Tag Archives: The Magic Flute

Episode 102. John Reardon

August 15, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century MusicAdolph Green, Alban Berg, Alexander Young, Arrigo Boito, Arthur Siegel, Betty Comden, Bliss Hebert, Candide, Chester Biscardi, Chester Kallman, Christoph von Dohnányi, Denis Deal, Douglass Cross, Edvard Grieg, Evelyn Lear, Franz Allers, Franz Lehár, Fred Rogers, George Cory, George Forrest, Gian Carlo Menotti, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Helena Scott, Henry Butler, Herbert Grossman, Igor Stravinsky, Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Jo Sullivan Lehman Engel, John Koch, John Reardon, Jorge Mester, Judith Raskin, Jule Styne, June Carroll, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Lisa Della Casa, Marie Collier, Marvin David Levy, NBC Opera, New Faces of 1956, Newell Jenkins, Nicholas Flagello, On the Town, Oscar Hammerstein II, Peter Herman Adler, Ragnar Ulfung, Richard Owen, Robert Craft, Robert Oliver, Robert Wright, Samuel Krachmalnick, Sarah Caldwell, Song of Norway, Stephen Crane, The Flood, The Magic Flute, The Merry Widow, The Rake’s Progress, The Saint of Bleecker Street, W.H. Auden, Walter de la Mare, William Blake, William Orvis, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Here’s another great baritone to help get us through another week: the extraordinarily versatile and talented John Reardon (1930-1988). Possessed of a voice of extraordinary beauty and flexibility, as well as deeply intuitive interpretive powers and a profound musicality and dramatic sensibility, he had everything it took to make his mark in the fields of musicals, operetta, and opera (the latter in both standard, and, even more significantly, contemporary repertoire). I have several rare live recordings as well as some uncommon studio recordings to share with my listeners. Guest stars include Leontyne Price, Judith Raskin, Jo Sullivan, Lisa Della Casa, Alexander Young, Ragnar Ulfung, Evelyn Lear, and Bliss Hebert, in a rare outing as a pianist accompanying Reardon in a 1967 recording of American art songs. I also pay homage to his television appearances, both on NBC Opera and, especially, between 1968 and 1986, as the character “Reardon” in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which served to introduce countless multitudes of children to the glories of opera.

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 99. Yi-Kwei Sze (斯義桂)

July 25, 2021Art Song, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicAlexander Tcherepnin, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Brooks Smith, Dichterliebe, Eduard Mörike, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, George van Renesse, Giuseppe Verdi, Heinrich Heine, Hugo Wolf, Italienisches Liederbuch, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, Modest Mussorgsky, Nancy Lee Sze, Robert Freeman, Robert Schumann, Serge Rachmaninov, Songs and Dances of Death, Sunless (song cycle), The Magic Flute, Victor Babin, Vier ernste Gesänge, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yi-Kwei Sze, 斯義桂countermelody

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The Chinese-American bass Yi-Kwei Sze (1915-1994) was the first Chinese singer to achieve worldwide prominence in the world of Western classical music. From his first studies with Vladimir Shushlin at the Shanghai Conservatory, Sze’s sound and artistic soul carried on the great tradition of the Russian basses, including that of Alexander Kipnis, with whom he studied after emigrating to the United States in 1947. This episode captures Sze’s legacy in both his live and (comparatively rare) studio recordings, including operatic arias by Verdi, Mozart and Handel, and songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov. Alongside my tribute to this great artist, I also consider the plight of the Asian musician as eloquently set forth in a riveting article published in The New York Times. Over the course of the past nearly two years since I have been producing the podcast, I consider Yi-Kwei Sze to be one of the greatest artistic discoveries on my own path. A note for my Patreon supporters: a second Yi-Kwei Sze episode is being published today that further explores his recorded legacy.

Episode 22. Gloria Davy (Black History Month III)

February 16, 2020African American Singers, BHM2023WK1, Black History Month, MusicA Picnic Cantata, Aida, Al Howard, Anna Bolena, Arnold Gamson, Arthur Gold, Auf dem Kirchhofe, Benjamin Britten, Cavalleria Rusticana, Cesar Franck, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Erich Leinsdorf, Giorgio Favaretto, Giorgio Tozzi, Giuseppe Verdi, Gloria Davy, Gloria Wynder, Henry Purcell, Il Trovatore, James Schuyler, Jess Thomas, Johannes Brahms, Jonas Kulka, Julia Perry, Karl Böhm, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Leontyne Price, Les Illuminations, Man is for the Woman Made, Mareda Gaither, Martha Flowers, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, Mirella Freni, Momenten, Nelly Sachs, New York Philomusica Chamber Ensemble, Nicolai Gedda, O the Chimneys, Paul Bowles, Pierre Mollet, Rébecca (Franck), Robert Fizdale, Sándor Kónya, Sergiu Celibidache, Shulamit Ran, Spirituals, The Magic Flute, Town Hall New Yorkcountermelody

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Today we examine the fascinating and somewhat frustrating career of Gloria Davy (1931-2012). Yet another African American singer who found greater opportunity abroad than in the United States, Davy has the distinction of being the first Black singer to perform the title role of Verdi’s Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, which role served as her debut in 1958. Another early career success came when she replaced Leontyne Price as Bess in an international tour of Porgy and Bess. Her earliest recordings, both live and studio, reveal a voice of uncommon beauty with an interpretive sensitivity to match. A superb musician, Davy also sang contemporary music throughout her career, including important premieres by Hans Werner Henze and Karlheinz Stockhausen. One must ask the question, however, if her voice would have been better served had she not turned to sung Bess and Aida so early in her career, but had instead had access to roles such as Anna Bolena, which she sang brilliantly at Town Hall in New York in 1957. The episode includes a rare airing of Davy’s 1956 album of Spirituals, in arrangements by the lesser-known African American composer Julia Perry and excerpts from her recordings of Shulamit Ran’s O the Chimneys, on poems by Nelly Sachs, and the 1972 revision of Stockhausen’s momentous Momente.

Countermelody is a new podcast devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. 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 interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please also visit the Countermelody website for updates, additional content, and to pledge your support. www.countermelodypodcast.com