Tag Archives: Walt Whitman

Episode 173. Orchesterlieder I

December 2, 2022Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century MusicAlain Lombard, Alberto Ginastera, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Alphons Diepenbrock, André Caplet, André Jolivet, Andrzej Hiolski, Antal Dorati, Antoine Golea, Antonín Dvořák, Arthur Loosli, Bernard Kruysen, Bohumil Gregor, Brian Priestman, Charles Baudelaire, Charles Panzéra, Christoph von Dohnányi, Colette Herzog, Ernst Hermann Meyer, Francisco Araiza, Frank Martin, Franz Kafka, Franz Schreker, Giuseppe Martucci, Gundula Janowitz, Gwyneth Jones, Hans Effenberger, Hans Reisinger, Helen Donath, Herbert Kegel, Hermann Scherchen, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Irene Gubrud, Jan Krenz, Jean Sibelius, Kalevala, Karan Armstrong, Karl Friedrich Henckell, Kurt Sanderling, Lorin Maazel, Louis Fürnberg, Luonnotor, Mirella Freni, Ned Rorem, Nikolaus Lenau, Othmar Schoeck, Peter Schreier, Phyllis Curtin, Piero Coppola, Rabindranath Tagore, Rémy de Gourmont, Riccardo Muti, Richard Stamp, Richard Strauss, Roberto Abbado, Rocco Emanuele Pagliara, Tadeusz Baird, Theo Adam, Theo Loosli, Walt Whitman, Willem van Otterloo, William Shakespeare, Yi-Kwei Szecountermelody

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This week is the first of a series of episodes focusing on songs with orchestral accompaniment. The genre is almost a contradiction in terms: the intimacy and textual focus of art song with the sometimes strenuous vocal demands of singing over an orchestra. The most celebrated and successful of such songs (by Berlioz, Mahler, Ravel, Barber, Strauss, and others) are heard over and over on symphonic concerts when vocal soloists are the featured guests. And rightly so, for they are among the most glorious classical music written for the human voice. Typically for Countermelody, however, today’s episode, however, will focus on repertoire and composers that are less celebrated to the point of being virtually unknown. Composers heard include Frank Martin, Alexander Zemlinsky, Jean Sibelius, Giuseppe Martucci, Franz Schreker, Othmar Schoeck, Antonín Dvořák, Alberto Ginastera, Alphons Diepenbrock and the two Andrés, Jolivet and Caplet, alongside many others, performed by such favorites as Gwyneth Jones, Phyllis Curtin, Peter Schreier, Gundula Janowitz, Yi-Kwei Sze, Mirella Freni, Francisco Araiza, Elisabeth Söderström, and Bernard Kruysen. Also heard are Helen Donath and Andrzej Hiolski, singers soon to be featured on their own episodes, alongside lesser-remembered names such as Arthur Loosli, Irene Gubrud, and Colette Herzog. Conductors include Kurt Sanderling, Antal Doráti, Herbert Kegel, Bohumil Gregor, Hermann Scherchen, and Lorin Maazel. I “guarantee” that your ears will be enchanted and your musical horizons will be expanded by this episode.

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 172. Ned Rorem In Memoriam

November 25, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAdolph Green, Anita Darian, Ann Schein, Betty Comden, Beverly Wolff, David Triestram, Dolores Ziegler, Donal Nold, Donald Gramm, Donald Sulzen, Eugene Istomin, Frank O’Hara, Howard Moss, John Ashbery, John Stewart, Joseph Rabbai, Kurt Ollmann, Laura Aikin, Leonard Bernstein, Marie-Laure de Noailles, Martina Arroyo, Monique McDonald, Ned Rorem, Paul Goodman, Paul Monette, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Phyllis Curtin, Regina Sarfaty, Robert Louis Stevenson, Roberta Alexander, Rufus Müller, Ryan Edwards, Sandra Walker, Steven Blier, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke, Walt Whitman, William Penncountermelody

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Greetings to all from my former home of Manhattan! Upon landing here a week ago, I was greeted by the news of the death of Ned Rorem, the man previously known as “America’s Greatest Living Composer,” who just last month had celebrated his 99th birthday. Though he won the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1976 for his orchestral work Air Music, Rorem was most celebrated for his vocal music, in particular his art songs. In this episode, I will delve into that aspect of his output, from his earliest published work to his extraordinary late masterpiece Evidence of Things Not Seen. The episode features singers who collaborated closely with the composer, including Phyllis Curtin, Donald Gramm, Beverly Wolff, Regina Sarfaty, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Kurt Ollmann, and others. Many other singers were also drawn to Rorem’s songs, including Leontyne Price, Jan DeGaetani, Martina Arroyo, and Laura Aikin, all of whom are represented here. As celebrated as a frank and forthright diarist and essayist as he was as a composer, Rorem (like his British counterpart Benjamin Britten) had extraordinary taste in the poetry and texts he chose to set. In this episode alone, we hear compositions set to words of Sylvia Plath, Paul Goodman, Walt Whitman, Paul Monette, Theodore Roethke, Frank O’Hara, and others. The episode concludes with a tribute to another musician who died earlier the same day, the American collaborative pianist David Triestram, who accompanies his dear colleague and friend Roberta Alexander in Leonard Bernstein’s poignant and timely song “Some Other Time.”

Episode 163. Season Four Preview

September 23, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Broadway, Crossover, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Great Baritones, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Verismo, Voiceless WondersAbe Polakoff, Albert Willemetz, Alec Wilder, Alfred Heller, André Girard, André Jolivet, André Mauprey, André Messager, Andrée Esposito, Andrzej Hiolski, Anna Moffo, Arnold Sundgaard, Carl Tillius, Carol Litvin, Carol Neblett, Das Land des Lächelns, Denise Duval, Don Costa, Donal Nold, Doru Popovici, Eduard Mörike, Eleanor Steber, Enrico DiGiuseppe, Ernst Kozub, Federico García Lorca, Franz Lehár, Franz Schreker, Frasquita (Lehár), Fritz Jahoda, Gabriel Bacquier, Gerald Moore, Gerard Souzay, Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giacomo Puccini, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Gustav Mahler, Hans Willi Häusslein, Heinrich Isaac, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Helen Donath, Helena Christenko, Henry Wright, Hermann Scherchen, Hugo Wolf, Hugues Cuenod, Igor Kipnis, Jacques Leguerney, Jean Laforge, Jean Marietti, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, Joaquín Nin, Joel Cohen, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Judith Raskin, Julius Rudel, Kurt Ollmann, La Boheme, La Fanciulla del West, Louis Emié, Manuel Rosenthal, Marina Krilovici, Martina Arroyo, Mary Dibbern, Max Lichtegg, Meinhard von Zallinger, Michael Devlin, Milton Kaye, Nicolai Gedda, Oskar Merikanto, Pierre de Ronsard, Raymond Chevreux, Richard Volkmann, Robert Massard, Robert Schumann, Roberta Alexander, Sammy Davis Jr., Shannon Bolin, Sonny Curtis, Viktor Sund, Walt Whitman, William Ledbettercountermelody

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Today Countermelody is in limbo: balanced between Seasons Three and Four. Over the past few months I’ve been planning the course of the upcoming season and this episode consists of musical tidbits (bocconcini, if you will) of some of the singers and themed series that I am planning for Season Four. Included are retrospectives of singers Judith Raskin, Roberta Alexander, Sammy Davis, Jr., Helen Donath, Hugues Cuénod, Anna Moffo, Denise Duval, and Nicolai Gedda, all of whom are “sampled” today. I’m also planning programs on; “Great Singers We’ve Never Heard Of;” the music of Alec Wilder; the Black male singer as European émigré; “Behind the Iron Curtain;” explorations of both Orchestral Songs and Rare Twentieth-Century Operas; and “Great Singers in Old Age;” as well as, naturally, a closer examination of many of those New York City Opera divas to whom I provided an introduction last week. The new season will also be more interactive, with livestream interviews planned with various fascinating (and legendary!) figures in the world of opera and classical music. Thanks to all for your continued support, friendship, and listenership; see you next week for the debut of Season Four of Countermelody!

Episode 160. Donald Gramm

September 2, 2022Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century MusicAchim von Arnim, Arnold Schoenberg, Carmen, Clemens Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Donald Gramm, Donald Hassard, Douglas Moore, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Eugene Istomin, Friedrich Schiller, Fritz Reiner, George Frideric Handel, George Shirley, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, Giuseppe Verdi, Igor Stravinvsky, Il barbiere di Siviglia, John Duke, Julius Rudel, Loren Driscoll, Ludwig van Beethoven, Ned Rorem, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Bowles, Paul Verlaine, Richard Cumming, Richard Rodgers, Robert Craft, Roger Sessions, Sarah Caldwell, South Pacific, Tennessee Williams, Thomas Sherman, Tosca, Walt Whitman, William Murphy, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Dear ones, I present to you today the extraordinarily versatile bass-baritone and my fellow native Milwaukeean Donald Gramm (1927-1983), one of the central house singers at both the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera from the 1960s through his premature death at the age of 56. Gifted with an intrinsically beautiful voice, an impeccable technique and an expansive range, he also was a crackerjack musician whose repertoire easily encompassed musical styles from florid Baroque music through the thorniest contemporary idioms. He is probably best celebrated these days for his commitment to American art, and this episode features him singing songs by Ned Rorem, John Duke, Richard Cummings, Douglas Moore, and Paul Bowles, with a particular emphasis on texts by Walt Whitman. What is perhaps less well-remembered today is how versatile an opera singer he was, singing roles from Osmin to Scarpia, with a strong emphasis on both bel canto and buffo roles by Rossini and Donizetti. The episode also explores his collaborations with Igor Stravinsky, Glenn Gould, and, perhaps most significantly, Sarah Caldwell, another important musical figure from that era who is strongly deserving of reappraisal.

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 134. Legacy (Black History Month 2022 Postlude)

March 4, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Queer Pride, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAdele Addison, Alan Curtis, Alfred Bachelet, Antonietta Stella, Antonín Dvořák, Aubrey Pankey, August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Béatrice et Bénédict, Bernard Greenhouse, Betty Allen, Betty Davis, Bohumil Gregor, Carmen Balthrop, Carolyn Watkinson, Charles Groves, Charles Jennens, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Clamma Dale, Claude Frank, Claudia Lindsey, Cynthia Haymon, Dagmar Průšová, Dorothy Maynor, Eight Songs for a Mad King, El Cimarrón (Henze), Ellabelle Davis, Erich Itor Kahn, Esteban Montoya, Eugène Adénis-Colombeau, Franz Schubert, Franz von Schober, Frederick Delius, George Frideric Handel, Gioacchino Rossini, Giulio Caccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Grace de la Cruz, Gwendolyn Killebrew, Gwendolyn Walters, Handel and Haydn Society, Hans Werner Henze, Harry T. Burleigh, Hector Berlioz, Heinrich Heine, Helen Colbert, Herbert von Karajan, Hubert Reichert, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Iphigénie en Aulide, Jean Baptiste Racine, Jean-Guy Bailly, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Jerzy Lefeld, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, John Reilly, Joseph-Marie Canteloube, Josephine Veasey, Judas Maccabaeus (Handel), Julius Eastman, Kjell Olsson, Koanga (Delius), L’incoronazione di Poppea, Laurence Hope, Leonard Bernstein, Louise Parker, Marian Anderson, Marius François Gaillard, Marvin Hayes, Marvis Martin, Matthäus-Passion, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Maurice Abravanel, Messa da Requiem (Verdi), Messiah (Handel), Paul Hindemith, Peter Maag, Peter Maxwell Davies, Rhea Jackson, Robert Bloom, Seiji Ozawa, Seth McCoy, Simone Treillard, Spirituals, Thomas Morell, Thompson Stone, Walt Whitman, Warren Jones, William Pearson, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This is the second part of my final episode of Black History Month 2022, continuing the exploration of the legacies of more than two dozen mostly underrecorded African American artists. Each piece of this aural mosaic fills in gaps in the recorded history of these artists. After opening memorial tributes to Josephine Veasey, Antonietta Stella, and Betty Davis, the episode is broken into several sections: first, recordings of Baroque music by Aubrey Pankey, Carmen Balthrop, Adele Addison, Betty Allen, Seth McCoy, Marvin Hayes, and a rare live recording by Marian Anderson, whose 125th birthday was observed this past week. There follow recordings of concert repertoire sung by Dorothy Maynor, Louise Parker, and Grace de la Cruz, with William Pearson and Julius Eastman leading us briefly into the bizarre world of the extended vocal techniques of the 1960s. There follow recorded performances of art song by Helen Colbert, Rhea Jackson, John Riley, Clamma Dale, Ellabelle Davis, Marvis Martin, and Cynthia Haymon, whereupon the episode concludes with some rare performances of operatic repertoire with Gwendolyn Killebrew, Claudia Lindsey, Dagmar Průšová, and Gwendolyn Walters, capped by an exquisite a cappella performance of “A City Called Heaven” by the great Mattiwilda Dobbs.

Episode 67. Good Bye 2020 (and Good Riddance!)

December 27, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Finnish Opera, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard StraussAlbert Remedios, Anne Howells, Arlene Saunders, Arnold Schoenberg, Arvo Pärt, Aulis Sallinen, Bernhard Landauer, Charles Mackerras, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Claudia Muzio, Cole Porter, Colin Davis, Das Marienleben, Derek Lee Ragin, Die Liebe der Danae, Dominic Cossa, Elena Gragera, Ellen Schuring, Erwartung, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Esther Hinds, Fun Home, Giacomo Puccini, Gidon Kremer, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Giya Kancheli, Håkon Austbø. Peter Schat, Helga Pilarczyk, Herbert von Karajan, Iphigenia in Brooklyn, Jane Manning, Jerome Kern, Joaquin Rodrigo, John Ferrante, John Wustman, Josep Soler, La Boheme, Licinio Refice, Luciano Pavarotti, Madama Butterfly, Michael Tippett, Mirella Freni, Nicholas Maw, Norma Procter, Norman Del Mar, Paolo Tosti, PDQ Bach, Peter Schickele, Rainer Maria Rilke, Rebecca Luker, Richard Strauss, Robert Craft, Roger Sessions, Seiji Ozawa, Sherrill Milnes, Soile Isokoski, Teresa Berganza, The Midsummer Marriage, The Secret Garden, Walt Whitmancountermelody

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Is there anyone out there who will not be relieved to bid farewell to 2020, this annus horribilis? I know I’ll be delighted to kick its ass out the door. How to make any sense of this year of pandemic, panic, political shenanigans, poverty, racial injustice, climate disaster and general global upheaval? I have no answers, except to return to music. The episode begins with a mini-tribute to Broadway great Rebecca Luker, who lost her hard-fought against ALS on December 23rd. Then I return to the year 1935, since, as I discovered as I was preparing my mom’s birthday episode a couple weeks ago, so many interesting musicians were born in that year. Some of those artists are still with us, others died some time ago, while still others were among the many casualties of 2020. I take a journey through the composers (Arvo Pärt, Aulis Sallinen, Nicholas Maw, Peter Schat, Josep Soler, Giya Kancheli, and Peter Schickele [aka P.D.Q. Bach]) and singers (Helga Pilarczyk, Sherrill Milnes, Dominic Cossa, Arlene Saunders, Albert Remedios, and Teresa Berganza) born in that year, and conclude with those beloved artists Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti (both of whom were also born in 1935) in an extended excerpt from a live 1975 performance of La bohème, that exemplifies near-perfection, operatically speaking. Let’s “tak a cup o’ kindness yet” at the passing of this challenging year as we also look forward to a new year better in every imaginable way than its predecessor!

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.

Links to related Countermelody episodes:

Episode 64: Jorma Hynninen in Opera (Features the baritone in several operas by Aulis Sallinen): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-64-jorma-hynninen-in-opera

Two episodes in memory of Mirella Freni:

Episode 25: Freni on the Fringe (Freni sings unexpected repertoire): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-25-freni-on-the-fringe-mirella-in-memoriam-ii

Episode 24: Freni in Duet (Freni with various distinguished partners): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-24-freni-in-duet

And three episodes devoted to great artists that we have lost recently:

Episode 59: In Memoriam Rosanna Carteri: www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-59-rosanna-carteri

Bonus Episode 5: In Memoriam Christiane Eda-Pierre (available to my Patreon subscribers at any level of support): www.patreon.com/posts/42459803

Episode 15: Hail and Farewell (a tribute to all the great musicians who died in 2019): www.countermelodypodcast.com/episode-15-hail-and-farewell