Tag Archives: Philip Langridge

Episode 194. Great Mozart Tenors

April 28, 2023African American Singers, Canadian Singers, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Opera in Translation, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Voiceless Wonders, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlex Banfield, Alfredo Kraus, Anton Dermota, Arthur Goldschmidt, Bernard Haitink, Cesare Valletti, Charles Holland, Charles Mackerras, Claude Génetay, Clemens Schmalstich, Cosi fan tutte, David Rendall, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Don Giovanni, Emanuel Schikaneder, Ernst Haefliger, Ferdinand Leitner, Ferenc Fricsay, Francisco Araiza, Fritz Wunderlich, Georg Solti, George Shirley, Gerhard Wimberger, Gösta Winbergh, Guido Cantelli, György Fischer, Hans Müller-Kray, Herbert von Karajan, Hermann Jadlowker, Idomeneo, István Kertész, Jeffrey Tate, Jerry Hadley, John Aler, John Alexander, John McCormack, John van Kesteren, Jörg Ewald Dähler, Josef Dünnwald, Joseph Rosenstock, Julius Rudel, Kálmán Pataky, Karl Alwin, Karl Böhm, Karl Erb, La Clemenza di Tito, La finta giardiniera, Le nozze di Figaro, Leontyne Price, Leopold Simoneau, Lorenzo da Ponte, Luigi Alva, Marcel Wittrisch, Margaret Price, Maria Ivogün, Mitridate, Nicolai Gedda, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Otto Ackermann, Peter Schreier, Philip Langridge, Pietro Metastasio, Pilar Lorengar, Richard Tauber, Roberta Alexander, Ryland Davies, Semyon Bychkov, Stuart Burrows, Waldemar Kmentt, Wiesław Ochman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zaidecountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:08:35 — 133.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Today’s is a mammoth episode, one of my longest ever, so I suggest you listen to it in easily digestible segments. It’s mammoth because it’s a gigantic subject: great Mozart tenors of the 20th century, covering more than 100 years of recorded documents of the finest examples of tenorial interpretations of the big Mozart operas as well as some of his lesser-known works, including his concert arias. You will be dazzled (and that is a promise and a guarantee) by performances by Fritz Wunderlich (for many of us, the ne plus ultra of lyric tenors), George Shirley, Richard Tauber, Anton Dermota, Léopold Simoneau, Nicolai Gedda, Gösta Winbergh, John McCormack, David Rendall, Peter Schreier, and countless others, including lesser-known figures such as John van Kesteren, Kálmán Pataky, and Wiesław Ochman, and duets featuring Pilar Lorengar, Leontyne Price, Roberta Alexander, and Margaret Price. I also feature a peek into the future with a special salute to the young tenor Alex Banfield, whose work has impressed me enormously. The entire episode is dedicated to the memory of my friend Jerry Hadley, one of the supreme Mozart tenors of all time.

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 186. Roberta Alexander in Opera

March 3, 2023African American Singers, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Happy Birthday, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century OperaAdam Gatehouse, Adrian de Peyer, Andrew Davis, Angels in America, Beatrice Cenci (Goldschmidt), Benjamin Luxon, Berthold Goldschmidt, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Dante Alighieri, Der gewaltige Hahnrei (Goldschmidt), Don Giovanni, DuBose Heyward, Edward Downes, Egon Wellesz, Elektra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, ETA Hoffmann, Fernand Crommelynck, Fiona Kimm, Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninov), George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Gerd Albrecht, Giulio Cesare, Gregg Baker, Gwenneth Bean, Hans Aschenbach, Hans Vonk, Hermann Hesse, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ilse Eerens, Ira Gershwin, Jacques Offenbach, James Morris, Jenůfa, Kenneth Montgomery, La Clemenza di Tito, Le nozze di Figaro, Leos Janacek, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lothar Zagrosek, Michael Forest, Michael Schneider, Modest Tchaikovsky, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Paride ed Elena, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Péter Eötvös, Philip Langridge, Porgy and Bess, Renate Behle, Richard Strauss, Robert Wörle, Roberta Alexander, Sergei Rachmaninov, Theodora (Handel), Vier letzte Lieder, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:36:21 — 112.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Today it is with the utmost excitement that I bring you an episode devoted to one of my favorite singers of all time, soprano Roberta Alexander, who celebrates her birthday today, March 3rd! I remember first encountering this radiant voice of burnished silver back when I was in graduate school when I discovered her early recordings of art song, including albums devoted to Charles Ives and Richard Strauss. Over the course of a long and successful career she has sung in all major opera houses around the world and in concert halls under the batons of countless distinguished maestri. What is it that makes this voice so special? Alongside a rock-solid vocal technique that has allowed her to sing well into her seventies, she is also gifted with impeccable musicianship and staggering stylistic versatility. For me it is not only the unusual color of the voice, both shimmering and profound (the chiaroscuro!), but even more so, her dedication to communication through clarity of diction and razor-sharp dramatic precision that sends her into the realm of the all-time greats. This episode focuses on Roberta’s versatility and prowess on the operatic stage, featuring live and studio recordings over more than thirty years of works by composers from Handel, Gluck, and Mozart, through twentieth century masters such as Janácek, Gershwin, and Berthold Goldschmidt. We also hear an excerpt from one of Roberta’s favorites among her recordings, a rare 1982 live performance of Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. Speaking of Lieder, an upcoming episode this spring will focus on our diva on the concert platform. It was my great honor to meet Roberta in person when she was performing in Berlin in 2022 and therefore it is also to her as a friend that I extend my heartiest good wishes for a happy birthday. I had to remind myself not to fan girl as I was recording the narration for this episode, but I’m not sure I succeeded!

Episode 174. Song of Songs

December 8, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, Canadian Singers, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAntoine Brumel, Benjamin Britten, Bernard Haitink, Bertus van Lier, Chanticleer, Claudio Monteverdi, Daniel Lesur, David Willcocks, Edmund Spenser, Edward Bairstow, Eleanor Steber, Elly Ameling, Emmanuel Chabrier, Eric Ericson, Ernest Ansermet, Ernest MacMillan, Francis Quarles, Gary Schneider, Giovanni Luigi da Palestrina, Herbert Elwell, Howard Mitchell, India Adams, Irene Papas, Jack Gould, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, Jennie Tourel, Jerzy Katlewicz, John Eliot Gardiner, John LaMontaine, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kate Bush, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Lois Marshall, Lukas Foss, Martina Arroyo, New York Polyphony, Nicholas Harsanyi, Peter Pears, Philip Langridge, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ray Martin, Stephen Cleobury, Stephen Roberts, Susan May Schneider, Suzanne Danco, Sviatoslav Richter, Vangelis, Vic Mazzy, William Waltoncountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:21:39 — 97.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

This week is a continuation of my memorial tribute to my dear friend and colleague Susan May Schneider, who died last week after a long struggle with cancer. Susan’s husband Gary, a composer and conductor, wrote a stunning song cycle for Susan using texts from the biblical Song of Songs, and this episode is bookended with their live 2000 performance of two of those songs. I supplement this with further material which all use texts based on the Song of Songs. This includes choral works by composers from Brumel and Palestrina, Walton and Bairstow to Penderecki and Daniel-Lesur; pop songs by India Adams and Kate Bush; orchestral song cycles, cantatas, and oratorios performed by Lois Marshall, Elly Ameling, Jennie Tourel, Leontyne Price, Eleanor Steber, and Suzanne Danco; and works from such surprising compositional sources as Stockhausen and Vangelis.

Episode 107. Norman Bailey and Friends

September 19, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Pop Icons, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century MusicAlan Curtis, Alan Jay Lerner, Alban Berg, Alexander Gibson, Allegro (Rodgers & Hammerstein), Buddy Bregman, Burton Lane, Carlo Gaifa, Carmen Balthrop, Claudio Monteverdi, Cora Johnson, David Atherton, Die Liebe der Danae, Eduard Mörike, Friedrich Rückert, Geoffrey Parsons, Georges Pretre, Giuseppe Verdi, Jane Powell, Jeanette MacDonald, Johannes Brahms, John Constable, John DeMain, José Cáceres, Joseph Gregor, King Priam (Tippett), Kristine Ciesinski, L’incoronazione di Poppea, La sonnambula, La Traviata, Lulu (Berg), Maria Callas, Michael Tippett, Norman Bailey, Olivier Messiaen, Oscar Hammerstein II, Peter Warlock, Philip Langridge, Pink Martini, Reginald Goodall, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, Royal Wedding, Scott Joplin, Thomas Lauderdale, Treemonisha, Vier ernste Gesänge, Vincenzo Bellinicountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:59 — 109.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Death has had a busy month in the music world, especially this past week, when we lost the great British Heldenbariton Norman Bailey and the delectable Hollywood star Jane Powell. This past week was also the memorial service for the soprano Carmen Balthrop, who died of pancreatic cancer on September 5. My original intent was to devote the episode to Norman Bailey, but when Jane (with whom I had a personal relationship, having been her late husband Dick Moore’s personal assistant from 2009-2012) also died, I realized I had to do an omnibus episode of sorts. I begin with several selections each from both of the recently departed divas and then plunge headlong into an appreciation of the voice, technique and artistry of the great Norman Bailey, featuring him in opera excerpts not just by Wagner, in whose music he excelled, but also by Verdi, Richard Strauss, and Michael Tippett. He is also featured in recordings from the 1970s of songs by Schumann, Brahms, Hugo Wolf, and Peter Warlock. The episode concludes with a tribute to Maria Callas on the 44th anniversary of her death on September 16, 1977.

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.