Tag Archives: Cathy Berberian

Episode 124. Dave’s Picks

January 14, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Comic Relief, Giacomo Puccini, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAlban Berg, Alfred Drake, Anneliese Rothenberger, Arnold Schoenberg, Arthur Winograd, Bette Midler, Beverly Wolff, Birgit Nilsson, Bobby Freeman, Burt Bacharach, Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, Carolyn Leigh, Cathy Berberian, Claude Debussy, Colette, Colin Davis, Cy Coleman, David Crosby, David Savran, Don Giovanni, Dusty Springfield, Eddie Fisher, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Erich Kleiber, Erwin Wohlfahrt, Eugene Ormandy, Fiddler on the Roof, First Choice, Franco Corelli, Françoise Ogéas, Frank Zappa, Friedrich Rückert, George Forrest, George Gershwin, George Schick, George Shirley, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Hal David, Harve Presnell, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Il Trovatore, Ira Gershwin, Jane Berbié, Janis Ian, Jefferson Airplane, Jerry Bock, Joni Mitchell, Judith Raskin, Julia Migenes, Kismet, L’enfant et les sortilèges, Le nozze di Figaro, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Leopold Ludwig, Lisa Della Casa, Little Me (Coleman and Leigh), Lorin Maazel, Luciano Berio, Lulu (Berg), Maria Callas, Maurice Maeterlinck, Maurice Ravel, Montserrat Caballé, Nina Hagen, Norma, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Burkhard, Pelleas et Melisande, Pierre Boulez, Porgy and Bess, Richard Rodgers, Rita Tritter, Robert Craft, Robert Wright, Sammy Davis Jr., Sandy Denny, Sheldon Harnick, South Pacific, Stevie Wonder, The Byrds, The Mothers of Invention, The Supremes, Tim Buckley, Trouble in Tahiti, Tullio Serafin, Turandot, Vincenzo Bellini, Wladimiro Ganzarolli, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yvonne Mintoncountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:46:28 — 123.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Today’s special episode is in honor of my best friend, partner-in-crime and Corona-lockdown buddy, the distinguished theater scholar and author David Savran, who this week once again celebrated another journey around the sun. I invited him to be the first guest in a new series I will be presenting on Countermelody featuring colleagues and friends speaking about the music (and the singers!) that have most deeply affected and inspired them. Perhaps it’s not surprising that in the nearly two decades that we have known each other, that David’s taste in music and singers often falls neatly in step with mine. But there are many other musical paths and byways that he has explored that have taken him in quite different directions. Our spirited dialogue is punctuated by music that spoke to him most deeply in the first 25 years of his life. We hear samples of everything and everyone from Sammy Davis, Jr. to Grace Slick, from Cathy Berberian to Joni Mitchell, from Lisa della Casa to Nina Hagen, from Alfred Drake to Frank Zappa. The episode also constitutes a fascinating exploration of the role that memory and nostalgia play in the creation of musical tastes and preferences. Happy Birthday, Davey, and thanks for being my guest!

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 121. Auld Acquaintance I

December 23, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Eileen Farrell, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Holiday Music, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Renata Scotto, Richard Wagner, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, VerismoAlban Berg, Alexander Pushkin, Allen Rogers, Antoinette Vischer, Antonio Rubino, Barry McDaniel, Benjamin Britten, Bernard Kruysen, Bo Bergman, Borislav Bezala, Camilla Williams, Carlo Alberto Rossi, Cathy Berberian, César Cui, Christmas songs, Claudio Arrau, Claudio Monteverdi, David Garvey, Dusty Springfield, e.e. cummings, Eileen Farrell, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Elza van der Ven, Ernesto Lecuona, Eugene Ormandy, Gabriel Faure, Gabriele d’Annunzio, Georg Friedrich Daumer, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Shirley, Gianfranco Rivoli, Gilbert Bécaud, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gloria Davy, Heather Harper, Huguette Dreyfus, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Janet Baker, Jean Lamy, Jennie Tourel, Johann Christian Bach, John Raitt, Jonas Kulka, Jorma Hynninen, Josef Ulsamer, Julia Migenes, Karl Weigl, L’amico Fritz, Lawrence Winters, Leone Magiera, Leslie Scott, Lionel Hampton, Loonis McGlohon, Luciano Berio, Luciano Pavarotti, Manny Curtis, Margaret Marshall, Mirella Freni, Nicola Daspuro, Nicolae Herlea, Odetta, Ottorino Respighi, Pagliacci, Paolo Tosti, Peter Altenberg, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Delanoë, Pietro Mascagni, Pino Calvi, Renata Scotto, Richard Wagner, Robert McFerrin, Robert Stolz, Rosanna Carteri, Rudolf Ewerhart, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Scott Walter, Shirley Verrett, Spirituals, Stig Westerberg, Sully Prudhomme, Tannhäuser, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Ture Rangström, Walter Calé, Werner Eisbrenner, Xavier Cugat, Yi-Kwei Szecountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:40:27 — 126.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

This special episode, the first of two year-end celebrations, presents artists who have already been featured on Countermelody in rare recordings that have recently become available to me. A few of the artists heard include George Shirley, Heather Harper, Lawrence Winters, Elisabeth Söderström, Camilla Williams, Julia Migenes, John Raitt, Gloria Davy, Rosanna Carteri, Mirella Freni, Robert McFerrin, Margaret Marshall, Yi-Kwei Sze, Eileen Farrell, Shirley Verrett, Cathy Berberian, and many, many others in recordings, most from my personal collection, which you may not have heard before. This is a gift of love and gratitude from me to my listeners and supporters, a backward glance at all of the great singers who have been heard on the podcast over the past two and a half years, a theme which will continue next week. I look forward to continuing with new topics and new singers as we move into 2022.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:29:10 — 108.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

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.

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 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:25:13 — 97.6MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

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.

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.

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 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:29:46 — 95.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

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.

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.