Advertise on podcast: Countermelody

I had hoped not to be bringing this episode to my listeners until many years hence. Alas, my dear teacher and mentor John Wustman, one of the most influential, pathbreaking, and inspired of all accompanists (a term he far preferred to “collaborative pianist”) died this past Thursday at the age of 95. I have already featured his magnificent artistry on countless episodes, including two devoted expressly to his superb artistry and musicianship. Rather than simply reissuing one of those episodes (or recycling an additional bonus episode already published for my Patreon supporters), I decided to focus on his work with one singer in particular, the French soprano Régine Crespin. Wustman’s work with singers such as Luciano Pavarotti and others is well-remembered and documented, but at a crucial point in his career, it was his recital work with Crespin that was (at her insistence) documented on two commercial releases of art song, both recorded in the mid-1960s, one on EMI, the other on London/Decca. These form a central part of Wustman’s recorded legacy. Today, however, I am focusing on rare live recordings of the pair in recital between 1967 and 1970, the twilight of Crespin’s prime. From these, I have chosen five different song cycles that were featured in those performances, works by Poulenc, Debussy, Milhaud, Schumann, and Hugo Wolf. These recordings have not received widespread circulation, and for that reason alone they would constitute essential listening, but what is even more exceptional is the strong musical bond between the two performers, one which emanates out to their audience in a way which is utterly remarkable. I shall be featuring further episodes with my beloved Mr. Wustman in months to come, but I am particularly honored to share these with you today, as we mourn his death and celebrate his ongoing legacy. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Greetings to all from your recently Venetianized podcaster, now (as the title of today’s episode indicates) once again back in the saddle and bringing you the fourth and final of my vacation (or holiday, if you prefer) episodes featuring great sopranos and tenors of the 1960s and 1970s, as compiled by the late great collector and vocal aficionado Ed Rosen. Today is the second of the tenor LPs from that collection and once again features a range of the brightest and best of that era in thrilling live performances: from Richard Tucker and Franco Corelli (both of whom are heard in excerpts from La Fanciulla del West) to Björling, Carreras, Bergonzi, di Stefano, Kraus, Pavarotti, Gedda, and del Monaco singing everything from Nemorino to Siegmund (!) The vocal splendor of these singers is matched by (for the most part) their musical refinement and taste. And if certain of the featured tenors forgets his musical manners, rest assured that the amplitude of their thrilling high notes is suitable compensation! Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

David and I are still on holiday in the magical city of Venice; it’s my first vist here in nearly forty years and it has been beguiling and enchanting (as well as exhausting)! Before we left, I put together yet another episode of great sopranos of the 1960s and 1970s in stunning live performances as compiled on a 1970s pirate release by Historical Recording Enterprises which I present to you here. Many of my favorites (Callas, Olivero, Scotto, Cruz-Romo, Freni), capped by an unforgettable “Casta Diva” by Shirley Verrett. Also a little celebratory commentary about the dazzling upset in the Hungarian electino last night, one which gives us perhaps a glimmer of hope for the grim situation in the United States. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Next up in my series of Countermelody “vacation episodes,” here’s the tenor counterpart of the soprano episode I published at the beginning of the week. This is the Historical Recording Enterprises mid-1970s release of the first of two issues of “Ten Top Tenors in Ten Live Performances.” Included in the mix are Carlo Bergonzi, Jussi Björling, José Carreras, Franco Corelli, Giuseppe di Stefano, and others singing favorite tenor arias from Manon Lescaut, La forza del destino, L’elisir d’amore, Tosca, among others, in live performances recorded between 1950 and 1976. The album is punctuated by my commentary on each of the individual singers, usually respectful, sometimes a little sassy. Next week you’ll hear Volume Two from the same collection, containing additional rafter-shaking favorites with similar commentary from your host! Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.  

Hello, fans and listeners! I am “Óut of the Office” for the next two weeks, hence the tongue-in-cheek title of this episode, the first of four recycled potpourri episodes bringing you four records issued on the pirate label Historical Recordings Enterprises in the 1970s. Two of them (including today’s) feature great sopranos of that era, and two of them celebrate “ten top tenors” each. A few years ago, David was preparing to downsize to a new apartment in NYC and one of my tasks was to go through his LPs. In doing so, I discovered the two soprano volumes. Low impact, perhaps, in terms of my prep level, but high calorie in terms of content! Here are some of the greatest sopranos of the 1970s (and earlier) in incendiary live performances which will leave you gasping for air (at least I was!) Included are such favorites of the Opera Queens (of whatever persuasion or orientation) as Montserrat Caballé, Leyla Gencer, Magda Olivero, Renata Scotto, and Beverly Sills in addition to such personal favorites of mine as Ileana Cotrubaș, Sylvia Sass, and Gilda Cruz-Romo. Many of these singers have been featured on their own spotlight episodes on Countermelody but the performances featured here are typical of the pirate releases of the 1970s, rare material in sometimes spotty sound but representing these sopranos at their thrilling best. There’s a lot of Verdi, but also some Puccini, Donizetti, and even Mozart. All told a thrilling and rare collection which I am thrilled to share with my pals as I step away from the mic for a couple weeks! Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.  

I have twice featured the great British bass-baritone Norman Bailey (who also sang both regular baritone and, later in his career, regular bass roles) on my podcast. The first time was on the occasion of his death in the fall of 2021 at the age of 88. The second time was a 2025 episode entitled “Norman Bailey Revisited” in which he was heard singing everything from Peter Warlock to Sigmund Romberg to the great Heldenbariton roles of Wagner and Strauss for which he was particularly celebrated. Today, in an episode appropriate for the pentitential observance of Good Friday, I present him in three different (and each, in their own way, meditative) song cycles, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, the three Michelangelo-Lieder, which were the final songs written by Hugo Wolf, and the only one of his collections which he actually considered a song cycle, and the Brahms Vier ernste Gesänge. These were featured on two different recordings of art song featuring Bailey and his frequent collaborator John Constable, recorded in 1977 and 1979. His beauty of both tone and utterance, and the humanity expressed therewith, made me realize that I had, once again, to share this great artists with you, my listeners. May Norman Bailey, the majesty and humanity of his voice, reinforced by his peerless diction and musicianship, beguile you with his well-nigh ideal performances of these song cycles. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Onelia Fineschi (1921 – 2004) was one of the finest Italian lyric sopranos of her era. Probably most famous today for having provided the singing voice of Gina Lollobrigida in a 1948 filmed version of Pagliacci, she had a wide-ranging repertoire and an up-and-down career trajectory that lasted, however, nearly 25 years. Initially I became interested in Fineschi because one of my listeners gifted me with a visually arresting Cetra LP of her 1947 recordings of various opera arias, which, upon listening, revealed an equally arresting and technically solid voice with a characteristically Italian timbre. But the more I explored what little I could about her, several issues that emerged seemed particularly relevant to Women’s History Month. For instance, many 20th century female singers had truncated careers or complicated personal lives because of the demands that their voices made upon their lives. I uncovered some ambiguous comments regarding Fineschi’s marriage to the tenor Francesco Albanese (1912 – 2005), that seemed to imply that this may have been the case with her. Furthermore, much of the standard repertoire that she sang bears out the contention of French philosopher, scholar and author Catherine Clément that opera enacts “the undoing of women.” Nearly every excerpt I play explores this theme, from the “slutty” Nedda in Pagliacci (who, we are led to believe, as a free spirit, gets what she deserves) to Tosca, Manon, Mimì, Margherita in Mefistofele, Desdemona, Leonora de Vargas, Maddalena di Coigny, and Cio-Cio-San, all of them expiring, sometimes gently, sometimes violently to the most glorious music. So apart from simply resuscitating a fine lyric soprano, this episode at least scratches the surface on the topic of women in opera from a feminist vantage point, centering around the problems of inherent misogyny and sexual abuse of women that is practically baked into the business itself. Featured voices alongside Fineschi’s include Tito Gobbi, Mario del Monaco, Giuseppe di Stefano, and Mr. Fineschi himself, Francesco Albanese. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

On my recent Edith Mathis episode, I played her singing one of Handel’s Neun deutsche Arien, a group of religious songs set to German texts by pietist poet Berthold Heinrich Brockes. A number of years ago, I created another episode featuring all nine of the arias sung by a magnificent assembly of fine baroque singers. At that time, as a pendant to that episode, I also did a bonus episode with two of the lesser-known of those singers, German sopranos Margot Guilleaume (12 January 1910 – 25 June 2004) and Adele Stolte (12 October 1932 – 27 September 2020) Guilleaume’s version was recorded in 1953, Stolte’s in 1968. If Stolte’s is a silvery voice, then Guilleaume’s has a more burnished quality. Each of them complements the other and, to keep a fair balance between the two, each are given five arias to sing, with the episode beginning and ending with the exquisite Süße Stille, sanfte Quelle, sung first by Stolte, then by Guilleaume. May this episode, guided by these two exquisite singers, be a restful and peaceful oasis in the storm of today’s world. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Today’s featured artist is, I hope, a name that some of you will at least have heard of: the French mezzo-soprano Germaine Cernay, born Germaine Pointu in Le Havre in 1900 and dying tragically young of an epileptic event in war-torn Paris at the age of only 43. Here is an artist who strikes a balance between poise and white heat, with a voice of exquisite timbre anchored by a flawless technique. Between making her debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1927 and her early retirement from her singing career the year before her death with the intention of becoming a nun, Cernay was a prodigious recording artist and a habituée of both the operatic stage and the concert platform. Today’s episode presents her in her core operatic repertoire (Debussy, Fauré, Mascagni, Bizet, Thomas, and Saint-Saëns), with a strong emphasis on the works of Jules Massenet (Werther, Don Quichotte, Thérèse, Le Cid, Hérodiade, Sapho). Cernay is also heard at the outer edges of the mélodie repertoire, singing songs by Charles Bordes, Xavier Leroux, and Georges Dandelot, alongside the more familiar Lalo, Chabrier, and Brahms, not to forget a smattering of operetta. Some of her strongest recordings feature stellar contributions by fellow singers Georges Thill, Arthur Endrèze, André d’Arkor, Roger Bourdin, and Charles Friant. In recent years, even without a sytstematic reissue of her recorded oeuvre, her reputation has only increased, and she is now recognized as a standard-bearer of the French mezzo-soprano repertoire. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.  

The rich-voiced and expressive Hungarian mezzo-soprano Júlia Hamari celebrated her 83rd birthday last November, and in honor of that event, I produced an episode which originally appeared only on Patreon, but which I bring to you today as a belated birthday tribute. I’ve put together a program that serves mostly as a tribute to her as a song recitalist (with a nod as well to her matchless accomplishment as a Bach singer). Drawing on both studio and live recordings made over the course of nearly 30 years, I feature Hamari singing the songs of Brahms, Beethoven, Haydn, Debussy, Mahler, Schubert, and Wolf, as well as the original songs and folk song arrangements of her compatriots Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. Hamari’s rock-solid technique, maple-colored voice, and musical acuity reveal her as a true and humble servant of music. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Two of the greatest and most versatile sopranos of the late 20th century, Christiane Eda-Pierre and Teresa Żylis-Gara, both departed within a year of each other in the early 2020s. They also happened to have hyphenated last names and also both bear certain artistic similarities to last week’s featured artist, Edith Mathis (who also pops up today in a cameo!) Unlike Mathis, both Eda-Pierre and Żylis-Gara were criminally underrecorded, so any material featuring these singers is even more welcome. In this episode I fill in the blanks with some exceptional live and studio recordings of both artists, including exceptionally rare material (among them a 1967 recording of Christiane Eda-Pierre singing Offrandes by Edgard Varèse and a 1973 air check of Bizet’s La jolie fille de Perth; Teresa Żylis-Gara in 1966 singing an excerpt in Polish from Emmerich Kálmán’s Gräfin Mariza and a 1977 studio recording of an early Karol Szymanowski song cycle). At least six of the recordings featured are simply not currently available anywhere else on the internet and all selections reveal both of these exceptional sopranos at the peak of their achievement. I’ll see you at the end of the week with a brand-new episode. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Today a belated memorial tribute to the beloved Swiss soprano Edith Mathis, who died in Salzburg thirteen months ago, two days before her 87th birthday. One of the most highly regarded lyric sopranos of the 1960s and 1970s, Mathis began her career in the late fifties, retiring more than 40 years later in 2001. In between she, armed with a radiant, technically secure voice allied with an understated yet powerful musicianship, set the standard for performance of Baroque music, Mozart, and Lieder, in particular. She was the quintessential German soubrette, and as such the best of her generation in roles such as Ännchen in Der Freischütz and Marzelline in Fidelio. Because of her lack of pretention and mannerism, she might sometimes be somewhat undervalued, but her artistic achievement, especially considered as a whole, is equal to any comparable singer of the last century. I have scoured my extensive Mathis collection, as well as the corners of the internet, to bring you as full a musical portrait of Edith Mathis as possible, covering nearly the entirety of her career, and including works by several of her Swiss compatriot composers. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Today’s episode serves numerous purposes: first, as a belated tribute to the great Renata Scotto and in particular her controversial assumption of the title role Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece, Norma. Second, as a memento of International Womens’ Day and Women’s History Month. The remainder of the month will feature various favorite divas in belated Countermelody tributes. In all honesty, this episode also is posted today because I have been quite ill and exhausted upon returning home to Berlin and have not had the energy to post a brand new episode. An earlier version of this episode first saw the light of day in the summer of 2020 in the first season of the podcast. Scotto is heard in some of her earliest recordings, including her first studio recording in 1954 and a live performance from Trieste of Weber’s Il franco cacciatore [AKA Der Freischütz]. Early bel canto triumphs as Adina in Elisir and Amina in Sonnambula serve as a foretaste of possibly her greatest (and certainly her most ambitious and audacious) bel canto heroine, Norma, in which she is heard in early live performances between 1963 and 1978. Fellow singers heard in this episode include Alfredo Kraus, Gianfranco Cecchele, Biancamaria Casoni, Ermanno Mauro and Tatiana Troyanos. Conductors include Giuseppe Patanè, Nicola Rescigno, Nello Santi, Fulvio Vernizzi, and Riccardo Muti. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

As a pendant to, and continuation of, my Black History Month 2026 series on Countermelody, I am pleased and honored to present to you the exquisite African American lyric soprano Klesie Kelly, who, as with numerous other singers that we have explored together this month, has made her life, career, and home abroad, in this case, Germany, where she came to pursue post-university studies in Detmold and from there simply put down roots. Though unlike me, Kelly was not born in Milwaukee, she did spend some of her formative years there, including pursuing her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In her years in Germany, Kelly was not only an active and deeply respected both on the operatic stage and the concert platform (where her performances of Bach were particularly lauded), but she also dedicated herself to the education of many of the finest singers to have come through the Musikhochschule in Köln. I have managed to unearth a number of invaluable sound documents of Klesie Kelly, including a number of recordings of Lieder and duets with instrumental obbligato accompaniment, and peerless performances of Bach cantatas, as well as a 1970 concert performance of Porgy and Bess in the Netherlands, and an ultrarare recording made during her undergraduate years in Wisconsin. Excerpts from all of these are heard on the episode, which salutes (and delivers flowers to) one of the most respected German-American musical figures of her generation. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Last week I published an episode about Black Pop Singers who emigrated to Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of these gentlemen settled in the German-speaking countries, where there was a ready market for the “otherness” and exoticism that they embodied. The one outlier on that episode was Henry Wright, born in 1933, who in the late 1950s toured Italy with Lionel Hampton’s band and elected to remain there. With a voice as suave and seductive as any of the great crooners of the 1950s and 1960s, Henry Wright first came to international prominence as the voice on the record to which Sophia Loren performed her legendary striptease in the 1962 film Ieri, oggi, domani [Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow]. He went on to make a great impact on Italian pop music throughout the 1960s. A couple years ago I began collecting the ultra-rare (and costly) records of Henry Wright, which formed the basis of two separate Countermelody episodes. Here is the second of those episodes, first published as a bonus episode nearly three years ago now, which is devoted to Henry Wright’s recordings of pop standards, most of them from the so-called Great American Songbook, but a few of them English-language adaptations of favorite songs originally in Italian. The program begins with one of Henry Wright’s first Italian recordings, which features standards by Duke Ellington and Harold Arlen. The majority of the music on the program, however, is from Henry Wright’s 1967 LP, Prisoner of Amore, in which he is joined by the doodling pianism of Romano Mussolini (youngest son of the late dictator), and the somewhat overwrought arrangements of Giulio Libano. In spite of the excesses of his colleagues, Henry Wright still manages to make a positive showing in this, (as far as I know!) his final recording. In the course of the episode, I go down a number of rabbit holes that go off in a number of interesting directions: the songs of Harry Warren, the early pop stylings of Gérard Souzay in the first flush of youth as a pop crooner on the French airwaves, and the fascinating life and times of the pre-hippie Eden Ahbez, best known as the composer of “Nature Boy,” whose further compositions were performed by (among others) the sophisticated and cosmopolitan Eartha Kitt and Ahbez himself. Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.