Tag Archives: Adrian Boult

Episode 317. Big Baroque Christmas

African American Singers, Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Great Contraltos, Great Tenors, Holiday Music, Ileana Cotrubas, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Voiceless Wonders, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Sometimes when I look back on past episodes of Countermelody, I surprise myself with how good they were, even in the early days when I was still trying to figure everything out. This episode, first posted as a bonus episode five years ago is a good example of that. Earlier that season I had coined the term “Full-Figured Baroque” to describe the “old-fashioned” style of Baroque performance that I personally prefer to what one currently hears in churches and concert halls around the world and on recordings. This episode was devoted to Baroque music composed specifically for the Christmas season, recorded between 1940 and 1992, and performed in deliciously non-period style, replete with deliberate tempi, judiciously applied vibrato, and stately ritardandi. There is a special focus on the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium and assorted cantatas for the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany season. Singers include Janet Baker, Tom Krause, Jerry Hadley, Margaret Marshall, Francisco Araiza, Russell Oberlin, Helen Watts, William Warfield, John Shirley-Quirk, Peter Schreier, Heather Harper, Shirley Verrett, Edith Mathis, Hermann Prey, Marga Höffgen, Agnes Giebel, Kurt Equiluz, Florence Quivar, Aksel Schiøtz, Kirsten Flagstad, Christa Ludwig, Edith Mathis, Brigitte Fassbaender. Ernst Haefliger, Jennifer Vyvyan, Anna Reynolds, Judith Blegen, Fritz Wunderlich, Elly Ameling, Peter Schreier, and Gundula Janowitz. Conductors include Neville Marriner, Raymond Leppard, Colin Davis, Karl Richter, Lorin Maazel, Helmut Winschermann, Vittorio Negri, Karl Münchinger, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Eugene Ormandy, Adrian Boult, Andrew Davis, and Eugen Jochum, among others. Don’t miss out on this full-figured Christmas treat!

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.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 280. Heather Harper Revisited

Art Song, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Contraltos, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The beloved Irish soprano Heather Harper died at the age of 88 on 22 April 2019 in London. In music ranging from the Baroque through the modern eras, she displayed an easy mastery as did very few others, as well as a radiant voice and demeanor that made her a favorite collaborator of some of the greatest conductors and composers of the Twentieth Century. Perhaps no other singer matched her accomplishment within such a wide range of styles. This episode was originally published as an addendum to an episode I published in the second season of Countermelody. It highlights Heather Harper in two Richard Strauss roles, Ariadne and the Kaiserin; and features two works which she created, Elizabeth Maconchy’s setting of Cecil Day-Lewis’s dramatic monologue Ariadne, premiered in 1971, and Michael Berkeley and Ian McEwan’s searing 1983 oratorio Or Shall We Die? Harper is also featured in rare recordings of repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Busoni; Offenbach to Dallapiccola. A forgotten 1964 recording of Harper’s transcendent reading of “Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben” from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion rounds off the episode.

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.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available and further bonus content including interviews and livestreams is planned for the upcoming season.

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

Art Song, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Margaret Price, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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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)

Art Song, Giuseppe Verdi, Lieder, Margaret Price, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Schubert, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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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.