Tag Archives: Sviatoslav Richter

Episode 372. Pears Sings Not-Britten (Pride 2025)

June 30, 2025Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Queer Pride, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAaron Copland, Acis and Galatea, Adrian Boult, Alan Bush, Alfreda Hodgson, Anon In Love, Arda Mandikian, Arne Nordheim, Arthur C. Clarke, Auferstehungs-Historie, August von Schlegel, Benjamin Britten, Bernard Van Dieren, Charles Mackerras, Charles Spinks, Christopher Hassall, Claude Debussy, David Bedford, Dennis Brain, Eric Crozier, Ezra Pound, François Couperin, Franz Schubert, George Malcolm, Gré Brouwenstijn, Gustav Holst, Harry Blech, Heinrich Schütz, Ian Partridge, Igor Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau, Jean-François Chabrun, Jephtha, Joan Sutherland, Johann Andreas Schachtner, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Dowland, John Shirley-Quirk, Juliam Bream, Karl Richter, Lennox Berkeley, Ludwig Rellstab, Ludwig Tieck, Mahābhārata, Malcolm Sargent, Martha Mödl, Mátyás Seiber, Michael Tippett, Murray Perahia, Noel Mewton-Wood, Nona Liddell, Old American Songs, Paroles tissées, Paul Verlaine, Peter Pears, Richard Lewis, Robert Schumann, Roger Norrington, Sāvitri, Steuart Bedford, Sviatoslav Richter, Sydney Keyes, Tentacles of the Dark Nebula, Terence Weil, The Heart’s Assurance, Thomas Campion, Thomas Morell, Troilus and Cressida, Viola Tunnard, Voices of the Prophets, William Blake, William Busch, William Walton, Witold Lutosławski, Zaidecountermelody

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Today may be my final episode for Pride Month 2025, but it is most certainly not my final episode celebrating and affirming Pride and all our glorious forebears who preceded us! Today’s episode is a belated birthday tribute to British tenor Peter Pears (22 June 1910 – 03 April 1986), most celebrated for his long-standing romantic and musical partnership with Benjamin Britten. However, as with my recent episode celebrating the artistry of Pierre Bernac apart from his performances of the music of Francis Poulenc, in today’s episode, there is not a note of Britten’s music to be heard. There is no question that Britten was a formative figure in Pears’ artistic development, but throughout their lives together, he performed a wide range of music, from Pérotin to Lutosławski as an independent and enormously versatile artist. In this episode, I offer selections by Webern, Handel, Copland, Couperin, Stravinsky, Dowland, Tippett, Mozart, Holst, Bach, Copland, Berkeley, Schubert, Walton, Schütz, Debussy, Handel, Nordheim, Schumann, and David Bedford, among others, to offer a surprising portrait of this fascinating singer. Even if you have not (yet) acquired a taste for this (sometimes) controversial singer, I urge you to give it a listen, for not only does it present Pears in all his varieties, it also highlights his musical partnerships with Joan Sutherland, Sviatoslav Richter, Murray Perahia, Dennis Brain, Viola Tunnard, George Malcolm, Martha Mödl, Gré Brouwenstijn, Imogen Holst, and Noel Mewton-Wood (as well as a few clips with with his life-partner Britten at the piano).

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 or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 223. Chouxbert vs. Shubertsky (Schubert in French and Russian)

November 14, 2023Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Orchestral Songs, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Voiceless WondersAbram Makarov, Antoine Bélanger, Boris Gmyrya, Camille Maurane, Charles Panzéra, Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, Claude Pascal, David Lerner, Die schöne Müllerin, Eugene Goossens, Feodor Chaliapin, Flore Wend, Franz Schubert, Georges Thill, Germaine Martinelli, Gustave Samazeuilh, Henri-Bertrand Etcheverry, Ivan Kozlovsky, Jean Doyen, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Lev Ostrin, Lev Sibiriakov, Lily Bienvenu, Ludwig Rellstab, Madeleine d’Aleman, Mark Reizen, Matvei Sakharov, Maurice Chassang, Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya, Naum Walter, Nina Dorliak, Ninon Vallin, Pavel Lisitsian, Piero Coppola, Piotr Nikitin, Raoul Barthalay, Samuil Samosud, Sergei Lemeshev, Sergey Gorchakov, Sviatoslav Richter, Vanni-Marcoux, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreisecountermelody

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A few weeks ago I finally found a copy of a rare recording by one of my favorite singers, the baryton martin Camille Maurane (1911 – 2010) in which he sings Schubert songs in French. Inspired and fascinated by this record, I began exploring recordings of other native French-language singers (including Ninon Vallin, Charles Panzéra, Georges Thill, Vanni-Marcoux, and Germaine Martinelli) singing the melodies of my favorite composers. Further on, I stumbled across a similarly wide variety of Russian-speaking singers (including Ivan Kozlovsky, Mark Reizen, Pavel Lisitsian, Sergei Lemeshev, Nina Dorliak, and Feodor Chaliapin) also putting their individual stamp on the songs of Schubert in their native tongue. Along the way, we also discuss certain quintessential vocal types in both the French (the baryton martin, the falcon) and Russian (the lyric tenor, the “slavic” soprano and bass) national styles. This episode, far from being a mere “gimmick” allows us also to examine the joys of old-fashioned art song performance, and how all these characteristics combine to provide a new perspective on the music of one of the greatest German-language composers.

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 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

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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.

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.