Episode 278. George Shirley Revisited
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This August I shall be supplementing each new episode published with a first-time general posting of bonus episodes which were originally available only for my Patreon subscribers. Today, in the first of my “new reissues,” I present “George Shirley Revisited,” a supplement to the tribute I posted three years ago, and which I now offer as a belated 90th birthday salute. In this episode, I offer further examples of the great tenor’s eclectic repertoire and interpretive depth. Guest vocalists include Shirley Verrett and Elisabeth Söderström and conductors include Pierre Boulez, Thomas Schippers, Eugene Ormandy, Colin Davis, Antal Doráti and Igor Stravinsky himself. Composers sampled include Jules Massenet, Howard Swanson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Strauss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Wagner, Norman Dello Joio, Felix Mendelssohn, Vally Weigl, Joseph Haydn, and James Dashow, whose Second Voyage, a setting of John Ashberry scored for tenor voice and recorded electronic sounds, was commissioned for George Shirley by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1976. I also include a number of rare recordings that George Shirley and Wayne Sanders made in 1973 for Music Minus One’s Laureate Series and that, to my knowledge, are among his rarest recordings.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Jules Massenet, Armand Silvestre: Crépuscule. George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Claude Debussy, Maurice Maeterlinck: Nous sommes venus ici il y a longtemps (Pelléas et Mélisande). George Shirley, Elisabeth Söderström, Pierre Boulez, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden [1970]
Igor Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau: Ego senem cecidi (Oedipus Rex). George Shirley, Shirley Verrett, Igor Stravinsky, Orchestra of the Opera Society of Washington [1963]
Richard Strauss, Hedwig Lachmann after Oscar Wilde: Salome, komm, trink Wein mit mir (Salome). George Shirley, Margaret Tynes, Lili Chookasian, Thomas Schippers, Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Verdi di Trieste [live Spoleto 30 June 1961]
Richard Wagner: Immer ist Undank Loges Lohn (Das Rheingold). George Shirley, Jesus Lopez-Copos, Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin [live 16 September 1984]
Johann Sebastian Bach, Anonymous Poet: Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken (Johannes-Passion). George Shirley, Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra [1968]
George Frideric Handel, Charles Jennens: Ev’ry valley shall be exalted (Messiah). George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Felix Mendelssohn, Julius Schubring: Be thou faithful (Paulus). George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Joseph Haydn, Nunziato Porta after Carlo Francesco Badini: Cosa vedo? Cosa sento? (Orlando Paladino). George Shirley, Antal Doráti, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne [1976]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giambattista Varesco after Antoine Danchet: Tal la stagion di Fiora… Torna la pace (Idomeneo). George Shirley, Colin Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra [1968]
Alessandro Scarlatti, Unknown Poet: Caro e dolce libertà. George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Gabriel Fauré, Armand Silvestre: Fleur jetée, Op. 39/2. George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Jules Massenet, Jules Claretie, Henri Cain: Ô bien-aimée (La Navarraise). George Shirley, Robert Lawrence, Orchestra of the New York Opera Society [live Carnegie Hall 18 Jan 1963]
Henry Purcell, Henry Heveningham: If music be the food of love. George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
James Dashow, John Ashberry: We have them all (from Second Voyage). George Shirley; Electronic sounds recorded and mixed by Michael Riesman [1981]
Howard Swanson, Langston Hughes: Night Song. George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Norman Dello Joio, Anonymous Poet: There is a lady sweet and kind. George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. George Shirley: There is a balm in Gilead. George Shirley, Wayne Sanders [ca. 1973]
Vally Weigl, Harry Woodbourne: Gardener’s Prayer (Nature Moods, No. 5). George Shirley, Stanley Drucker, Kenneth Gordon [1974]