Episode 385. Classical Singer-Songwriters
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You’re all going to laugh at me, but that’s okay, cuz I’m I’m the one laughing hardest! I had planned an easy-peasy episode for yesterday, one which focused on two great 20th century bass-baritones who were both valued recitalists as well as composers! I’m talking about the faboo basses, Finnish Kim Borg and Dutch Robert Holl, who also happened to be fantastic recitalists.I had the recordings on my collection; I just had to put them into an episode. But of course I began meditating on the question of the classical music version of the Singer-Songwriter and suddenly the episode had gone down a very different (and much more complicated) path. I came up with some fascinating examples beyond Borg and Holl (both of whom are also heard performing their songs on the episode!) All the way back to the Renaissance era and through to an incredibly impressive array of modern-day avant garde composer/performers. For starters: Barbara Strozzi and Pauline Viardot from days long past, but also figures like the great French baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure (anyone remember “The Palms”?), and those three intrepid tenors Tito Schipa, Richard Tauber, and Jean-Paul Jeannotte, and along the way not forgetting gay icons Jules Bledsoe and Harry Partch. Moving into the present-day, we encounter astonishing women composer/performers including pathbreakers Cathy Berberian, Joan La Barbara, Diamánda Galás, Laurie Anderson, and Meredith Monk, but also those intrepid women who have both taken inspiration from their models while carving out their own paths: Gilda Lyons, Martha Sullivan, Lisa Bielawa, and Caroline Shaw, among others. I’m thrilled that many of the singers, composers, or composer/performers are also friends of mine. Among those not mentioned above, stellar singers Sarah Pillow (singing Strozzi), and Anna Tonna (singing Viardot). Don’t tell anyone, but you might even hear me singing something! Even more exciting news about this episode: There are more women composers heard here than male! Hope you didn’t mind waiting for this one a little longer than usual!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Richard Tauber, Ernst Marischka: Du bist die Welt für mich (Der singende Traum). Richard Tauber [1934]
Jean-Paul Jeannotte, Éloi de Grandmont: Sommeil (Propos intimes, No. 2). Bruno Laplante, Janine Lachance [1972]
Diamánda Galás: Panoptikon [excerpt]. Diamánda Galás, Richard Zvoner [world premiere, live Donaueschinger Musiktage 16.X.1982]
Anna Moffo, Mario Lanfranchi: Fantasticar. Anna Moffo, Billy Smith e la sua Orchestra [1964]
Barbara Strozzi, anonymous poet: Il Romeo. Sarah Pillow, Galileo’s Daughters [Mary Anne Ballard, Jennifer Peterson] [2003, remastered 2023]
Jean-Baptiste Faure: Les rameaux. Charles Cambon, Orchestra conducted by Henri Büsser [1947]
Tito Schipa: Á Cuba. Tito Schipa, Orchestra conducted by Rosario Bourdon [1925]
Jules Bledsoe: Does I Love You? Jules Bledsoe, unknown conductor and orchestra [1931]
Pauline Viardot, Jean Racine: Scène de Phèdre [edited Patricia Kleinman]. Anna Tonna, Isabel Dobarro [2021]
Kim Borg, Aleksis Kivi: Sydämeni laulu (Seven Aleksis Kivi Songs, Op. 27/6). Kim Borg, Pentti Koskimies [1979]
Robert Holl, Felix Timmermans: Der kern van alle dingen [The Core of All Things]. Robert Holl, Jozef de Bennhouwer [2015]
Martha Sullivan, Rainer Maria Rilke: Errichtet keinen Denkstein (Sonette an Orpheus). Daniel Gundlach, James Janssen [live Chicago 19.XI.2006]
Gilda Lyons, Anne Sexton: Seven Times. Gilda Lyons [live The Phoenix Concerts 27.V.2015]
Harry Partch: The Letter [1972 version] (The Wayward, Part III). Harry Partch [1972]
Cathy Berberian: Stripsody [excerpt]. Cathy Berberian [Saarländischer Rundfunk 1966]
Meredith Monk: Tablet [excerpt]. Meredith Monk, Andrea Goodman, Monica Solem, Susan Kampe, Neal Ceppos, Kaylynn Sullivan, Richard Einhorn [1979]
Laurie Anderson: O Superman [excerpt]. Laurie Anderson, Perry Hoberman, Roma Baran [1981]
Joan La Barbara: Shamansong [excerpt]. Joan La Barbara, Erika Duke Kirkpatrick, Kristina Melcher, Polly Tapia Ferber [1998]
Lisa Bielawa: Incessabili Voce [excerpt]. Lisa Bielawa, Ensemble Echappé [live]
Caroline Shaw: And So [excerpt]. Caroline Shaw, Attacca Quartet [Amy Schroeder, Andrew Yee, Nathan Schram, Domenic Salerni] [2022]
