Episode 116. Pop Songs by Lieder Singers
SOCIAL SHARE
SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM
This week I feature nearly a century’s worth of recordings of pop music by singers who also, and in some cases primarily, were great singers of art song. Many of my favorite singers figure into the mix, including Hermann Prey (who was the inspiration for this episode), Grace Bumbry, Helen Donath, Roberta Alexander, Elly Ameling, Peter Schreier, Lotte Lehmann, Gérard Souzay, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bryn Terfel, Richard Tauber, José van Dam, Peter Schreier, Leontyne Price, Donald Gramm, and many, many others. They perform everything from Broadway standards to jazz to Deutsche Schlager to tangos to the Great American Songbook to 80s power ballads. This episode was such a joy to put together and I hope that you will enjoy this cornucopia of vocal and interpretive bounty.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Jacques Revaux, Claude François, translation of Paul Anka lyric by Charley Niessen: So ist mein Leben [My Way]. Hermann Prey, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Dieter Reith [1982]
Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton: Body and Soul. Elly Ameling, Louis van Dijk [1982]
J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie: You Go to My Head. Jorma Hynninen. Heikki Sarmanto [1993]
Harry Warren, Mack Gordon, unknown French translator: Vous le savez comme moi [I Know Why and So Do You] (Sun Valley Serenade). Gérard Souzay, Paul Bonneau, Orchestre Paul Bonneau [radio recording 14 March 1948]
Hans May: Der Duft, der eine schöne Frau begleitet. Lotte Lehmann, Frieder Weissmann, Members of the Berlin State Opera Orchestra [1929]
Robert Katscher: Madonna, du bist schöner (Küße um Mitternacht). Richard Tauber, Erich Meller [1924]
Robert Katscher, Buddy DeSylva: When Day Is Done. Richard Tauber, unidentified orchestra and conductor [1940]
Guido Masanetz, Mauritius Janowski: Bunte Lampions. Peter Schreier, Jürgen Hermann, Großes Tanzorchester des Deutschlandsenders [1969]
Franz Grothe: Mon Bijou. Fritz Wunderlich, Willi Stech, Das kleine Rundfunkorchester des SWF [ca. 1956]
Eduard Künneke, Eduard Rhein: Sex Appeal (Traumland). Anneliese Rothenberger, unknown pianist [radio recording Hamburg 1950]
Stephen Sondheim, Eckart Hachfeld: Wo sind die Clowns? [Send in the Clowns] (A Little Night Music). Brigitte Fassbaender, Hans Wallat, Radio Orchester des Dänischen Rundfunks [German television program 1981]
Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Marcel Prawy: Ich gefäll’ mir [I Feel Pretty] (West Side Story). Felicia Weathers, unidentified conductor and performing forces [ca. 1975]
Jule Styne, Bob Merrill, unknown German translator: People (Funny Girl). Gloria Davy, unidentified conductor and orchestra [German television June 1969]
Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson, unidentified German translator: September Song (Knickerbocker Holiday). Thomas Stewart. [unknown performance details]
Cole Porter: Begin the Beguine (Jubilee). Donald Gramm, The Textor Singers, Skitch Henderson and His Orchestra [radio broadcast 05 July 1954]
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, II, Gösta Bernhard, Stig Bergendorff: En förtrollad afton [Some Enchanted Evening] (South Pacific). Kim Borg, Hans Schreiber, Oscartheater’s Orchestra [1951]
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: This Nearly Was Mine (South Pacific). George London, The Roland Shaw Orchestra [1957]
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: Come Home (Allegro). Bryn Terfel, Paul Daniel, English Northern Philharmonia [1996]
Stephen Sondheim, arr. Larry Moore: I Remember (Evening Primrose). Roberta Alexander, Dean X. Johnson, Gary Miller, New York City Gay Men’s Chorus [live Friends for Life concert, Amsterdam 27 August 1991]
Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg: Right as the Rain (St. Louis Woman). Leontyne Price, orchestra arranged and conducted by André Previn [1967]
Andrew Lloyd Webber, T.S. Eliot, arr. Riku Niemi: Memory (Cats). Karita Mattila, Pekka Savajoki, Tapiola Sinfonietta [1995]
Ennio Morricone, Sergio Bardotti: In fondo ai miei occhi (Ménage all’italiana). Anna Moffo, Ennio Morricone e la sua Orchestra [1965]
Duke Ellington: Creole Love Call. Barbara Hendricks, Monty Alexander Trio [Monty Alexander, Ira Coleman, Ed Thigpen] [live Montreux July 1994]
Antônio Carlos Jobim, Norman Gimbel: The Boy from Ipanema [Garota de Ipanema]. Evelyn Lear. [unknown performance details]
Georges Liferman, Jacques Mareuil: Hector. Régine Crespin [unknown performance details]
Consuelo Velazquez, Eugenia Wnukowska: Miłość [Besame mucho]. Andrzej Hiolski, Orchestra conducted by Jerzy Harald [1948]
Peter Cetera, David Foster, György G. Dénes: Óh, hol jársz [Hard to Say I’m Sorry]. Sylvia Sass, arranged by Peter Wolf [1984]
Barry Mann, Dan Hill: Sometimes When We Touch. Grace Bumbry, arranged by Andrew White [1995]
Joni Mitchell: Marcie. Anne Sofie von Otter, Brad Mehldau [2010]
Astor Piazzolla, Horacio Ferrer: Balada par un loco. Helen Donath, Klaus Donath [live, unknown performance details]
Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert: Les feuilles mortes. José van Dam, Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven, Jean-Louis Rassinfosse [2018]