelody

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Today’s episode, the second in my Black History Month series, is a tribute to the extraordinary African American tenor Charles Holland (1909-1987) whose career spanned more than four decades. Early appearances as a vocalist with the band of Luther Henderson and the Hall Johnson Negro Choir led to his Hollywood film debut and to appearances on the Broadway stage. In 1949, frustrated with the lack of career opportunities for an African American tenor, Charles Holland departed for Europe, where he enjoyed a distinguished career. Late in his life he experienced an extraordinary career resurgence through an association with American conductor Dennis Russell Davies, which led to his belated Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in 1982 at the age of 73, as well as serving as the inspiration for Laurie Anderson’s surprise 1981 pop hit, O Superman. Musical excerpts include live and studio recordings over more than 40 years and a wide swath of genres.

Episode 20. Muriel Smith (Black History Month I)

February 2, 2020African American Singers, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, Broadway, Mezzo Madness, Muriel Smith, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Singers of Color, SmithBHMWK4, Twentieth Century MusicBali Hai, Black History Month, Bloody Mary, Carmen Jones, Displaced (The DP), Dorothy Fields, Drury Lane Theatre, Geo Kroger, Georges Auric, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me, Honor Honor, Howard Pollack, Jimmy McHugh, John Huston, Juanita Hall, Lady Thiang, Loulou Gasté, Marc Blitzstein, Moulin Rouge, Muriel Smith, Muriel Smith Sings Negro Spirituals, Orpheus with his Lute, Oscar Hammerstein II, Philips Records, Richard Rodgers, Sojourner Truth, Something Wonderful, South Pacific, Spirituals, The Cradle Will Rock, The King and I, Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?, Zsa Zsa Gaborcountermelody

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This week kicks off my series of Black History Month episodes, in which I pay homage to some less well-remembered African American singers who nonetheless made an enormous impact in the world of music. This week I am honored to bring to you the great mezzo-soprano Muriel Smith (1923-1985) who, among other important contributions, premiered the title role of Carmen Jones on Broadway in 1943. We examine her work in musicals and films as well as pop music and opera. Her eclecticism, her ability to color her voice in a way uniquely suited to the wide range of roles she undertook, as well as her deep connection to text and expression, mark her as an artist of the highest caliber. Featured is a rare 1955 Philips recording of spirituals represents Muriel Smith at her artistic and interpretive peak.

Episode 19. Jennie Tourel Sings Rossini and Poulenc

January 26, 2020Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicÀ Grenade, Allen Rogers, Chanson de Zora, Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Dany Robin, Fiançailles pour rire, Francis Poulenc, Gioacchino Rossini, Jean Cocteau, Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Jennie Tourel, Julietta (1953), La petite bohémienne, Les Amants (1958), Louis Malle, Louise de Vilmorin, Madame de..., Max Ophuls, Péchés de vieillesse, Petite mélodie sur la gamme chinoise, Reto Müller, Sins of Old Age, The Earrings of Madame de..., Vittorio de Sicacountermelody

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The wondrous Russian-French mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel (1900-1973) had a storied career that lasted more than four decades and encompassed both opera and song. In the latter, she was particularly celebrated for her work in the Russian and French repertoire. The 1964 recording Jennie Tourel Sings Rossini and Poulenc features the singer, sounding remarkably fresh in her early sixties, singing songs by Rossini, primarily from his posthumous collection Péchés de vieillesse [Sins of Old Age], as well as Francis Poulenc’s extraordinary 1938 song cycle Fiançailles pour rire [Betrothal for Laughs]. In both series of songs, Tourel’s extraordinary musicianship and commitment to expression serve to illustrate her self-expressed artistic credo: “I wanted to bring my heart to the audience… sing out my heart.”

Episode 18. Elisabeth Söderström Sings Everything

January 16, 2020Full-Figured Baroque, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century MusicAlceste, Bo Bergman, Capriccio, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Claude Debussy, Claude Génetay, Clemens Krauss, Divinités du Styx, Édouard Guinand, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Eugene Onegin, François-Louis Gand le Bland du Roullet, Hennes Ord, Janet Baker, Le nozze di Figaro, Lorenzo da Ponte, Morgen Mittag um elf, Neopolitan Mourning Song, Non so più cosa son, Puskay pogibnu ya, Richard Strauss, Schlußszene (Capriccio), Symfoniorkestern Norrköping, Ture Rangström, Ulf Björlin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yevgeny Onegin, Пускай погибну яcountermelody

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Elisabeth Söderström, the elegant, vibrant, vulnerable, musically scrupulous, dramatically committed, Swedish soprano (7 May 1927 – 20 November 2009) is celebrated in this episode with an airing of her rare 1972 vocal recital for Swedish EMI which features her in a wide range of musical styles from early Baroque opera to the Swedish composer Ture Rangström, with side trips to Mozart, Gluck, and Debussy. These works buttress vocally sumptuous, dramatically-charged performances of extended scenes from two of her signature roles, Tatyana in Yevgeny Onegin and the Gräfin in Capriccio, representing this beloved artist in her absolute vocal and artistic prime.

Episode 17. O Sole Mio – Peter Schreier

January 12, 2020Crossover, In Memoriam, Needle Drop, OperettaAm Brunnen vor dem Tore, Arno Billing, Balkanliebe, Billy Rose, Brahms Lullaby, Bruno Hardt-Warden, Carl Bohm, Chianti-Lied, Das alte Lied, Das lila Lied, Der Lindenbaum, Eduardo di Capua, Edward Eliscu, Erik Kahr, Ernesto de Curtis, Ernst Marischka, Es muß ein Wunderbares sein, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Fred Raymond, Fritz Löhner-Beda, Gerhard Winkler, Giovanni Capurro, Great Day, Günther Schwenn, Henry Love, Heute Nacht oder nie, Hilda Löwi, Hilde Loewe-Flatter, Hoch die Gläser hoch das Leben, Johannes Brahms, Kurt Schwabach, Leise erlkingen Glocken von Campanile, Line Renaud, Loulou Gasté, Marcellus Schiffer, Maske in Blau, Maurício Alberto Kaisermann, Mein Mädel hat einen Rosenmund, Michael Kunze, Mischa Spoliansky, Morris Albert, Non ti scordar di me, O Sole Mio, Oskar von Redwitz, Peter Schreier, Peter Schreier singt Volkslieder, Ralph Maria Siegel, Richard Tauber, Romy Schneider, Rudolf Kattnigg, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Schau einer schönen Frau nie zu tief in die Augen, Still wie die Nacht, Vincent Youmans, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreise, Without a Songcountermelody

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The highly-regarded German tenor Peter Schreier, who died in Dresden on Christmas Day after a lingering illness at the age of 84, was particularly celebrated worldwide for his deeply musical performances of Bach, Mozart, and German Lieder. What many might not realize is what a significant popular icon Schreier was, particularly in the former East Germany. This episode celebrates his contribution to die leichte Muse with his 1979 release on Amiga, the pop division of the East German record label Eterna. The episode is supplemented by three selections from Schreier’s enormously appealing 1975 Eterna release, Peter Schreier singt Volkslieder.

Episode 16. Souvenirs – Elly Ameling and Dalton Baldwin

January 5, 2020Art Song, Broadway, Crossover, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicAfrikaans Wiegeliedjie, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten, Brettl-Lieder, Brezariola, Britten Folk Song Arrangements, Charles Ives, Cuatro madrigales amatorios, Dalton Baldwin, De los alamos vengo madre, Drey Minnelieder, Elly Ameling, Emiel Hullebroeck, Emile Vuillermoz, Folk Song Arrangements, Frank Martin, Franz Liszt, Gigerlette, Gioacchino Rossini, Henry Purcell, Jean Sibelius, Joaquin Rodrigo, John Weldon, Joseph Canteloube, La Danza, La derniere valse, Memories, Moeke Dutch Folk Song, Music for a while, O lieb solang du lieben kannst, O waly waly, Oyasumi na sai, Reynaldo Hahn, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Souvenirs, Spring Waters, The Wakeful Nightingale, Unter den Linden, Varen flyktar hastigt, whistling, Yoshinao Nakadacountermelody

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We begin 2020 with a new series of episodes. For the next eight weeks, I will present selections dubbed exclusively from LPs, few if any of which have ever been re-released on CD and which remain barely available on any listening platform for today’s audience. Today’s entry in the Needle Drop series is the marvelously engaging and entertaining 1979 Columbia Masterworks release Souvenirs (M 35119), which features the Dutch soprano Elly Ameling, renowned for her peerless work as an art song recitalist, and the late American pianist Dalton Baldwin (19 December 1931 – 12 December 2019), whose life and legacy we particularly celebrate today. This episode also serves as an early birthday tribute to Elly Ameling, who turns 87 on 8 February 2020.

Episode 15. Hail and Farewell

December 30, 2019African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Crossover, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, VerismoAldo Ciccolini, Allee Willis, Amilcare Ponchielli, Andre Previn, Andy Williams, Ann Crumb, Before the Parade Passes By, Beim Schlafengehen, Carol Channing, Cecilia Sisson, Chego de saudade, Chris Lowe, Clydie King, Dalton Baldwin, Daniel Gundlach, Daryl Dragon, David Breitman, Diahann Carroll, Doda Conrad, Dominick Argento, Dusty Springfield, Edgar Leslie, Eduard Mörike, Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Erlkönig, Ethel Ennis, Francesco Cavalli, Francisco Casanova, Franz Schubert, Fred E. Ahlert, Friedemann Layer, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, Funny Girl, George Crumb, Gerald English, Heather Harper, Henri Sauguet, Hermit Songs, Hilde Zadek, Honey and Rue, Hugo Wolf, I am not seaworthy, Jackie Moore, Janet Baker, Jean-Christophe Benoît, Jerry Herman, Jessye Norman, Joan Carlyle, João Gilberto, Johann Strauss II, Jörg Demus, Joseph Rouleau, Jules Massenet, Julius Rudel, Kathleen Battle, Komm Hoffnung, Le Cid, Leonore, Ludwig van Beethoven, Marcello Giordani, Margaret Lewis, Marion Delorme, Martin Isepp, Maurice Ravel, Max Jacob, Michel Legrand, Music to Watch Girls By, Neil Tennant, Ode to Billie Joe, Pagliacci, Paul Badura-Skoda, Pet Shot Boys, Peter Schreier, Raymond Leppard, Reconsider Me, Richard Strauss, Rolando Panerai, Sainte, Samuel Barber, Sanford Sylvan, Scott Baker, Show Girl (revue), Sid Ramin, Stéphane Mallarmé, The Captain and Tennille, The Moon Was Yellow, The Music that Makes Me Dance, Theo Adam, Toni Morrison, Toni Tennille, Victoria Clark, Vier letzte Lieder, Visions infernales, What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?, What Have I Done To Deserve This?, Wilma Lipp, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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We set our sights on the New Year, at the same time giving a backward glance, in mostly reverse chronological order, to those singers and other musicians, whose contributions have immeasurably enhanced our lives. I’ve prepared a whopper of an episode that traverses many genres and styles, but which, as always, remains faithful to the mission of the podcast: to bring you the most interesting and communicative singers. From João Gilberto to Marcello Giordani, from Sanford Sylvan to Rolando Panerai, from Heather Harper to Ann Crumb: they’re all here, with a few surprises sprinkled along the way. Three last-minute entries to the Hail and Farewell sequence are Peter Schreier, Allee Willis, and Jerry Herman, all of whom died in the last week.

Episode 13. Christmas with the Tenors

December 15, 2019African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Crossover, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Lieder, Needle DropAdolphe Adam, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Cantique de Noël, Cesar Franck, Charles Holland, Christmas Hymns and Carols Volume 2, Christmas music, Christmas Oratorio, Claude Debussy, Dalton Baldwin, Daniel Gundlach, Dave Seville, Ernst Haefliger, Firestone Christmas Albums, Francisco Araiza, Franz Xaver Gruber, Fritz Wunderlich, Gabriel Faure, George Frideric Handel, Georges Thill, Gerard Souzay, Henry Lemarchand, Hermann Prey, Hodie, Irving Berlin, Jacqueline Bonneau, Jean Beauval, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Franz Mohr, Karl Erb, Kommet ihr Hirten, Lauritz Melchior, Lettre au Papa Noël, Matthew Swensen, Messiah, Minuit Chrétiens, Noël, O Holy Night, O Jesulein süß, Panis angelicus, Petit Papa Noel, Philippe Parès, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Reginald Boardman, Richard Lewis, Richard Tauber, Robert Shaw, Robert Shaw Chorale, Roland Hayes, Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian, Russell Oberlin, Sister Mary Had A But One Child, Stille Nacht heilige Nacht, Tenors, The Cherry Tree Carol, The Chipmunk Song, Tino Rossi, Weihnachts-Oratorium, White Christmascountermelody

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This week is the first of two episodes featuring Christmas music. I decided to feature tenors, but with a difference: none of The Three Tenors will put in an appearance. In compensation, this week I feature a panoply of superb tenors (including Fritz Wunderlich, Georges Thill, Richard Lewis, Roland Hayes, Tino Rossi, Franco Corelli, Ernst Haefliger, Richard Tauber, Karl Erb, and Matthew Swensen) in repertoire ranging across the spectrum (Handel, Adam, Gounod, Bach, Berlin, and traditional Weihnachtsmusik, with some surprises along the way). The episode concludes with a brief musical tribute to Dalton Baldwin, Gérard Souzay’s partner and collaborator, who died on 12 December, a week to the day before his 88th birthday.

Episode 10. Régine Crespin: Un doux privilège

November 24, 2019Art Song, Crossover, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Operetta, Richard Strauss, Richard WagnerAnneliese Rothenberger, Bell Telephone Hour, Brigitte Fassbaender, Carlos Kleiber, Claude Debussy, Daniel Gundlach, Denise Duval, Denise Scharley, Der fliegende Holländer, Eliane Lubin, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Fidelio, Franco Corelli, Georges Jouatte, Georges Sébastien, Germaine Lubin, Glyndebourne, Gwyneth Jones, Irene Joachim, Janet Williams, Je tremble en voyant ton visage, John Wustman, José Luccioni, Le promenoir des deux amants, Les dialogues des Carmélites, Les trois valses, Lotte Lehmann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Mady Mesple, Maria Ewing, Oscar Straus, Paul Finel, Regine Crespin, René Bianco, Richard Wagner, Rita Gorr, Roger Soyer, Shirley Verrett, Suzanne Cesbron-Viseur, Suzanne Sarroca, Xavier Depraz, Yvonne Printempscountermelody

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Régine Crespin, whose Metropolitan Opera debut as the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier occurred exactly 57 years ago this week, is featured on this week’s episode. I give an overview of her major roles, with a few surprises, both monumental and insouciante, tossed in. Because of her enormous range and versatility, I will have to return to my subject in the near future in order to do full justice to this great artist.

Episode 8. Williams and Williams

November 10, 2019African American Singers, BHM2023WK1, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Lieder, Needle Drop, Singers of ColorAida, Berliner Staatsoper, Borislav Bezala, Camilla Williams, Celius Dougherty, Detroit, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Giuseppe Verdi, Janet Williams, Jules Massenet, Laszlo Halasz, Léo Delibes, Les pecheurs de perles, Manon, MGM Records, New York City Opera, Nina Koshetz, Povla Frijsh, Semele, Spirituals, Undine Smith Moorecountermelody

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As a supplement to the first part of my interview last week with Janet Williams, I offer a cache of rare studio recordings by Camilla Williams, supplemented by live material sung by Janet Williams from the artist’s private archives. Among other material featured are excerpts from Camilla’s rarely-heard album of spirituals on the MGM Records label, and a concert given by Janet Williams in her home town of Detroit in 1989, capped by a stunning rendition of Undine Smith Moore’s arrangement of the spiritual “Watch and Pray,” dedicated to Camilla Williams.

Episode 5: Shirley Verrett I. La Nera Callas

October 20, 2019African American Singers, Bel canto, Giuseppe Verdi, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Singers of ColorAnna Caterina Antonacci, Camille Saint-Saens, Carmen, Christa Ludwig, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Claudio Abbado, Cornelie Falcon, Covent Garden, Don Carlo, Eugene Ormandy, Eve Queler, Fritz Reiner, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giuseppe Verdi, Grace Bumbry, Il Trovatore, Imre Pallo, Jon Vickers, Julius Rudel, Justino Diaz, La Scala, Luciano Pavarotti, Marian Anderson, Maurizio Arena, Michelangelo Veltri, Philadelphia Orchestra, Richard Cassilly, Richard Lewis, Samson et Dalila, Shirley Verrett, Tom Krause, Un ballo in maschera, Zwischenfachcountermelody

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This episode is the first of two on one of my favorite singers, the Zwischenfachsängerin Shirley Verrett. Renowned in the United States for her performances of Verdi mezzo-soprano parts, particularly Azucena in Il Trovatore and Eboli in Don Carlo, the late singer commanded an enormous repertoire, comprising bel canto and French roles, on which she left her indelible stamp. I focus in particular on the French roles she performed at the Opéra de Paris from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, as well as her Verdi soprano roles, including Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and the title role in Aida. Known in the Italian press as La Nera Callas [The Black Callas], Verrett is heard in this episode singing Brahms, Gluck, Saint-Saëns, and Verdi roles for both soprano and mezzo-soprano. Special attention is paid to her newsworthy appearances with fellow African American mezzo-cum-soprano, Grace Bumbry, the first of which, a joint Carnegie Hall concert in 1982, honored the iconic contralto Marian Anderson on the occasion of her 80th birthday.

Episode 4. Jessye and Her Forebears

October 13, 2019African American Singers, Art Song, BHM2023WK1, In Memoriam, Interview, Needle Drop, Singers of ColorCamilla Williams, Daniel Gundlach, David Savran, Dorothy Maynor, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Franz Schubert, Gerard Souzay, Great Day in the Morning, Jessye Norman, Martina Arroyo, Robert Wilson, Rose Caron, Serge Koussevitzky, Shirley Verrettcountermelody

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Due to a last minute change of plans, I have decided to bring you the first in what I hope will be a series of episodes devoted to excerpts from LP recordings in my collection which have either never been reissued on CD or have had only limited availability. This first episode includes a tribute to the late Jessye Norman, with a nod to some of the great African American singers who paved the way for her in her career. In addition, my special guest the theatre scholar David Savran speaks about the significance of her collaborations with director Robert Wilson. Other singers heard include Gérard Souzay, Elisabeth Söderström, Dorothy Maynor, Camilla Williams, Martina Arroyo, Shirley Verrett, and Leontyne Price, none of which have received widespread release beyond their initial appearance on LP. I conclude the episode with a special greeting from the balcony of my Air B&B in Napoli, where I am celebrating my birthday.