Tag Archives: Carlo Maria Giulini

Episode 307. Francisco Araiza in Song

November 16, 2024Art Song, Crossover, Great Tenors, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAdolf Friedrich von Schalk, Agustín Lara, Alfonso del Rio, Blas Galindo, Carlo Maria Giulini, Consuelo Velazquez, Daniel García Blanco, Das Lied von der Erde, Dichterliebe, Die schöne Müllerin, Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Francisco Araiza, Franz Schubert, Franz von Schober, Gabriel Faure, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Heine, Irwin Gage, Jean Lemaire, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Karl Gottfried von Leitner, Luis Gonzaga Urbina, Manuel de Falla, Manuel Ponce, Maurice Ravel, Otto Julius Bierbaum, Paul Morand, Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann, Roberto Abbado, Romain Bussine, Ruben M. Campos, Siete canciones populares españolas, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreisecountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:40:22 — 123.0MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

In the first year of Countermelody I posted a tribute to to the Mexican tenor Francisco Araiza on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Four years later, that great artist is still with us, and, today, in continuation of my miniseries on Great Mexican Singers, I present a refurbished and expanded bonus episode that I first published three years ago featuring Araiza in art song. A number of live performances are interspersed amongst excerpts from two rare LPs from the mid-1980s: one, accompanied by Irwin Gage, of some rare Schubert Lieder; and the other, accompanied by Jean Lemaire, of French, Spanish, and Mexican art songs. These performances reveal a voice of great beauty supported by a solid technique which provides for seamless legato singing. Add to this near-perfect German diction and an often-probing textual acuity as well as profound musicality and one has all the ingredients that make up an exceptional intepreter of art song. Highlights include a live recording with Carlo Maria Giulini of an excerpt from Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde; the extended Schubert Lied “Viola;” and three Mexican art songs by Blas Galindo and Manuel Ponce; as well as two bracing excerpts from Araiza’s 1986 album of popular Mexican 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 235. Anna Tonna Introduces Teresa Berganza (Listeners’ Favorites VI)

January 17, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlexander Gibson, Alfonso X El Sabio, Ataúlfo Argenta, Benito Lauret, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carmen (Bizet), Cosi fan tutte, El Puñao de Rosas, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Ettore Gracis, Federico Moreno Torroba, Felix Lavilla, Franco Bonisolli, Frauenliebe und -leben, Frederic Mompou, Gabriel Bacquier, Georg Solti, Georges Bizet, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Hans Rosbaud, István Kertész, Joaquín Turina, José Serrano, La Cenerentola, La Chulapona, La Clemenza di Tito, Las Hijas del Zebedeo, Le nozze di Figaro, Lola Rodríguez Aragón, Lorenzo da Ponte, Los Claveles, Luis Antonio García Navarro, Manuel de Falla, Maria Callas, Medea (Cherubini), Mirella Freni, Nicola Rescigno, Pilar Lorengar, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Ricardo Requejo, Robert Schumann, Ruperto Chapí, Siete canciones populares españolas, Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), Teresa Berganza, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zarzuelacountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13:56 — 83.6MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Today’s Listeners’ Favorites episode of Countermelody is introduced by my good friend (and Countermelody fan) the marvelous mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna. In her introduction Anna tells about her first exposure to the podcast and introduces us to one of her favorite episodes: the one I published in May 2022 a week after the beloved singer died at the age of 89. The episode pays tribute to her artistry through the exploration of her operatic roles, from Neris in Medea opposite Maria Callas, through her matchless Mozart and Rossini portrayals, through her fascinating and highly individualized portrait of the title heroine of Bizet’s Carmen. Special emphasis is given to her performance of Spanish music, from the zarzuelas of Ruperto Chapí and Federico Moreno Torroba, to art songs of Manuel de Falla and Fredric Mompou. Vocal guest stars include Mirella Freni, Pilar Lorengar, Lola Rodríguez Aragón, Franco Bonisolli, and the incendiary Callas herself, an early mentor and supporter of Berganza. I began the preparation for this episode with an incomplete appreciation of Berganza’s voice and artistry, but, knowing that she was one of Anna’s most treasured singers and role models, my goal was to see her through Anna’s eyes, and in the end, I was completely won over. This episode perfectly illustrates the podcast as a journey of mutual discovery for both me and my listeners.

Episode 221. Robert Massard

November 1, 2023African American Singers, Bel canto, Canadian Singers, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Opera, VerismoAlbert Willemetz, Albert Wolff, Anatole France, André Messager, André Turp, Andréa Guiot, Andrée Esposito, Antonio Somma, Armand Bernard, Camille du Locle, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, Charles Gounod, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Darius Milhaud, Denise Duval, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Édouard Blau, Édouard Lalo, Ernest Reyer, Eugène Diaz, Eugène Scribe, Franc-Nohain, Frédéric Mistral, Gabriel Faure, Gaetano Donizetti, Gaston Hirsch, Georg Solti, George Shirley, Georges Pretre, Georges Sébastian, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Giovanni Verga, Giuseppe Verdi, Guido Menasci, Gustave Flaubert, Hector Berlioz, Henri Grémont, Henri Meilhac, Henry Brougham Farnie, Hérodiade, Iphigénie en Tauride, Jane Rhodes, Jean Giraudeau, Jean Laforge, Jésus Etchéverry, Joseph Peyron, Jules Massenet, Jules Prével, L’heure espagnole, Léopold Marchand, Les Troyens, Louis Beydts, Louis Gallet, Louis Varney, Lucie de Lammermoor, Ludovic Halévy, Mady Mesple, Manuel Rosenthal, Marilyn Horne, Maurice Ravel, Michel Carré, Michel Hamel, Mireille, Nicolas-François Guillard, Nino Falzetti, Patricia Neway, Paul Claudel, Paul Ferrier, Paul Milliet, Philippe Gille, Pierre Dervaux, Pietro Mascagni, Prosper Mérimée, Regine Crespin, René Fauchois, Renée Doria, Reynald Giovaninetti, Rita Gorr, Robert Benedetti, Robert Massard, Robert Planquette, Shirley Verrett, Suzanne Sarroca, Thaïs, Un ballo in maschera, Walter Scottcountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:08 — 99.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

This is an episode I have been planning for years now! This past August 15, the great French baritone Robert Massard turned 98 years old. As many of my listeners know, I have a thing for baritones in general, and I have devoted episodes to artists of the baritone persuasion from world-renowned to virtually unknown to somewhere in-between. Just think of it: Gérard Souzay, Jorma Hynninen, Eugene Holmes, Andrzej Hiolski, Gabriel Bacquier, Will Parker, Gilbert Price: these and many more have already been featured with more (Hugo Hasslo, Eric Sædén) on the horizon for next season. But I would be hard-pressed to think of a baritone who possessed a more beautiful natural voice, a more refined technique, or a more elegant artistry than did Robert Massard, who in his thirty-odd years of career chalked up approximately 2,500 performances, including 1,003 at the Paris Opéra alone (the same number, he himself points out, as Don Giovanni’s conquests)! Massard also sang an incredibly varied (though primarily operatic) repertoire, and this episode presents highlights from both the standard to the more obscure repertoire, from Gluck, Gounod, Verdi, and Massenet; to Reyer, Milhaud, Lalo, and Diaz (who?). These recordings are supplemented by a number of excerpts from French operetta (Planquette, Varney, Messager, and Beydts) which provide unalloyed melodic delight, the Massard voice heard at its absolute peak. And the colleagues who appear opposite Massard are like a Who’s Who of great opera singers (French and otherwise) of the era: Régine Crespin, Mady Mesplé, Denise Duval, Shirley Verrett (subject of next week’s episode!), Andréa Guiot, Jean Giraudeau, André Turp, Marilyn Horne, Renée Doria, Jane Rhodes, Andrée Esposito, Rita Gorr, and the falcon Suzanne Sarroca, who died last month at the age of 96. And if you listen very closely, you will also catch fleeting glimpses of favorites Patricia Neway and George Shirley. I know I say this too often, but if you only listen to one episode of Countermelody, make it this one!

Episode 210. The Mystery of Anita Cerquetti

August 14, 2023Bel canto, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, VerismoAlfredo Catalani, Amilcare Ponchielli, Anita Cerquetti, Arrigo Boito, Arturo Basile, Carl Maria von Weber, Carlo Maria Giulini, Emidio Tieri, Ernani, Ettore Bastianini, Felice Romani, Franco Corelli, Fulvio Vernizzi, Gabriele Santini, Gaspare Spontini, Giacomo Puccini, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giannella Borelli, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, I vespri siciliani, Luigi Cherubini, Luigi Illica, Miriam Pirazzini, Nabucco, Norma, Ottavio Ziino, Un ballo in maschera, Victor Hugo, Victorien Sardou, Vincenzo Bellini, Vittorio Guicountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:05 — 93.4MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Anita Cerquetti (13 April 1931 – 11 October 2014), the subject of today’s episode, possessed a one in a million voice, enormous, but with prodigious flexibility, and of an immediately recognizable timbre and style of text projection. She skyrocketed to world fame when she replaced Maria Callas in the title role of Bellini’s Norma in Rome in January 1958. Before that, the young soprano, still in her twenties, had been steadily building a career, primarily in Italy but also internationally, working in Italy’s biggest houses and music festivals with the greatest maestri and fellow singers of the period (including Ettore Bastianini and Franco Corelli, both of whom are heard on the episode). Immediately after those Rome performances, however, Cerquetti canceled a series of subsequent performances of Bellini’s Il Pirata, and her live performances dwindled thereafter to a mere trickle. In the fall of 1960, not yet thirty years of age, she gave what proved to be the final performance of her career, a recording for Dutch radio of Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco. Cerquetti is considered to be one of the great operatic mysteries of the second half of the twentieth century. She made only two commercial recordings, so the majority of her recorded legacy stems from live and radio performances. In this episode, I share some of my favorites among those recordings, and discuss the personal issues that surrounded Cerquetti’s premature disappearance from the world’s opera stages as well as why her still unmatched accomplishments still captivate listeners to this day.

Episode 152. Patricia Neway

July 8, 2022Art Song, Broadway, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Twentieth Century Music, VerismoA Hand of Bridge (Barber), Arnold Black, Arnold Voketaitis, Carlisle Floyd, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carousel (Rodgers & Hammerstein), Christoph Willibald Gluck, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Dietrich Buxtehude, Franca Duval, Francis Poulenc, Frederick Dvonch, Genia Las, George Bernanos, Gian Carlo Menotti, Iphigénie en Tauride, Israel Citkowitz, Jack Elliott, James Joyce, Jerome Kern, John Gruen, Joseph Machlis, Julius Rudel, Lehman Engel, Maria Golovin (Menotti), Norman Treigle, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Patricia Neway, Peter Herman Adler, Regina Sarfaty, Richard Cross, Richard Rodgers, Robert Colston, Rosemary Kuhlmann, Ruth Kobald, Samuel Barber, The Consul (Menotti), The Sound of Music (Rodgers & Hammerstein), Thomas de Hartmann, Vladimir Golschmanncountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:16:07 — 82.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Today begins a new summer series on Countermelody, celebrating mid-century music-making in New York City between the years 1950 and 1975. We begin with a celebration of Patricia Neway (1919-2012), one of the towering figures of the operatic – and Broadway – stages. Two of her greatest assumptions, in fact, took place on the Broadway stage: Magda Sorel in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Consul, which premiered on Broadway in 1950, and the Mother Abbess in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final stage music, The Sound of Music, for which Neway was awarded the 1960 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Neway combined an unusual voice of startling, sometimes raw, power, with an acting ability rarely seen, especially on the operatic stage. Neway’s range easily encompassed contralto roles as well as dramatic soprano parts. This episode features audio excerpts from rare kinescopes of her performances of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites as Menotti’s Maria Golovin, as well as her galvanizing portrayal of Magda Sorel from a 1960 film. She also displays her stunning musical versatility in music by Buxtehude, Barber, Gluck, and the late Carlisle Floyd, as well as settings by Israel Citkowitz, John Gruen, and Thomas de Hartmann of texts by James Joyce from a rare 1959 recording. In addition, I dispel forever the fake news, all pervasive claims to the contrary, that Patricia Neway and someone named Frances Breeze, an exact contemporary of Neway’s, are one and the same person.

Episode 145. Teresa Berganza In Memoriam

May 20, 2022Art Song, Bel canto, Full-Figured Baroque, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Twentieth Century MusicAlexander Gibson, Alfonso X El Sabio, Ataúlfo Argenta, Benito Lauret, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carmen (Bizet), Cosi fan tutte, El Puñao de Rosas, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Ettore Gracis, Federico Moreno Torroba, Felix Lavilla, Franco Bonisolli, Frauenliebe und -leben, Frederic Mompou, Gabriel Bacquier, Georg Solti, Georges Bizet, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Hans Rosbaud, István Kertész, Joaquín Turina, José Serrano, La Cenerentola, La Chulapona, La Clemenza di Tito, Las Hijas del Zebedeo, Le nozze di Figaro, Lola Rodríguez Aragón, Lorenzo da Ponte, Los Claveles, Luis Antonio García Navarro, Manuel de Falla, Maria Callas, Medea (Cherubini), Mirella Freni, Nicola Rescigno, Pilar Lorengar, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Ricardo Requejo, Robert Schumann, Ruperto Chapí, Siete canciones populares españolas, Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), Teresa Berganza, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zarzuelacountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:25 — 73.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

A week ago today the beloved and revered Spanish mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza, died at the age of 89. This episode pays tribute to her artistry through the exploration of her operatic roles, from Neris in Medea opposite Maria Callas, through her matchless Mozart and Rossini portrayals, through her fascinating and highly individualized portrait of the title heroine of Bizet’s Carmen. Special emphasis is given to her performance of Spanish music, from the zarzuelas of Ruperto Chapí and Federico Moreno Torroba, to art songs of Manuel de Falla and Fredric Mompou. Vocal guest stars include Mirella Freni, Pilar Lorengar, Lola Rodríguez Aragón, Franco Bonisolli, and the incendiary Callas herself, an early mentor and supporter of Berganza. I began the preparation for this episode with an incomplete appreciation of Berganza’s voice and artistry, but she won me over and I am now, even if belatedly, a huge fan.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:02 — 108.7MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

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 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:47:10 — 122.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

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.

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.