Tag Archives: Buddy DeSylva

Episode 247. Sarah Pillow Introduces Eileen Farrell (Listeners’ Favorites)

March 5, 2024Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Eileen Farrell, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Richard Wagner, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century OperaAdolph Green, Alec Wilder, André Kostelanetz, Andre Previn, Betty Comden, Buddy DeSylva, Charles Fox, 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, James Agee, Johnny Mercer, Jule Styne, Knoxville Summer of 1915, La forza del destino, Leonard Bernstein, Londonderry Air (Danny Boy), Loonis McGlohon, Lorenz Hart, Luther Henderson, Marc Wagnon, Maurice Ravel, Milton Rogers, Mitchell Parish, My Funny Valentine, Norman Gimble, On the Town, Oscar Hammerstein II, Peer Gynt, Percy Faith, Peter DeRose, Renato Cellini, Richard Rodgers, Richard Wagner, Robert Farnon, Robert Katscher, Samuel Barber, Sarah Pillow, The Consul, The Lamp Is Low, Tony Green, Truman Capote, Victor Herbert, William Engvick, William Lawescountermelody

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My dear friend and colleague soprano Sarah Pillow introduces one of her favorite Countermelody programs, which I repost as the first of this month’s Listeners’ Favorites episodes. Since Sarah is herself an enormously eclectic singer, it’s entirely fitting that she should choose to foreground Eileen Farrell. 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 favorite conductor 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.” 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.

Episode 243. Ethel Ennis (BHM 2024)

February 21, 2024African American Singers, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Broadway, Forgotten Divas, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century MusicAbie Baker, Arthur Herzog Jr., Benny Goodman, Bernard Ighner, Billie Holiday, Billy Taylor, Buddy DeSylva, Dave Wolpe, Eddie Briggs, Ethel Ennis, Frank Churchill, George Duvivier, George Gershwin, Gladys Shelley, Hank Jones, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Jerry Bock, Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Van Heusen, Jimmy Wells, Johnny Burke, Kenny Clarke, Larry Morey, Lew Brown, Lewis Gensler, Lorenz Hart, Mark Russell, Neal Hefti, Oscar Hammerstein II, Osie Johnson, Ray Henderson, Richard Rodgers, Robert Haynes, Ryan Diehl, Sheldon Harnick, Sid Bass, Sid Feller, Slam Stewart, Stef Scaggiari, Walt Namuth, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Today’s “Forgotten Diva” takes us outside of the realm of opera and into the rich musical field of jazz. I have been in musical heaven the past few days as I’ve been savoring the output of the great Ethel Ennis (28 November 1932 – 17 February 2019). In her native Baltimore she was known as the “First Lady of Jazz,” and while this might cause some persons to look askance at such a claim, I can only say that they have not yet sampled the vocal, musical and interpretive majesty that is Ethel Ennis! Because of her superlative gifts, worldwide fame kept nipping at her heels, and yet she had no interest in being “famous.” She just wanted to make music, and that’s exactly what she did, remaining in the city of her birth, where she performed regularly at certain clubs, including one she and her husband Earl Arnett ran in the 1980s called “Ethel’s Place.” She had recording contracts with both Capitol Records and RCA, for whom she released some monumental albums in the 1950s and 1960s, and later in her career, as her artistry become more refined, burnished, and inward-looking, she also recorded a number of spectacular live recordings on small, independent labels. Recordings sampled on this episode cover the musical gamut from the Great American Songbook to quirky non-standards, to contemporary pop. If you hear Ethel Ennis interpret just one song, I predict that you will become an immediate fan for life.

Episode 116. Pop Songs by Lieder Singers

November 19, 2021African American Singers, Behind the Iron Curtain, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Great Baritones, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Singers of Color, Sylvia SassA Little Night Music, Allegro (Rodgers & Hammerstein), Andre Previn, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andrzej Hiolski, Anna Moffo, Anne Sofie von Otter, Anneliese Rothenberger, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Astor Piazzolla, Barbara Hendricks, Brad Mehldau, Brigitte Fassbaender, Broadway, Bryn Terfel, Buddy DeSylva, Claude François, Cole Porter, Consuelo Velazquez, crossover, Dieter Reith, Donald Gramm, Duke Ellington, Eduard Künneke, Elly Ameling, Ennio Morricone, Evelyn Lear, Felicia Weathers, Franz Grothe, Frieder Weissmann, Fritz Wunderlich, George London, Gerard Souzay, Gloria Davy, Grace Bumbry, Guido Masanetz, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, Heikki Sarmanto, Helen Donath, Hermann Prey, J. Fred Coots, Jacques Revaux, Jean-Louis Rassinfosse, Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven, Jerzy Harald, Johnny Green, Joni Mitchell, José Van Dam, Jule Styne, Jürgen Hermann, Karita Mattila, Kim Borg, Klaus Donath, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Lotte Lehmann, Louis van Dijk, Mack Gordon, Maxwell Anderson, Monty Alexander, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Bonneau, Paul Daniel, Peter Cetera, Peter Schreier, Péter Wolf, pop standards, Regine Crespin, Richard Rodgers, Richard Tauber, Robert Katscher, Roberta Alexander, Roland Shaw, Skitch Henderson, South Pacific, Stephen Sondheim, Sylvia Sass, Thomas Stewart, West Side Story, Willi Stech, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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This week I feature nearly a century’s worth of recordings of pop music by singers who also, and in some cases primarily, were great singers of art song. Many of my favorite singers figure into the mix, including Hermann Prey (who was the inspiration for this episode), Grace Bumbry, Helen Donath, Roberta Alexander, Elly Ameling, Peter Schreier, Lotte Lehmann, Gérard Souzay, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bryn Terfel, Richard Tauber, José van Dam, Peter Schreier, Leontyne Price, Donald Gramm, and many, many others. They perform everything from Broadway standards to jazz to Deutsche Schlager to tangos to the Great American Songbook to 80s power ballads. This episode was such a joy to put together and I hope that you will enjoy this cornucopia of vocal and interpretive bounty.