Episode 499. Sweet Dreams
We’re one step closer to Episode 500 of Countermelody, and this week, I am doing another preview for Season Eight of the podcast, which will begin in January. Though I did not plan this intentionally when creating my setlist, so much of the music that we are hearing today concerns itself with evening, with night, with the moon, and with dreams. We hear excerpts from operas and operettas like Franz Lehár’s Eva, Eugen d’Albert’s Die toten Augen, Tchaikovsky’s Pique-Dame, Carl Orff’s Antigonae, and Siegfried Wagner’s Schwarzschwanenreich performed by Melitta Muszely, Martha Mödl, Manfred Jung, Wiesław Ochman, Sabine Hass, Yolanda Marcoulescou, and Stefka Evstatieva. We also hear concert music ranging from an Irish folk song sung by Bernadette Greevy; to mélodies sung by Maggie Teyte and Colette Herzog; and songs by intrepid 20th century composers such as Henze, Szymanowski, Shostakovich, Messiaen, and Dallapiccola, performed by Frederick Fuller, Philip Langridge, Galina Pisarenko, and Stefania Woytowicz. Other singers heard on the episode are Françoise Pollet, Aafje Heynis, Erland Hagegård, Janine Micheau, and even your very own intrepid podcast host, in anticipation of next week’s milestone episode, which will feature live archival recordings highlighting my life in music.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Franz Lehár, Alfred Maria Willner, Robert Bodanzky: Numai o clipă de-ar trăi [In heimlichen Dämmer… Wär es denn nichts als ein Augenblick] (Eva) [sung in Romanian]. Yolanda Marcoulescou, Carol Litvin, Orchestra simfonică a Radioteleviziunii [1958]
Traditional Irish, arranged Herbert Hughes, adapted James Bolger: She moved throu’ the fair. Bernadette Greevy, Sextet from Radio Eireann Light Orchestra [1966]
Georges Auric, Jacques Larue [arranged Paul Bonneau]: Moulin des amours (Moulin Rouge). Janine Micheau, Paul Bonneau, Orchestre symphonique Raymond Saint-Paul [1958]
Émile Paladilhe, Pierre Corneille: Psyché. Maggie Teyte, Frederick Stone [BBC radio recording 02.VI.1950]
Eugen d’Albert, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Marc Henry [after Marc Henry]: Psyche wandelt durch Säulenhallen (Die toten Augen). Melitta Muszely, orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Schüchter [1959]
Jules Massenet, Louis Gallet: Ô bien aimé (Marie-Magdeleine). Françoise Pollet, Jacques Mercier, Orchestre National de l’Île de France [1996]
Carl Orff, Friedrich Hölderlin [after Sophocles]: O Grab, o Brautbett (Antigonae). Martha Mödl, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks München [1953]
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Modest Tchaikovsky [after Alexander Pushkin]: О да, миновали страданья [Oh, yes, the suffering is over] (Пиковая дама [Pique-Dame]). Stefka Evstatieva, Wiesław Ochman, Emil Tchakarov, Sofia Festival Orchestra [1990]
Siegfried Wagner: Weil’ hier! Weile, Nacht (Schwarzschwanenreich). Sabine Hass, Manfred Jung, Heinz Wallberg, Münchener Rundfunkorchester [live München 16.V.1980]
Karol Szymanowski, Friedrich Bodenstedt [after Mirza Shafi Vazeh; Polish translation by Stanisław Barącz]: Zulejka, Op. 13/4. Stefania Woytowicz, Witold Rowicki, Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie [Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra] [1960]
Hans Werner Henze, Friedrich Hölderlin: Wenn einer in den Spiegel siehet (Kammermusik). Philip Langridge, Timothy Walker [1973]
Luigi Dallapiccola, Alcman [Italian translation by Salvatore Quasimodo]: Dormono le cime dei monti (Cinque canti, No. 4). Frederick Fuller, instrumental ensemble conducted by Frederick Prausnitz [1960]
Olivier Messiaen: Bail avec Mi (pour ma femme) (Chants de terre et de ciel, No. 1). Colette Herzog, Jean Laforge [1971]
Dmitri Shostakovich, Alexander Blok: The city is asleep [Город Спит] (Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok, Op. 127/4). Galina Pisarenko, Dmitri Ferschtman, Elisabeth Leonskaja [1975]
Jan Mul, Prosper Van Langendonck: O pure nacht (Four Songs on Texts by Prosper Van Langendonck). Aafje Heynis, Johan van den Boogert [1965]
Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Christian Rube: Der Tag ist hin, die Sonne gehet nieder, BWV 447. Ernst Haefliger, Hedwig Bilgram, Johannes Fink, Reinhard Tüting [1974]
Franz Schubert, Johann Mayrhofer: Schlummerlied, D 527. Erland Hagegård, Jan Eyron [1969]
Charles Gounod, Alphonse de Lamartine: Le soir, CG 441. Daniel Gundlach, Scott Gilmore [live NYC 05.2002]