Tag Archives: Susan Dunn

Episode 296. Dan’s Operatic Picks

October 8, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Claudia Muzio, Crossover, Eileen Farrell, Forgotten Divas, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, VerismoAdriana Lecouvreur, Aksel Schiotz, Alec Wilder, Alfred Bachelet, Alfredo Catalani, Alfredo Simonetti, Andrea Chénier, Andrée Esposito, Angela Lansbury, Antonino Votto, Carl Nielsen, Cesare Siepi, Chanson perpétuelle (Chausson), Charles Cros, Charles Gounod, Christian Morgenstern, Claudio Muzio, Daniel Beckwith, Daniel Gundlach, Don Carlo, Donald Pippin, Edith Mason, Eileen Farrell, Eleanor Steber, Elly Ameling, Ernest Chausson, Ettore Bastianini, Francesco Cilea, Franco Corelli, Franco Ferraris, Franz Lehár, Friedrich Schiller, Georg Solti, Georges Thill, Germaine Féraldy, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Giorgio Giorgetti, Giuseppe Verdi, Helmut Winschermann, Hermann Weigert, Hugo Hasslo, I Puritani, I vespri siciliani, Ian Partridge, Il barbiere di Siviglia, István Kertész, Jacques Offenbach, Jacques Prévert, James Quillian, Jean Morel, Jennifer Partridge, Jerry Herman, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jorma Hynninen, Joseph Kosma, Joseph-Étienne Szyfer, Jules Barbier, Jussi Bjorling, La Belle Helene, La Wally (Catalani), Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Loonis McGlohon, Lotte Lehmann, Lucia Popp, Madama Butterfly, Magda Olivero, Manon Lescaut, Maria Vitale, Mario Rossi, Nathaniel Shilkret, Nils Grevillius, Pierre Barbizet, Ralf Gothoni, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Stracciari, Richard Crooks, Roméo et Juliette, Sándor Kónya, Sigmund Romberg, Susan Dunn, Svend Christian Felumb, The Desert Song (Romberg), Umberto Giordano, Victorien Sardou, Vincenzo Bellini, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yrjö Kilpinencountermelody

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I’m still under the weather, but I can’t let that keep me from posting my usual Tuesday episode! Here is another recycled bonus episode, this one posted two years ago in honor of my birthday, which features some of my favorite singers. At that time I posted a brand new episode entitled “Dan’s Picks,” but many of the best selections ended up on the cutting room floor. That hurt my heart so much that I had no choice but to do a companion episode which features a number of things that were lacking from the main episode: first of all, more tenor goodness (Aksel Schiøtz, Franco Corelli, Sándor Kónya, Jussi Björling, Richard Crooks, Ian Partridge); second of all, more burly baritones (Jorma Hynninen, Ettore Bastianini, Riccardo Stracciari, and the lesser-known megawatt talent Hugo Hasslo). Also heard are a number of sopranos that have not received enough Countermelody airtime (Edith Mason, Maria Vitale, Andrée Esposito, Lucia Popp), as well as a number of favorites that we (I?) simply can’t get enough of: Muzio, Lehmann, Olivero, Farrell, Steber. I even set aside modesty to include a brief clip of me from a demo I recorded some time ago, back when I could still sing! Every selection in this episode is very dear to my heart; I hope you will enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Episode 229. Happy Birthday, John Wustman

December 25, 2023Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Canadian Singers, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAleksey Tolstoy, Alessandro Scarlatti, Arseniy Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Birgit Nilsson, Carl Loewe, Carlo Bergonzi, Carlo Pepoli, Donald Bell, Eduard Mörike, Edvard Grieg, Fiançailles pour rire, Francesco Petrarca, Francis Poulenc, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt, Georg Friedrich Daumer, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Bononcini, Gwyneth Jones, Heinrich Hart, Hugo Wolf, Irina Arkhopova, Italienisches Liederbuch, Johann Mayrhofer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, John Henry McKay, John Wustman, Joseph von Eichendorff, Le nozze di Figaro, Lorenzo da Ponte, Louise de Vilmorin, Luciano Pavarotti, Mildred Miller, Modest Mussorgsky, Nicolai Gedda, Nordahl Rolfsen, Norman Mackenzie, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Regine Crespin, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Richard Tucker, Robert Shaw, Songs and Dances of Death, Susan Dunn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today, Christmas Day 2023, is also the 93rd birthday of my teacher, the great John Wustman. I can think of no better way to conclude Season Four of Countermelody than with a tribute to the man who had the greatest influence on my development as a musician. He’s probably best-known for his work with Luciano Pavarotti and as the accompanist in more than thirty Music Minus One LPs from the early 1960s, as well as for his pioneering teaching of scores of accompanists. He has been called “the dean of American accompanists” and many other things, but to me he is and remains primarily my dear friend and mentor. From the late 1950s through the 1980s and beyond, he appeared with nearly all of the greatest singers on the planet, from Richard Tucker, William Warfield, Eleanor Steber, and Jennie Tourel; to Birgit Nilsson, Carlo Bergonzi, Régine Crespin, Nicolai Gedda, and Renata Scotto. He and Russian mezzo-soprano Irina Arkhipova won the 1973 Gran Prix du Disque for their legendary (and matchless) recording of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, only one of his many commercial recordings. I have been searching the internet for sound documents of his many live recordings and I’m pleased to say that I have found some rare ones to complement my reminiscences of studying with him in the late 1980s. He wrote to me just this past week that he is currently preparing another live performance of Schubert’s Winterreise in early 2024. I am so thrilled to pay tribute to the man who, through his powerful example and influence, forever changed the way I play, sing, talk about, think about, and hear music.

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 66. Christmas (Art) Songs

December 20, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Eileen Farrell, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Richard StraussAlexander Sander, Bernard Kruysen, Bernarda Fink, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Carl Loewe, Charles Bressler, Charles Ives, Claude Debussy, Claudio Muzio, Dalton Baldwin, Denise Duval, Edvard Grieg, Eileen Farrell, Elizabeth Harwood, Elly Ameling, Engelbert Humperdinck, Erik Werba, Erkki Melartin, Francis Poulenc, Franz Rupp, Gabriel Faure, Genevieve Touraine, George Trovillo, Gerard Souzay, Gilbert Kalish, Hansjörg Albrecht, Helmut Deutsch, Hermann Prey, Hugo Wolf, Ian Partridge, Igor Gorin, Irmgard Seefried, Jan DeGaetani, Jennifer Partridge, Joaquín Nin, Joaquin Rodrigo, Johannes Brahms, John McCabe, John Wustman, Jorma Hynninen, Joseph Canteloube, Joseph Haas, Julius Severin, Karl Erb, Kathleen Ferrier, Leonard Hokanson, Lilli Paasikivi, Lorenzo Molajoli, Marian Anderson, Marianne Hirsti, Marilyn Horne, Marni Nixon, Maurice Emmanuel, Maurice Ravel, Max Gilbert, Noël Lee, Norman Del Mar, Norman Shetler, Olaf Bär, Paul Hindemith, Peter Cornelius, Peter Schreier, Peter Warlock, Phyllis Spurr, Ralf Gothoni, Regine Crespin, Richard Trunk, Roger VIgnoles, Rosario Bourdon, Rudolf Jansen, Ruth-Margret Pütz, Susan Dunn, Ulf Söderblom, Willem Pijper, William Primrose, Wolfgang Anheissercountermelody

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In preparation for the upcoming holiday, this week I offer a cross-section of art songs and arrangements of folk songs, not only from Germany, which is the epicenter of the Christmas Lied, but also France, Norway, the United States, Finland, England, and Spain The performers, recorded between 1927 and 2010, include Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Régine Crespin, Hermann Prey, Claudia Muzio, Elly Ameling, Marian Anderson, Ian Partridge, Karl Erb, Wolfgang Anheisser, Jan DeGaetani, Jorma Hynninen, Bernarda Fink, Olaf Bär, Susan Dunn, Kathleen Ferrier, and Bernard Kruysen, among many others, in songs by composers including, in part, Johannes Brahms, Joaquín Nin, Hugo Wolf, Peter Warlock, Claude Debussy, Charles Ives, and Paul Hindemith. The episode features several performances by my teacher, the esteemed accompanist John Wustman, who on Christmas Day celebrates his 90th birthday.

Links to my 2019 Christmas episodes:

Episode 13: Christmas with the Tenors (including everyone from Fritz Wunderlich to Georges Thill to Roland Hayes): www:countermelodypodcast.com/episode-13-christmas-with-the-tenors

Episode 14: Christmas Potpourri (including my choices for the six most depressing pop Christmas songs ever!): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-14-christmas-potpourri-ii-hard-try

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, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.