Tag Archives: Emily Dickinson

Episode 310. Giving Thanks with Roberta Alexander

November 26, 2024African American Singers, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Holiday Music, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Aaron Copland, Adam Gatehouse, Candide, Edo de Waart, Emily Dickinson, Hermann Hesse, John Patrick Creagh, Joseph von Eichendorff, Leonard Bernstein, Mass, Peter Pan, Richard Strauss, Roberta Alexander, Roger VIgnoles, Samuel Barber, Stephen Schwartz, Tan Cronecountermelody

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If you, like many of us, are struggling to find things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, I have put together an episode featuring a national (and international) treasure, the exquisite soprano Roberta Alexander. In fact, I could just as easily have entitled this episode “Giving Thanks FOR Roberta Alexander.” Roberta has been featured many times on the podcast and I’m thrilled to bring her to you yet again in a refurbished bonus episode from the summer of 2023. Three works are foregrounded: first is Samuel Barber’s dramatic scena Andromache’s Farewell, which was composed for Martina Arroyo for the inaugural season of the New York Philharmonic at its new home at Lincoln Center. The recording featuring Roberta and conductor Edo de Waart is from the year 1993. There follows a complete performance (one of the finest in my experience) of Aaron Copland’s song cycle Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, his most extended solo vocal work, heard in a 1990 recording with British pianist Roger Vignoles. And finally, the crowning jewel: a live performance of Roberta Alexander in her youthful prime singing Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs. To my ear, this represents the perfect meeting of composer and artist, a near-ideal rendition of these songs, and one which is not readily available anywhere else on the interwebs. This episode is further interspersed with jewels from Roberta’s 1985 recording of songs by Leonard Bernstein, all of which are exquisitely (as well as sometimes painfully) appropriate at this moment in the history of the United States and provide us with food for thought as we observe with solemnity this iconic holiday.

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 257. The Marvelous Marvis Martin

April 9, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAaron Copland, Carlo Sigismondo Capece, Charles Mackerras, Die tote Stadt, DuBose Heyward, Edward H.S. Boatner, Elijah, Emily Dickinson, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Eve Queler, Felix Dahn, Felix Mendelssohn, Gary Ledet, George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Gianbattista Varesco, Gustave Charpentier, Henry Lewis, Idomeneo, Ira Gershwin, Jahja Ling, James Agee, James Levine, James Paul, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Jeffrey Kahane, Jerry Hadley, Joseph-Marie Canteloube, Julius Korngold, Kees Bakkels, Leontyne Price, Libor Pešek, Ludovico Ariosti, Marvis Martin, Messiah, Ned Rorem, Opera Orchestra of New York, Orlando (Handel), Porgy and Bess, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Samuel Barber, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I have been juggling a number of brand new episode ideas for the coming weeks, but when I discovered that Sunday April 7 was the birthday of Marvis Martin, one of my favorite sopranos, I put all those ideas on the back burner and eagerly put together this birthday tribute to a singer who not only is celebrated as possessing one of the most beautiful voices of her generation, but who has also had a long, successful, and unconventional career. For whatever arbitrary reason, Marvis Martin made only a handful of major label recording releases, but, for us lucky persons who live in the age of YouTube, there are a growing number of gorgeous live recordings available that feature this artist in her prime. In some ways she reminds me of Veronica Tyler, whose career I charted in a popular episode of the podcast a few months ago. In the case of the highly respected and frankly marvelous Marvis Martin, we are able to personally present her with the flowers that she so richly deserves. I have curated a wonderful setlist today of mostly live material that includes representative selections from each of the platforms on which her career was focused: opera, concert, and recital, everything from Mozart and Handel to Copland, Rorem, and Barber; from selections from Porgy and spirituals, to Tchaikovsky, Strauss, and Korngold. My dear friend Jerry Hadley appears as a duet partner in a rare live Idomeneo performance and conductors Georg Solti, Henry Lewis, Vladimir Ashkenazy, James Levine, Charles Mackerras, Eve Queler, and Libor Pešek, among others, support this magnificent singer from the podium.

Episode 204. Roberta Alexander Sings America

July 4, 2023African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century OperaAaron Copland, Alec Wilder, Alfred Heller, Brian Masuda, Charles Ives, David Triestram, Du Bose Heyward, Edo de Waart, Emily Dickinson, Eric Stern, Florence Price, Gary Miller, George Gershwin, George Meredith, Girl Crazy, Harry T. Burleigh, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, James Agee, James Joyce, Jerry Bock, Jerry Hadley, John Avery Lomax, John Greenleaf Whittier, John Jacob Niles, Kees Bakels, Larry Moore, Leonard Bernstein, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Old American Songs, Porgy and Bess, Reinbert de Leeuw, Roberta Alexander, Roger VIgnoles, Samuel Barber, Sheldon Harnick, Spirituals, Stephen Sondheim, Tan Crone, Thomas Hampson, Tom Lehrercountermelody

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Posting a few days early in celebration of the Fourth of July and in further recognition of the beloved American soprano Roberta Alexander, whose birthday we celebrated on Countermelody last March. Ms. Alexander has made a number of exquisite recordings over the years, many of them for the small Dutch label Etcetera. Many of these releases feature songs by the greatest American composers: Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Samuel Barber, as well as two releases featuring light classical and Broadway songs. The recordings range in date from 1976 (a live performance of Ives at the Holland Festival, in honor of the American Bicentennial) through 2009 (a live performance of Roberta as Maria in Porgy and Bess conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt). We also hear material by Berlin, Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, Alec Wilder, Bock and Harnick, John Jacob Niles, and Tom Lehrer, accompanied by pianists Reinbert de Leeuw, Roger Vignoles, Alfred Heller, Brian Masuda, Tan Crone, and David Triestram and conductors Kees Bakels and Edo de Waart. Throughout, Roberta Alexander’s approach to this material is perfectly on target, revealing both pathos and a crackling sense of (often sardonic) humor, all grounded in a love of the music of her native country and wrapped in a red, white, and blue bow.

Episode 154. Adele Addison @ 97

July 22, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersA.E. Housman, Aaron Copland, Adele Addison, Albert da Costa, Andre Previn, Arthur Rimbaud, Benjamin Lees, Brooks Smith, Canterbury Tales, Celius Dougherty, Charles Munch, Claude Debussy, Dawn Upshaw, DuBose Heyward, Earl Kim, Emily Dickinson, Francis Poulenc, Frederic Waldman, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Bernstein, Lester Trimble, Lukas Foss, Milton Katims, Paul Verlaine, Porgy and Bess, Povla Frijsh, Robert Conant, Robert McFerrin, Robert Shaw, Samuel Beckett, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Walt Whitman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This Sunday, 24 July 2022, the great African American lyric soprano Adele Addison observes her 97th birthday. This Countermelody tribute presents this great artist in live and studio recordings during the glory years of her career, including performances conducted by three of her most important conductor collaborators, Robert Shaw, Charles Munch, and Leonard Bernstein. Addison might be best remembered today as providing the ghost voice for Dorothy Dandridge in Otto Preminger’s controversial 1959 film of Porgy and Bess, but her greatest artistic achievement undoubtedly centers on her concert and recital work. Among countless world premieres in which she participated, the most significant was probably the Gloria of Francis Poulenc, first heard in Boston in January 1961. Other contemporary composers represented in this episode are Aaron Copland, Lester Trimble, Lukas Foss, and Benjamin Lees; Addison’s exceptional performances of Handel, Bach, Mozart, and Debussy are also featured. Vocal guest stars include Robert McFerrin, with whom she duets in an excerpt from Porgy; the eminent recitalist Povla Frijsh, who was her voice teacher and coach; and Dawn Upshaw, probably her most renowned student. Please join me in celebrating the long life and legacy of this exceptional artist and teacher.

Episode 129. Leontyne Price in Concert (Black History Month 2022)

February 11, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, BHM2023WK2, Black History Month, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAda Negri, Adolf Friedrich von Schack, Armand Silvestre, Charles Baudelaire, Claude Debussy, Clemens Brentano, David Garvey, Du Bose Heyward, Eduard Mörike, Emily Dickinson, Francis Poulenc, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Rückert, Gabriel Faure, George Gershwin, Hector Berlioz, Hermit Songs (Barber), Howard Swanson, Hugo Wolf, Igor Stravinsky, Ira Gershwin, James Agee, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John La Montaine, Knoxville Summer of 1915, Langston Hughes, Lee Hoiby, Leontyne Price, Les nuits d’été, Lev Mei, Ludwig Rellstab, Margaret Bonds, Matthäus von Collin, Ottorino Respighi, Paul Éluard, Porgy and Bess, Richard Dehmel, Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann, Samuel Barber, Serge Rachmaninov, Spirituals, Théophile Gautier, Victor Hugocountermelody

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The great Leontyne Price, soprano par excellence and beacon to a world that desperately needed (and still needs) her, turned 95 this week. In celebration of her birthday, I chose to offer a less well-known and celebrated aspect of her artistry: Leontyne Price as an interpreter of art song, mélodie, and Lieder. The selections, both live and studio recordings, range over the course of her more than 40-year career, and include selections by Howard Swanson, as well as Samuel Barber and Lee Hoiby, both of whom crafted music with her specific voice in mind. Also included are melodies by Francis Poulenc, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, and Claude Debussy; art songs by Respighi and Rachmaninov; Lieder by Wolf, Schubert, Schumann, and Richard Strauss; followed by a pair of spirituals arranged by Margaret Bonds. And, because this is Leontyne Price singing in concert, we must conclude, as she always did, with a performance of “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. I also relate several brief stories which relate how I, in my youth, fell under the power of the voice of Leontyne Price. Fond birthday greetings to this extraordinary artist and woman! Long Live the Queen!