Episode 163. Season Four Preview
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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!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Gustav Mahler, text adapted from Richard Volkmann: Frühlingsmorgen. Judith Raskin, Fritz Jahoda [live 1960s, unknown provenance]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica: La commedia è stupenda… Quando m’en vo (La Bohème). Carol Neblett, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Enrico DiGiuseppe, Abe Polakoff, William Ledbetter, Michael Devlin, Jack Bittner, Julius Rudel, New York City Opera Orchestra [live New York 28.II.70]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Alleluia [Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51]. Eleanor Steber, Igor Kipnis Baroque Ensemble [Igor Kipnis, Ronald Anderson, Sonya Monsoff, Lilla Kalman, Bernard Zaslav, Sterling Hunkins] [1962]
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Eugène Scribe, Germain Delavigne [unknown German translater]: Ach, Robert, mein Geliebter [Robert, toi que j’aime] (Robert der Teufel [Robert le diable]). Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Orchestra conducted by Meinhard von Zallinger [orchestra, venue, and date unknown]
Giacomo Puccini, Guelfo Civinini, Carlo Zangarini, Alfred Brüggemann [German translation]: Nun sind es sechs Monat’ [Or son sei mesi] (Das Mädchen aus dem goldenen Westen [La fanciulla del West]). Ernst Kozub, Orchestra conducted by Robert Wagner [1964]
Robert Schumann, August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben: Vom Schlaraffenland (Liederalbum für die Jugend, Op. 79/5). Max Lichtegg, Hans Willi Häusslein [ca. 1951]
Johannes Brahms, Carl Candidus: Lerchengesang, Op. 70/2. Anna Moffo, Gerald Moore [early 1970s]
Hugo Wolf, Eduard Mörike: Das verlassene Mägdlein. Andrzej Hiolski, Helena Christenko [live Krakow 1998]
Heinrich Isaac, unknown lyricist: Insprugk, ich muss dich lassen. Hugues Cuénod, Joel Cohen [Radio France 28.V.76]
Alec Wilder, Arnold Sundgaard: Cedars Are Growing. Shannon Bolin, Milton Kaye [1955]
Franz Schreker, Walt Whitman (translated by Hans Reisinger): Was glaubst du, ist aus den alten und jungen Männern geworden? (Vom ewigen Leben). Helen Donath, Hermann Scherchen, unknown orchestra [1965]
Doru Popovici, Edgar Papo [after Federico Garcia Lorca]: Aria – Finale (Mariana Pineda). Marina Krilovici, Carol Litvin, Orchestra of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting [1966]
Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, libretto after Alfred de Musset: Dialogue [Andrea – Lucrèce] (Andrea del Sarto, Act I, Tableau II). Gabriel Bacquier, Andrée Esposito, Manuel Rosenthal, Orchestre National de l’ORTF [1974]
André Jolivet, Louis Emié: Pour te parler (Poèmes intimes, No. 5) Gérard Souzay, Orchestre de chambre André Girard [30.V.47]
Jacques Leguerney, Pierre de Ronsard: À Cupidon. Kurt Ollmann, Mary Dibbern [1986]
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Dora Alencar Vasconcellos: Veleiros (Canções da floresta do Amazonas, No. 4). Roberta Alexander, Alfred Heller [1994]
Joaquín Nin y Castellanos, anonymous text: Asturiana. Martina Arroyo, Donal Nold [1961]
André Messager, Albert Willemetz, after Maurice Larrouy: Romance [Pardonnez un moment d’émoi] (Coups de roulis). Robert Massard, Orchestra conducted by Jean Laforge [1960]
Franz Lehár, André Mauprey, Jean Marietti: Je veux revoir mon beau pays [Ich möchte wieder einmal die Heimat sehen] (Le pays du sourire [Das Land des Lächelns]. Denise Duval, Orchestre Raymond Chevreux [1963]
Franz Lehár, Alfred Maria Willner, Heinz Reichert [English lyricist unknown]: Frasquita. Henry Wright, l’Orchestra Bruno Martelli [1962]
Sonny Curtis: Love Is All Around (theme from The Mary Tyler Moore Show). Sammy Davis, Jr., Arranged and produced by Don Costa [1972]
Oskar Merikanto, Viktor Sund: Där björkarna susa [Where the birches are rustling]. Nicolai Gedda, Carl Tillius [Swedish television 1970s]