Swiss tenor Eric Tappy (19 May 1931 – 11 June 2024) excelled in so many different musical styles, eras, and genres, that when one considers his artistic achievement systematically, as a whole, one is positively stunned at all that he achieved, and that within a relatively short international career that extended barely 20 years. In addition, at the beginning of his career, his voice was that of a light lyric tenor, but gradually he came to sing heavier roles such as Idomeneo and Tito. The episode considers his biography and the trajectory of that career, touching upon his opera and concert work which ranged from early Baroque through contemporary. For the first ten years of his adult life, he worked as a teacher, gradually gaining enough exposure that he was able to fully devote himself to his singing career after he won several international singing competitions. Tappy is heard in the episode in concert work of Bach, Berlioz, Haydn, and contemporary Dutch composer Rudolf Escher; art songs by both Franz Schubert and Lili Boulanger; and operas by Monteverdi, Gounod, Mozart, and Debussy (his Pelléas was as legendary as his Monteverdi and Mozart impersonations). In addition, Tappy is heard in live and radio recordings of work by his fellow Swiss compatriots Arthur Honegger, Frank Martin, Constantin Régamey, and Hermann Suter. Guest singers include Countermelody favorites Ileana Cotrubaș, Rachel Yakar, Hugues Cuénod, Edda Moser, and Gino Quilico; musical collaborators include Ernest Ansermet, Michel Corboz, Nino Sanzogno, John Pritchard, Armin Jordan, Hans Münch (brother of Charles), Colin Davis, Hans Vonk, and Jean Françaix, among others. Prepare to be surprised and delighted by this great singer, who ended his active singing career at the age of only 50 but who continued as a formative and beloved teacher well into his old age.

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 author 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.

The last of my festive potpourri episodes for this, my birthday month, this episode focuses on a favorite vocal range of this opera queen: the soprano voice, in all its variety and glory. Included are such pristine lyric voices as Erika Köth, Benita Valente (who just departed us last weekend, shortly after celebrating her 91st birthday), Judith Raskin, Judith Blegen, Mattiwilda Dobbs, and Edith Mathis, among others; medium- to heavier-weight lyric voices such as Pilar Lorengar, Delia Rigal, Teresa Stratas, Taru Valjakka, Melitta Muszely, and Margarete Teschemacher; and “ambiguous” voices as Arleen Augér, Martha Flowers, Irmgard Seefried, Andrée Esposito, Jill Gomez (pictured), Faye Robinson, Hilde Güden, and Elizabeth Harwood which could, if you’ll pardon the term, “swing both ways,” at least in terms of vocal weight! They perform a wide range of material of material including vocal chamber music by Manuel de Falla and Miriam Gideon; art song by Brahms, Bridge, Poulenc, Beethoven, Bizet, Granados, Sibelius, and Mahler; operetta and musical selections by Arlen, Lehár, Stolz, and Kern; and full-throated operatic selections by Richard Strauss, Jacques Ibert, Leoncavallo, and Meyerbeer. It’s another jam-packed episode guaranteed (in a limited sense) to bring you the full-range of listening pleasure.

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 author 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.

Today’s episode is the latest installment in my series entitled “Rescue Mission,” which reintroduces great singers who have already been featured on the podcast. This is the Belated Birthday edition of that series, which reintroduces us to a wide range of Countermelody favorites, including jazz singer Ethel Ennis; baritones Robert Massard, Gérard Souzay, and Andrzej Hiolski; sopranos Sylvia Sass (pictured), Veronica Tyler, April Cantelo, Elly Ameling, Gloria Davy, Margaret Marshall, Rosanna Carteri, Sarah Reese, Ilse Wolf, and Carol Neblett; mezzo-sopranos Jennie Tourel, Maureen Lehane, and Shannon Bolin; and tenors David Rendall and Stuart Burrows. The repertoire is as varied and rare as are the artists featured, including songs by Rimsky-Korsakov, Chopin, Malcolm Williamson, and Alec Wilder; opera arias by Schreker, Mozart, Mascagni, and Verdi; and selections by Bach and Schütz. I love doing this kind of episode, because it allows me to cast my net wide and share with you the kinds of singers and repertoire that are bringing me comfort and joy in these trying times.

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 author 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.

A brand-new episode today inaugurating a series of episodes belatedly celebrating my birthday that will see us through to the end of the month. I have so many singers, composers, and topics in which I am interested and hope to devote full episodes to in the near future. This is the first of two episodes focusing on baritones (and a few bass-baritones) who have not yet received full Countermelody treatment. Among the singers included: Josef Metternich, Tom Krause, Walter Berry, Theodor Uppman (pictured), Erich Kunz, Charles Panzéra, Roland Hermann, Aubrey Pankey, Kostas Paskalis, Pavel Lisitsian, Gianni Maffeo, John Shirley-Quirk, and exemplary pop singers Scott Walker and David Allyn singing a wide range of music from art songs of Sibelius, Rachmaninov, Griffes, Diepenbrock, and Vaughan Williams, to mélodies by Ravel, Debussy, and Hahn, to Lieder by Schubert and Brahms, to operetta arias to opera scenes and arias by Leoncavallo, Verdi, and Manfred Gurlitt; to pop songs by Randy Newman and Rodgers and Hart. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: also teased are forthcoming episodes on arie antiche and the Polish-Swiss composer Constantin Regamey. Come to think of it, today’s is an excellent introduction to the Countermelody podcast in all its range and scope.

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 author 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.

This is an episode I never dreamed I would have to produce. But alas, the great Roberta Alexander has unexpectedly departed this earth this past Tuesday evening, on the three-week anniversary of my beloved mother’s death. Listeners to Countermelody know how much I revered her artistry, and how much I valued our special friendship. In fact, just last week as David and I escaped for a few days to the Netherlands for my birthday, I had been in touch with Roberta, hoping that we could see each other, but she was still recovering from a serious illness from last summer that, in the end, proved too much for her heart, no matter how kind and generous it was. I’m reminded that on the same day I published my first all-Roberta episode, in honor of her birthday in 2023, her dear friend and colleague Kenneth Montgomery died, also unexpectedly. Today’s episode is the fifth (but certainly not the last) time that I will honor Roberta, not only the kindest yet most straight-shooting, but also the least pretentious world-class singer I have ever known. For today’s tribute I have chosen music that, begging your indulgence, is for the most part, valedictory. Yet I also sought to foreground both her extraordinary versatility as well as her profound powers of communication, in music ranging from Handel to Bernstein, Mozart to Berg, Wilder to Janácek, all of it gloriously performed. Many of the recordings, as is my wont, are extremely rare, yet at the same time cherishable. There will be a bonus episode this weekend featuring many of the selections that ended up on the cutting room floor today. Roberta may no longer be with us, but on my podcast, she will always be prominently celebrated as the great singer, teacher, mentor, and friend that she was. Requiescat in pace, dear one.

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 author 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.



 

The extraordinary Ina Souez (1903 – 1992), was one of the few Native American singers to achieve worldwide fame on the operatic stage. Though her career was truncated by the collapse of her European career because of the impending World War, Souez’s place in the history of recorded sound is assured by virtue of her participation in the series of Mozart operas as produced by HMV in the mid-1930s as souvenirs of the first seasons of the Glyndebourne Festival. Indeed, one could argue that her Fiordiligi remains the standard by which all other interpreters are judged. Souez, the 33rd anniversary of whose death is observed in December, was one of the few Native American singers to achieve worldwide fame on the operatic stage. This episode focuses on an ultra-rare 1957 self-titled album of songs and arias that marked a comeback of sorts for Souez, who upon escaping Europe as a star found herself a virtual non-entity when she returned to her native country. I also play excerpts from the classic mid-1930’s recordings of Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte from Glyndebourne which have forever cemented the reputation of Souez in the hearts and minds of lovers of great singing. In addition, we hear 1935 recordings of Micaela’s aria as well as the “Casta diva” from Norma and a pair of light classical 78s in which Souez’s voice rings out with youthful vigor and enthusiasm. Other singers heard on these recordings include soprano Luise Helletsgruber; tenors Heddle Nash, Webster Booth, and Koloman von Pátaky; contralto Lore Fischer; and baritones John Brownlee and Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender. Conductors include John Barbirolli, Carl Schuricht, and, of course, the great Fritz Busch.

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 author 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.

 

On October 24, we observe the 104th birthday of the nonpareil Croatian soprano Sena Jurinac. Like Hildegard Behrens, whose prowess as a purveyor of art song we explored a few weeks ago, Jurinac was best known as an opera singer, specializing (in her case) in Mozart and Strauss heroines, though she was also beautifully suited to the Lieder repertoire. Jurinac was a singer of enormous warmth, poise, and humanity gifted with a voice that combined warmth and ease. It was her directness and spontaneity which, alongside her peerless musicianship and rock-solid vocal technique, has made her a favorite of many generations of lovers of great singing. Central to this episode is a rare 1976 album of Lieder by Johannes Brahms, which displays, even more than thirty years after her operatic debut, all her most treasurable qualities. The Brahms is supplemented by her 1953 studio recording of Ottorino Respighi’s extended vocal chamber work Il tramonto, a setting in Italian of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “The Sunset”; as well as a rare live 1961 recording of Richard Strauss’s “Im Abendrot” from his Vier letzte Lieder, like the Respighi a meditation on two souls at the setting of the sun.

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 author 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.

German-British soprano Ilse Wolf (07 June 1921 – 06 September 1999) was another fine lyric soprano active primarily in Britain from the 1950s through the early 1980s. One of the reasons she is remembered today is because she recommended a very young Janet Baker to her own teacher, Helene Isepp, which began a long association between the two which lasted until Isepp’s death in 1968. But Wolf was a fine singer in her own right and was a particularly cogent and expressive singer of Lieder as well as Baroque music. My listeners may remember that during Holy Week this year I played a live recording of Wolf singing the Johannes-Passion under the baton of Pablo Casals. I knew of Wolf because she is the soprano on a delightful 1967 recording of Monteverdi madrigals led by Raymond Leppard. In 1969 she also made a delightful recording of Lieder, her one solo disc, with Martin Isepp, Helene Isepp’s son and also an early collaborator of Janet Baker’s. I decided to scour the interwebs to see what other Ilse Wolf material I could come up with to feature her in her own episode. The answer, beyond these few examples, is: not much, but there were a few additional choice items, and in listening and relistening to the Lieder recording in particular, I discovered that Ilse Wolf was a very fine interpreter, indeed. Her life story is also a compelling one, and I’m privileged to share it (and her delectable singing) with my beloved listeners.

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 author 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.



 

Today, the day that we lay my beloved mother, Jane Elizabeth Herbst Gundlach, to rest, I offer another tribute to her memory by way of another favorite singer of hers, Eileen Farrell. My mother grew up hearing her on the radio, and when I was young we would often see her featured on the variety shows that were the typical fare of mid-1960s television. But even more than that, she was the soprano soloist on a recording of Messiah that my father brought as a gift for her when he returned from a summer away at seminary. I have once again chosen a program that allows me to share stories of special events in my mother’s life, some charming, some painful, but all of them reflective of the great love that bound us together as mother and son.

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 author 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.

I tried at the end of last week to do a memorial episode honoring my mother who died just a week ago. At the time I couldn’t quite manage it, but I am back again using a different approach: I tell vignettes of mine and my mother’s lives as they intertwined with the voice and presence of a singer we both enormously admired and enjoyed: Miss Leontyne Price. In between the personal stories, which extend from my earliest childhood to the day before my mother died, I weave in recordings of Leontyne in opera (Aida, La forza del destino, Antony and Cleopatra, Porgy and Bess), song (Hermit Songs, Vier letzte Lieder), spirituals, and more. There will be one more memorial tribute featuring another of Jane’s Divas within the week. Thank you again for your empathetic and loving wishes.

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 author 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.

As many of you know, my beloved mother died this past week. I’ve been trying for two days now to put together a memorial episode that would do justice to the many divergent aspects of the woman that she was. Alas, I have not yet been able to rise to the challenge, so instead, I offer a recently published bonus episode devoted to the exceptional English contralto Anna Reynolds (05 June 1930 – 24 February 2014), a true servant of her art. She was an extraordinarily eclectic interpreter, blessed with a caramel voice and a vivid interpretive sense. I have chosen music by Bach and Mahler to highlight the qualities that made her so special, and which served the ethos of both of these composers remarkably well. These are among the finest interpretations of the vocal music of either Bach or Mahler that you will ever encounter. Today’s guest artists include soprano Helen Donath and tenor Peter Schreier, pianist Geoffrey Parsons, and conductors Hermann Scherchen, Josef Krips, Lorin Maazel, Benjamin Britten, Wyn Morris, Rudolf Kempe, and Karl Richter. May this exceptional artist and her colleagues bring a sense of peace, grace, and repose to all of us who so desperately need it.

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 author 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.



 

Today’s episode celebrates a prime example of that rara avis, the Broadway contralto, the fascinating and little-remembered Shannon Bolin (01 January 1917 – 25 March 2016). Her career covered the gamut from opera to Broadway covering all points along that continuum. In the year 1955, she and her husband, pianist, composer, and conductor Milton Kaye made two albums covering a range of material. The first, entitled Rare Wine, consists of “a bouquet of rare vintage,” lesser-known songs by Rodgers and Hart (and Rodgers and Hammerstein), George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash, Bart Howard, Noël Coward, and Alec Wilder; the second LP consists entirely of songs of Alec Wilder, including his song cycle Songs for Patricia, composed to poems by Norman Rosten dedicated to his young daughter. The episode also includes two highlights from Bolin’s stage career, from Damn Yankees and the 1969 off-Broadway smash Promenade, and closes with my favorite Alec Wilder song, the heartbreaking “Did You Ever Cross Over to Sneden’s?” that serves as a memorial tribute to my dear friend from years gone by, Matthew Lau, whose death was just announced this past week.

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 author 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.



 

Today we celebrate the recorded legacy of Hildegard Behrens, but from an unexpected angle. Like George London and Cesare Valletti, the last two artists heard on the podcast, she is best remembered today for her operatic portrayals. But like both London and Valletti, she was also a recitalist, although this was not, admittedly, a prominent part of her repertoire. Nevertheless, as a recitalist, as in everything she sang, she displayed a keen musical intelligence, a commitment to the inherent drama in the text, and an insistence upon truth in expression. Today, however, we hear the great Wagner and Strauss singer not only in songs by both of those composers, but also less-expected music, including Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, as well as songs by Bach, Elgar, and Zumsteeg. This material was featured in her Carnegie Hall recital debut in April 1985 and subsequently recorded in Paris at the legendary (and now no longer extant) Salle Wagram. This recording is supplemented by excerpts from three different orchestral song cycles, Les nuits d’été or Hector Berlioz, the Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder, and Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder. May this episode serve as a tantalizing Vorspiese to an upcoming episode celebrating the operatic career of the great Hildegard!

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 author 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.

More than two years and nearly two hundred episodes ago, I published an episode on the great Italian tenore di grazia Cesare Valletti. Today I revisit his recorded legacy, focusing on his prowess in the French repertoire, both in opera and, rather uncharacteristically for an Italian tenor of the era, mélodie. Not only do I present the complete 1965 LP entitled Cesare Valletti Sings French Art Songs, which was his final release on the RCA Victor label, but I supplement that with two fantabulous death scenes from two of Jules Massenet’s most popular operas, Manon (a live 1954 recording pairing Valletti with Victoria de los Angeles at her most memorable), and Werther (a 1962 studio recording of excerpts from the opera featuring Rosalind Elias, the dearly beloved mezzo-soprano of blessed memory.) Valletti once again reveals himself an artist of refined taste, as well as (in the operatic excerpts) a surprisingly powerful and forthright vocal present and (in the song repertoire) an interpreter with superb French diction and exquisite insight into the half-lit atmosphere of the genre.

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 author 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.

Even before the continuing acts of gun violence in the US this week, I had chosen a theme that necessitated a rather sombre setlist: the artistry of Canadian-born singer George London in recital. Though London was one of the premier operatic bass-baritones in the 1950s, he also reserved a significant corner of his artistic endeavors for the recital stage. This episode focuses on London’s live and studio recordings of this repertoire, which, in part simply by virtue of the dark color of his voluminous voice, tended toward the serious: Schubert’s Heine settings, Brahms’s Vier ernste Gesänge, Ibert’s Don Quichotte songs, Duparc’s sepia-toned melodies, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and his calling-card, Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death. Examples of London singing all of this repertoire are included, accompanied by Paul Ulanowsky, Leo Taubman, Erik Werba, and John Newmark, among others. The episode is dedicated to the memory of all innocent victims in the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

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 author 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.

Since posting a tribute to German heldentenor Ernst Kozub last year, I have continued combing through both his live and studio output and I have concluded that his work in Verdi is at least as good as his work in Wagner. And that’s saying something! I have a wonderful setlist here which features the great Heldentenor singing everything from the lyric tenor parts of Alfredo in La Traviata and the Duke (or should I say the Herzog?!) in Rigoletto to the dramatic roles of Manrico in Der Troubadour, Radames in Aida and the title role of Otello. Between these two extremes, arias from Luisa Miller, Macbeth, and Ein Maskenball ring out with vigor and even some occasional subtlety! Excerpts from live performances of Don Carlos and La forza del destino (the only Verdi heard here in Italian) from the stage of the Hamburg Opera (where Kozub was fest between 1962 and his premature death in 1971) are a special treat, especially with in duet with phenomenal (though nearly forgotten) colleagues Norman Mittelmann, Vladimir Ruždjak, and Edith Lang (who will be featured next week in an upcoming episode). Legendary German stars Rita Streich and Franz Crass are also heard opposite Kozub in the recording studio. The episode opens with George London singing an excerpt from Mendelssohn’s Elias under the baton of the late Christoph von Dohnányi, who died over the weekend two days before his 96th birthday.

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 author 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.

Two months ago I posted an episode on Gay Eccentrics, which included a profile of Ben Bagley, the theatrical and record producer who most certainly fit that designation. I believe that Bagley’s most lasting contribution was the 60 or so albums he produced of Great Broadway Composers Revisited, which presented unknown gems from the deep inside the trunks of these figures. For today’s episode, I am putting a particularly queer spin on that series by featuring a cross-section of the songs offered on Bagley’s ten albums devoted to songs of Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart. There are so many remarkable treasures to be found on these recordings, which, in spite of (and perhaps even partially because of) the slapdash nature of the recording sessions and the shoestring budgets, remain some of the most important collections of forgotten songs by composers and lyricists of Broadway’s Golden Age. The other extraordinary thing about these collections was the variety of the singers that lent their voices to this music. Today’s selection, a mere cross-section, offers the vocal talents of Dorothy Loudon, Kay Ballard, Bobby Short, Lynn Redgrave, Tony Perkins, Mary Cleere Haran, Estelle Parsons, Blossom Dearie, Harold Lang, and Alice Playten, among many others. Choice excerpts from Bagley’s notorious liner notes are amply interspersed between the songs. I hope you enjoy the glitter, barbs, and even occasional Weltschmerz of 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 author 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.

Beloved Countermelody favorite Helen Donath celebrated her 85th birthday on 10 July. In honor of that milestone, I once again celebrate her (which I’ve done so often, but I don’t think anyone is complaining!) This episode features the venerated soprano singing the music of Richard Strauss. In 1976 and 1981 she recorded two albums of Lieder for EMI, both accompanied by her husband, pianist and conductor Klaus Donath, each of which included a selection of songs by Strauss. In addition, I offer recordings of Donath singing various operatic excerpts, both live and studio, of her acclaimed Sophie in Rosenkavalier and Zdenka/o in Arabella. In addition, two late career Donath rarities. First is a concert performance of Die ägyptische Helena live from the Salzburg Festival in the summer of 2003 in which Donath sings the challenging role of Aithra with a freshness and radiance that is breathtaking. The episode concludes with an extraordinary live 2000 recording of Donath performing the Vier letzte Lieder, a tribute to the natural progression of her voice into the jugendlich dramatisch repertoire as she aged. Vocal guest stars include Júlia Várady (who today celebrates her 84th birthday!), Doris Soffel, and Deborah Voigt. Let us extend our hearty good wishes and affection to La Donath, who is finally living in well-earned Ruhestand, after a career that extended well into her 70s.

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 author 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.

I have spent the past week planning forthcoming episodes and last night I realized I had to “throw together” something for this weekend’s episode. When this happens, it can often result in a very eclectic program, indeed, and one which many of my listeners find to be among the most enjoyable Countermelody episodes. I have collected more than enough material for at least a dozen of my so-called “Rescue Mission” episodes, in which I feature artists to whom an entire episode has already been devoted, but for whom I have unearthed additional recordings. For today’s episode, I decided to focus exclusively on duets, featuring at least one singer of each pair who has already been heard (sometimes quite recently) on the podcast. And thus we have David Rendall singing Erik in The Flying Dutchman opposite Rita Cullis; Renata Scotto (with Carlo Bergonzi) in Elisir; April Cantelo in Paul Hindemith’s Cardillac; Maureen Lehane as Penelope in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria; Carol Neblett as Donna Elvira; and Helen Donath (with Deborah Voigt in Strauss’s rare Die ägyptische Helena). Also heard are operas by Gottfried von Einem, Giuseppe Verdi, Lee Hoiby, and Carl Orff featuring Christa Ludwig, John Reardon, Grace Bumbry, Edda Moser, and upcoming Countermelody featured artists John Bröcheler, Roland Hermann, and Eberhard Wächter. The episode concludes with the unlikely pair of Ileana Cotrubaş (pictured) and Jorma Hynninen (two of my most revered singers) as the title characters in a transcendent live recording of Pelléas et Mélisande.

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 author 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.

A few months ago I published the first of a series of episodes honoring “Over the Top Sopranos,” which presented French repertoire performed by a batch of supremely distressed divas. And today is a follow-up, again featuring “sopranos en détresse” in which I spread the net even wider, featuring every type of soprano from perky coloratura to hefty dramatic and everything in between. The characters represented range from reformed Alexandrian courtesans to vampiric Hungarian murderers. And the chronological spread is wide, too: we sample a wide variety of singers from Félia Litvinne, recorded in 1902, to Anna Caterina Antonacci, recorded in 2009. In between we hear, among others, Germaine Féraldy, Beverly Sills, Emma Calvé, Lucia Popp, Christiane Eda-Pierre (pictured), Patricia Brooks, Germaine Martinelli, Jacqueline Brumaire, Carol Vaness, Nelly Miricioiu, and Janine Micheau. Works range from the familiar (Mignon by Thomas, Manon by Massenet, and Faust by Gounod) to the obscure (Ivan IV by Bizet, Salammbô by Ernest Reyer, Erzsébet by Charles Chaynes, and Virginie by Alfred Bruneau). Attachez vos ceintures; ce sera encore une soirée extravagante!

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 author 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.