Thursday, June 25, 2009

Sparks and Wiry Cries Podcast Launches - Long Live Art Song on the Internet

Training wheels for singers? No more....

Today pianist Erika Switzer and soprano Martha Guth launched Sparks and Wiry Cries, a podcast dedicated the world of the art song. Their goal is to bring awareness to an activity that is central to the art of the piano in ensemble, as well as to one of the most intimate, collaborative, and threatened genres of both piano and vocal classical music.

From the Sparks and Wiry Cries website:
The great passion in my career is the world of classical song. In conjunction with the Vancouver International Song Institute (VISI), renowned pianist Erika Switzer and I will co-host the upcoming episodes. We will look at song in a different light in episodes that will air every other week. Each podcast will be centered around a theme, and include live recordings spanning Mozart to the present day. We will also have the pleasure of including interviews with composers, musicologists and poets whose voices add a meaningful dimension to our conversations about song and performance. This podcast offers favorite repertoire, performed by ourselves and the many wonderful colleagues we have the pleasure to work with. This new generation of song singers have won international awards for excellence in their field and are currently performing in all corners of the globe. My hope is that this venue has the intimacy that the first composers of song originally had in mind, and that what has been delighting us on the concert stage can now be enjoyed in your living room. We have now Launched -Please enjoy!
Episode 1 (What Is Song) features a conversation between Erika and Martha about what art song is, how pianists and singers relate in this genre, as well as several awesome piano/vocal performances.

This is a major initiative that brings a new visibility to art song and the poetry that inspired it. To keep up with the podcast, you can check out either the Sparks and Wiry Cries website or subscribe to their RSS feed.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for starting this series of posts. As a singer, primarily of recital repertoire, I sing a lot with pianist accompaniment. I do a number of Schubert lieder pieces that are just as much piano as voice involved. I look forward to these posts, and hope to learn more about the artful combination of piano and voice.

    One minor critic of the podcast. I am not sure if you can convey this to them or not, as I didn't see a way to contact them, but the echo on the recording is way to strong. It sounds like they are talking to each other in a cave. Other than that, I really enjoyed it!

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