Best DANIEL GUNDLACH Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 364. Grace Bumbry: Proud Soprano (Live Edition) 1:27:01

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1d ago1:27:01

1:27:01

It’s Pride Month, and what better time to focus on queer musical culture in all its various manifestations! As far back as I can remember, I have been an Opera Queen, and today I kick off our queer celebrations with the a tribute to one of our favorite divas, the late Grace Bumbry. The chutzpah that she demonstrated throughout her career found part…

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Episode 363. Orchestral Song of Latin America, Part 1 1:23:24

4d ago1:23:24

1:23:24

A few weeks ago I had the idea of doing a program devoted to American orchestral song. It did not take me long to realize that once again “American [that is to say, US] Exceptionalism” was distorting my viewpoint, because there is a rich legacy of orchestral song not only in the United States, but also in both Canada and Latin America. Therefore I …

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Episode 362. No More Slavery Chains 1:13:31

8d ago1:13:31

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Five years ago, I awoke to the horrifying news of the murder of George Floyd by a member of the Minneapolis Police Department. I had been working on cobbling together an episode on French Glamour, which quickly gave way instead to an impromptu episode of protest music through the ages which remains one of the Countermelody episodes of which I am mo…

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Episode 361. Russell Oberlin Revisited 1:30:16

11d ago1:30:16

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I’ve been so lucky this week to cross paths with several beloved friends and colleagues, in some cases for the first time in ages. One of those friends of many years’ standing is the legendary countertenor Drew Minter, with whom I made my very first appearances on the New York concert stage… well, a few years back now! Seeing Drew made me think not…

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Episode 360. Ben Luxon: King of Crossover 1:47:23

15d ago1:47:23

1:47:23

Benjamin Luxon, the esteemed Cornish baritone who died at the age of 87 last July, had one of the most wide-ranging repertoires of any singer of the past century, from the classical repertoire (including opera, oratorio, art song over the course of at least four centuries and in a host of languages, including work written expressly for him) through…

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Episode 359. Get to Know Hugo Hasslo 1:31:33

18d ago1:31:33

1:31:33

The earliest selection on last week’s Elisabeth Söderström episode featured the soprano at 24 singing the title role of Madama Butterfly. In that live recording, we also heard as Sharpless her compatriot the baritone Hugo Hasslo, to whom I introduced my listeners last fall. Today I dive a little bit deeper into Hasslo’s extant recordings. Consideri…

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Episode 358. Elisabeth Söderström Revisited 1:41:06

22d ago1:41:06

1:41:06

There are very few singers that mean more to me than does Elisabeth Söderström. I was first made aware of her at the tender age of ten, when I became obsessed with Pelléas et Mélisande after hearing the (at the time) brand new recording of the opera conducted by Pierre Boulez which featured Söderström and George Shirley in the title roles. Further …

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Episode 357. Faust auf Deutsch 1:39:55

25d ago1:39:55

1:39:55

Today I offer three different recordings of excerpts, sung in German, from Charles Gounod’s opera Faust, which was known in the day in Germany as Margarethe. The Germans have always regarded this work with more than a little scorn because it has so little to do with Goethe’s towering masterpiece upon which it is based. The earliest of today’s excer…

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Episode 356. Get to Know Irina Arkhipova 1:37:33

29d ago1:37:33

1:37:33

Directly after the disastrous November election in the United States, I compiled a setlist for two episodes self-explanitorially entitled “Mezzos on the Verge” and “Mezzos in Extremis.” One of the featured singers was the great Russian mezzo-soprano Irina Arkhipova, whose 100th birthday on January 2 of this year was one of the few positive things t…

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Episode 355. John Wustman (Honor Your Mentors I) 2:07:33

1M ago2:07:33

2:07:33

I have been reminded over and over again in recent weeks of the preciousness of life as numerous dear friends and family members face loss of loved ones and their own life-altering health crises. This got me to thinking about how much my mentors have shaped my life. So with this latest episode I inaugurate a new Countermelody series entitled “Honor…

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Episode 354. Get to Know April Cantelo 1:32:05

1M ago1:32:05

1:32:05

Only recently have I become fully aware of the exceptional voice and artistry of the late April Cantelo (02 April 1928 -16 July 2024). When she died last summer, I began more fully exploring her recorded output and to my surprise and delight, I found myself ranking her among the very finest 20th century British sopranos. It’s my great privilege to …

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Episode 353. Canteloube Originals 1:23:25

1M ago1:23:25

1:23:25

The composer Joseph-Marie Canteloube is primarily known for his lush orchestral arrangements of folk songs from his native Auvergne region. However, he also composed other work, including arrangements of French folk songs (from regions other than the Auvergne!) as well as original works including the lush orchestral song cycle Triptyque and a fasci…

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Episode 352. Faboo Young Singers, Part II 1:33:08

1M ago1:33:08

1:33:08

This is the second part of an episode begun last week featuring the cream of the crop of today’s young artists. As with the performers heard last week, they represent the finest opera and classical singers working today; it is my distinct pleasure (and honor) to present them to you. They include sopranos Francesca Pia Vitale and Ewa Płonka; mezzo-s…

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Episode 351. Schubert in Not-German 1:40:12

2M ago1:40:12

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I have been fascinated for years by operas performed in the vernacular, a phenomenon which was common in Germany until quite recently. Even more interesting in many ways is the performance of art song in the language of the audience. Some time ago I produced an episode featuring the Lieder of Franz Schubert performed in both French and Russian tran…

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Episode 350. Young Singers I Admire 1:11:42

2M ago1:11:42

1:11:42

Today we celebrate 350 episodes of Countermelody since the inception of the podcast in the fall of 2019. Given that this is a momentous occasion (probably mostly to me, just for sticking with this thing!), I wanted to do something special today. For some time I have been promising an episode on Young Singers I Admire. This is different than the usu…

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Episode 349. Lenten Melody 1:39:03

2M ago1:39:03

1:39:03

I’ve already done a Lententide episode devoted to contraltos singing the music of Bach, but it seemed to me that in the upheaval of today’s vengeful and war-hungry world, we could use another contemplative episode to provide us with meditative (and even tuneful!) music to calm our spirits. The tunefulness comes especially from recordings of favorit…

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Episode 348. Rescue Mission II 1:46:26

2M ago1:46:26

1:46:26

After I post a Countermelody episode on a cherished singer, my relationship with these artists continues: one of those manifestataions is that I never stop seeking out rare and unusual recordings featuring those singers. This results in a grab-bag of fascinating and often obscure material that is simply too good not to share with my listeners. Toda…

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Episode 347. Will the Real Eleanor Steber Please St/And Up? 1:44:34

2M ago1:44:34

1:44:34

Because there is no such thing as too much Eleanor Steber, today’s episode once again features the prodigiously gifted singer, in my opinion the greatest soprano the United States has ever produced, singing a dizzying range of material, most of it recorded live between the years 1958 and 1979. These recordings were nearly all private releases on St…

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Episode 346. Olive Middleton and La Puma (Alternate Universe Bel Canto) 1:35:19

2M ago1:35:19

1:35:19

Hello, Campers! Once again it is April Fool’s Day, which means that here at Countermelody, we’re doing another in my “Alternate Universe Bel Canto” series. This year the featured diva is Olive Middleton, still remembered by a certain kind of opera lover who adores fearless singers who throw caution, technique, and discretion to the winds. In the ca…

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Episode 345. A Lenten Litany of Bach Contraltos 1:39:01

2M ago1:39:01

1:39:01

Over the course of the past year, I have done a number of episodes on contraltos singing a wide range of material. Toward the end of last year, I did a program on Bach contraltos, which featured just a few of the best (and my favorite) contraltos in this genre. At the time, I had an overflowing cornucopia of material and today I have reorganized an…

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Episode 344. Mady Mesplé Revisited 1:46:35

2M ago1:46:35

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This past March 7 would have been the 94th birthday of the great French coloratura soprano Mady Mesplé. This episode begins a new series of episodes devoted to “Queens of the Night,” the surprisingly wide variety of sopranos who at one time or another sang this role. After a sampling of Mesplé singing this role (in French), we also hear back to bac…

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Episode 343. Over-the-Top Sopranos, French Edition 1:39:26

2M ago1:39:26

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As a follow-up to my Mezzos on the Verge series, which seemed to resonate with so many of you, today I present the first in a new ongoing series, Over-the-Top Sopranos. As I first began exploring this repertoire, my first thoughts were focused on Italian repertoire. But then I gave myself the challenge of focusing on the French style instead, think…

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Episode 342. Norman Bailey Revisited 1:50:41

3M ago1:50:41

1:50:41

The British bass-baritone Norman Bailey (23 March 1933 – 15 September 2021) was one of the premier Wagner singers of his generation, appearing in his signature roles (Hans Sachs, the Dutchman, and Wotan, among others) at the most prestigious festival and with the most distinguished opera companies around the world. He was also celebrated for his Ve…

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Episode 341. Robert Massard Revisited 1:47:06

3M ago1:47:06

1:47:06

A year and a half ago, I posted an episode on Robert Massard, the finest French baritone of his era, and one of the finest French baritones of all time. Today, in honor of his upcoming hundredth birthday later this year, I present him in a different repertoire (and therefore a different light). As was very much the custom of the day in French opera…

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Episode 340. Roberta Alexander: Dutch Treat 1:31:14

3M ago1:31:14

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Nothing brings me greater joy than when a deep exploration into the artistry of a favorite singer yields even more delights than I could have possibly imagined. And when I have a personal friendship with that singer, my cup truly runneth over. A week ago the music world once again celebrated the birthday of the treasurable soprano Roberta Alexander…