PODCAST

Countermelody

DANIEL GUNDLACH

Countermelody devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song.

music music commentary

All Episodes

1:42:59

Episode 388. Sopranos en détresse, Part Deux

Countermelody ·

2025/08/24

A few months ago I published the first of a series of episodes honoring “Over the Top Sopranos,” which presented French repertoire performed by a batch of supremely distressed divas. And today is a follow-up, again featuring “sopranos en détresse” in which I spread the net even wider, featuring every type of soprano from perky coloratura to hefty dramatic and everything in between. The characters represented range from reformed Alexandrian courtesans to vampiric Hungarian murderers. And the

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1:08:58

Episode 387. Zauberwelt der Oper [Black Diva Edition]

Countermelody ·

2025/08/22

I’m on holiday this week, but it would be most unGundlachian of me not to provide an episode to sustain my listeners in my absence. I recently purchased a mammoth 13-LP set on the Concert Hall Society label. The release promises a variety of excerpts that illustrate the history of opera from Monteverdi through Puccini. As such it makes use of a number of complete operatic recordings made for the now-nearly-forgotten label, as well as some impressive individual performances recorded in the early

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1:32:08

Episode 386. David Rendall in Memoriam

Countermelody ·

2025/08/18

On 21 July, the opera world lost one of its finest tenors, David Rendall, at the age of 76. Rendall began his career in the mid-seventies as a lyric tenore di grazia specializing in bel canto and in the music of Mozart. His voice expanded and deepened over the years to encompass French roles (Des Grieux, Faust, Werther), 19th century Italian repertoire from Rodolfo to Otello, and finally Wagner roles from Lohengrin to Tristan. This episode explores his origins from his earliest recordings made

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1:34:27

Episode 385. Classical Singer-Songwriters

Countermelody ·

2025/08/16

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

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1:49:45

Episode 384. Vera Little Revisited

Countermelody ·

2025/08/11

On June 3, 2024, the Berlin Senate's Department of Culture installed a memorial plaque in honor of African American contralto and Deutsche Oper star Vera Little at her former residence. Little, who lived from 1927 to 2012, and spent the majority of her adult life in Berlin, was a dazzlingly gifted singing actress who sang everything from bel canto to Carmen to creating two roles in operas by Hans Werner Henze. This episode makes use of newly-acquired recordings of Little singing Carmen and Dame

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1:20:00

Episode 383. Get to Know Carol Smith

Countermelody ·

2025/08/08

If the exceptional Illinois-born contralto Carol Smith (20 February 1926 – 06 June 2021) has previously escaped your notice, now is the perfect opportunity to get to know her better. She began her career singing the music of Bach with the legendary Bach Aria Group, founded in 1946 by philanthropist, scholar, and collector William H. Scheide. Smith then went on for further vocal training in Italy, making her operatic stage debut in 1961 in Napoli. There followed a glorious operatic career as one of

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1:32:59

Episode 382. Eine Janowitzische Geburtstagfeier

Countermelody ·

2025/08/04

If you “get” Gundula Janowitz, then you really get her, and this birthday tribute will be a delectable treat. If, however, you don’t get her, or don’t think that you get her, you might want to give this episode a try, anyway, for it focuses on her work as a Lieder singer. It is my contention that she was one of the very finest song recitatlists of the late 20th century. Like Grace Bumbry, Margaret Price, Helen Donath, and a number of others, she balanced her work in opera with superlative work on

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1:41:08

Episode 381. I Got a Name (Pride Edition)

Countermelody ·

2025/08/01

At first blush, this episode may look a bit slapdash, but it actually reflects very much where I am at this moment. It’s got a bit more of a narrative than most of my episodes do, and somehow in this story a number of different strands come together. The starting point was a Pride bonus episode I published in June 2024 exploring a rare and fascinating 1964 LP of a live recital by “female impersonator” (Mr.) Jean Fredericks that also somehow folded into the mix hidden family narratives, Gilbert

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1:40:01

Episode 380. Hermann Prey Sings Bach

Countermelody ·

2025/07/28

The esteemed, indeed beloved, German baritone Hermann Prey died seventeen years ago already on July 22, 1998. I want to remember him today by celebrating a cornerstone of his repertoire: the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. I’ve been playing a lot of Bach recently on the podcast, as his music is one of the few lifelines that I can rely upon in the chaos of today’s world. But I’ve been focusing in large part on contraltos performing his music which leaves an entire repertoire insufficiently explored

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1:37:37

Episode 379. Stuart Burrows In Duet

Countermelody ·

2025/07/25

So many great singing artists lost to the world of late! Almost a month ago now, the great Welsh tenor Stuart Burrows (07 February 1933 - 29 June 2025) left this mortal coil at the age of 92. Burrows was an artist of extraordinary technique, elegance, and sincerity and it has been an honor and a delight to put together this episode which celebrates his career. Because he was a favorite partner of so many exceptional divas, I decided to focus this episode on Burrows singing duets with some of the

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1:47:40

Episode 378. Rescue Mission III (Friends Edition)

Countermelody ·

2025/07/21

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

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1:25:40

Episode 377. Joan Caplan Memorial Tribute

Countermelody ·

2025/07/18

This past April, my former voice teacher and treasured friend Joan Caplan died at the age of 92. A few weeks ago, family and friends organized a memorial gathering for which I produced a short audio tribute, which is heard at the beginning of this episode. Before the event, we heard a number of recordings of Joan in her prime that absolutely knocked me on my ear. I was kindly given copies of these recordings from which I have fashioned an expanded episode in her honor. Most of these recordings have

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1:46:16

Episode 376. Bacquier en Récital (Bastille Day 2025)

Countermelody ·

2025/07/14

Today in honor of Bastille Day, I present an episode featuring the late Gabriel Bacquier, who considered himself an “acting singer” rather than a “singing actor.” He made his first mark as a sublime Mozart singer, from there moving into Verdi baritone parts, and finally as a supremely skilled basso buffo. What is less well-known is that he was also a superb recitalist, and in today’s bonus episode, I present him in recordings primarily from the early 1960s, but ranging into the late 1970s, which

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1:34:50

Episode 375. Gilda Cruz-Romo In Memoriam

Countermelody ·

2025/07/11

Back in December I published my first episode honoring the superb soprano Gilda Cruz-Romo, as part of my series honoring Mexican opera singers. In my research, I amassed a large number of live recordings from which I intended to cobble together a second episode in honor of her upcoming birthday. I was distracted by some family issues and, her February birthday came and went, and now, alas, Gilda is no longer with us. But to pay tribute to this exceptional artists, I have assembled a brand new

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1:51:35

Episode 374. Maureen Lehane Sings Bach

Countermelody ·

2025/07/07

Today’s episode offers music of consolation, divinely sung. On a Sunday morning back in December, freshly arrived back in New York from a challenging trip to my home state of Wisconsin, I sat down to a cup of coffee and began playing a setlist that I had created in the aftermath of my “Great Contraltos Sing Bach” episode a few weeks before. This setlist was comprised of arias from Bach cantatas sung by the British contralto Maureen Lehane (18 September 1932 – 27 December 2010) which I had discovered

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1:40:24

Episode 373. Carol Neblett: Girl of the Golden West

Countermelody ·

2025/07/04

Today is the day that the United States formerly celebrated its independence. But the events of recent months have not made me feel much like celebrating. As I racked my brain to think of an “American” (read: US-American) of whom we could be truly proud, my mind flew to Carol Neblett, one of the great (if relatively unsung) voices of the 1970s and beyond. Carol died prematurely and unexpectedly in November 2017, and from the earliest days of the podcast, it has been my intention to bring increased

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1:44:49

Episode 372. Pears Sings Not-Britten (Pride 2025)

Countermelody ·

2025/06/30

Today may be my final episode for Pride Month 2025, but it is most certainly not my final episode celebrating and affirming Pride and all our glorious forebears who preceded us! Today’s episode is a belated birthday tribute to British tenor Peter Pears (22 June 1910 – 03 April 1986), most celebrated for his long-standing romantic and musical partnership with Benjamin Britten. However, as with my recent episode celebrating the artistry of Pierre Bernac apart from his performances of the music of

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1:40:06

Episode 371. Margherita Roberti @ 100 (with August...

Countermelody ·

2025/06/27

One hundred years ago today, Margaret Jean Roberts was born at the edge of a field before her parents could reach the hospital. The story of how she became Margherita Roberti, one of the leading dramatic sopranos in Italy, and a specialist in the music of Verdi, is a fascinating tale, indeed. My guest today on Countermelody is the author, scholar, and lecturer August Ventura, who a number of years ago unearthed a 1963 documentary entitled "In the Mouth of the Wolf" which features Roberti and her

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1:18:18

Episode 370. Lesbian Concentrate and Beyond (Pride 2025)

Countermelody ·

2025/06/23

Continuing the Countermelody show of Pride for this month’s LGBTQ+ celebrations, I take a look back at the Women’s Music Movement of the mid-1970s as reflected in the 1977 Olivia Records release Lesbian Concetrate: A Lesbianthology of Songs and Poems. I present the album in its entirety, as well as providing some historical context for the release: on the history of Olivia Records as an offshoot of some earlier lesbian separatist groups; as well as the cruel and hateful legacy of Anita Bryant, who,

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1:27:36

Episode 369. Joséphine Baker Revisited (Live Edition)

Countermelody ·

2025/06/20

Yesterday was a crucial celebration for all US-Americans: Juneteenth. In honor of that event and in continuing observation of Pride 2025, I offer today an episode in honor of the great Joséphine Baker (1906 – 1975). I have been an avid (not to say rabid) Baker fan for more than thirty years, so when she was inducted by the French government into the Panthéon in the fall of 2021, I took the opportunity to devote a pair of Countermelody episodes to her. This refurbished episode includes personal

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