Episode 378. Rescue Mission III (Friends Edition)
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Even after I publish a Countermelody episode on a favorite singer, I continue to collect material on them, which I then occasionally fold into a potpourri episode of vocal and musical delights. I have dubbed such episodes part of my “Rescue Mission” series and I’m tempted to call today’s episode I’m tempted to call “Friend Edition” (even though there are several good friends I’ve made in recent years who are not represented today). Be that as it may, I do love putting out such episodes, especially as it gives new listeners some idea of the range and depth of the podcast, and the joys of dipping into Countermelody’s back catalogue. For today’s episode I spread the net particularly wide, and in some cases went way back into my archives so present you with some rarities which I have programmed in such a way to take us from the despair and confusion that many of us are feeling right now into a place of both resolution and resolve to keep holding on and fighting for what is right. Today’s setlist includes many Countermelody favorites: tenors George Shirley, Peter Pears, and Jerry Hadley; baritones William Parker and Jorma Hynninen, mezzo-soprano Maureen Lehane; and sopranos Eleanor Steber, Carol Neblett, Sarah Reese, Anne Wiggins Brown, Veronica Tyler, Annabelle Bernard, Denise Duval, Lois Marshall, Gloria Davy, and April Cantelo; with appearances by other great singers who have not yet been featured in full episodes, including Franco Corelli, Sandra Warfield, Helen Watts, Émile Belcourt, Valerie Masterson, and, in memoriam, Béatrice Uria-Monzon. We hear music from César Franck, Ottorino Respighi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giacomo Puccini, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Franz Schubert, George Gershwin, Gioachino Rossini, Leonard Bernstein, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Emmanuel Bondeville, and Giacomo Meyerbeer. As always, queer artists and artists of color are prominently featured, as one of my objectives in producing this podcast is to foreground such historical artists as essential to our growth and self-awareness. If you’re just getting to know the podcast, this is as good a place to start as anywhere!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
César Franck, Édouard Blau: Le flot se lève (Rédemption, FWV 52). Béatrice Uria-Monzon, Michel Plasson, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse [1994]
Emmanuel Bondeville, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [French translation by Gérard de Nerval]: Mon coeur est lourd (Illustrations pour Faust). Denise Duval, Maurice Jacquemot [from French television program ‘Interprètes’ by Bernard Gavoty] [unknown date]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Du Bose Heyward: My Man’s Gone Now (Porgy and Bess). Anne Wiggins Brown, Johan Hye-Knudsen, Det Koneglige Kapel og Kor [The Royal Danish Orchestra and Chorus] [1949]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Ernest Ragogini: They Led My Lord Away. Veronica Tyler, Ernest Ragogini [ca. 1980]
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Yevdokya Rostopchina: И больно, и сладко [So painful, so sweet], Op. 6/3. Veronica Tyler, Charles Wadsworth [live Spoleto ca. 1970]
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, John Fletcher: Melancholy. George Shirley, Barbara Wimunc OR James Demster [1981]
Franz Schubert, Wilhelm Müller: Des Müllers Blumen (Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795/9). William Parker, Robert Merfeld [live Brattleboro VT 31.I.88]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Mein Wandel auf der Welt… Endlich, endlich wird mein Joch (Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56). Jorma Hynninen, Ed Spanjaard, Radio Kamerorkest [live Concertgebouw 11.II.1978]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Domine Deus (Mass in b minor, BWV 232). Lois Marshall, Peter Pears, Eugen Jochum, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks [1958]
Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Rossi [after Voltaire]: L’aura che intorno spiri (Tancredi). Maureen Lehane, Valerie Masterson, Frederick Marshall, Sinfonia Pro Musica [live London 23.IV.1971]
Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Zangarini, Guelfo Civinini [after David Belasco]: Io non son che una povera fanciulla (La Fanciulla del West). Eleanor Steber, Franco Corelli, Jan Behr, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live 17.I.1966]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni [after Carlo Gozzi]: Signore, ascolta (Turandot). Sarah Reese, Sarah Caldwell, Opera Company of Boston [live 13.XI.1983]
Ottorino Respighi, Alessandro Cerè [after Voltaire]: Falasar, Falasar (Semirâma). Carol Neblett, Massimo de Bernart, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo di Palermo [live 07.I.1987]
Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim: Maria (West Side Story). Jerry Hadley, John Williams, Boston Pops Orchestra [live 23.IV.1992]
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Eugène Scribe, Émile Deschamps [after Voltaire]: Un pauvre pélerin… Dernier espor, lueuer dernière… Un matin je trouvai dans mon humble logis… Dieu me guidera [sung in German] (Le prophète). Annabelle Bernard, Sandra Warfield, Heinrich Hollreiser, Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin [live 06.V.1966]
César Franck, Paul Collin: Air et choeur. Encore un jour qui fuit… En toi, mon Dieu, notre âme se confie (Rébecca). Gloria Davy, Mario Rossi, Coro e Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino [30.IV.1959]
Hector Berlioz, Humbert Ferrand: Le ciel et les voluptés (Les francs-juges). April Cantelo, Helen Watts, Émile Belcourt, Colin Davis, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers [1965]