I also like Daniels very much - just bought his recording (with Ian Bostridge, a tenor I'm currently exposing myself to) of Britten's Canticles - but I must admit my #1 countertenor favourite is male alto Andreas Scholl. There is such a sweetness and purity to his sound, which from all I can learn about him is entirely reflected in his personality and character - I always feel like I'm listening to a voice that is somehow the "missing link" between the human and the divine.
It's interesting to compare Scholl's GIULIO CESARE (which I have in a live recording) and Daniels'. Daniels seems to be a bit more flamboyant, a bit more of a risk-taker - yet the absolute perfection of Scholl's performances isn't, as one would expect, at all alienating - but rather tends to lift one to another plane. Scholl is sort of the countertenor equivalent of Micaela, and Daniels is the countertenor equivalent of Carmen (does that make sense?). And yet, I saw Scholl's Bertrarido on video in Handel's RODELINDA, and didn't feel at all that he was "too ethereal" or lacked either the machismo or earthiness one needs in the role. I'd really like to see more of him in opera, which is a domain he has only performed in rather rarely.
I'm developing more of an appreciation for James Bowman, though he is of that slightly earlier (and thus slightly "hootier") English countertenor "school" that was pioneered by the late, great Alfred Deller. Michael Chance is another English counter I can appreciate, but who I don't really feel passionate about.
I wish there were more solo recordings available by French countertenor Dominique Visse, whose voice is truly androgynous and quite lovely.
And then, for another supremely beautiful countertenor voice, I urge you to listen to Japanese countetenor Yoshikazu Mera.
I'm also waiting for more recent "comer" Bejun Mehta to record more.
Karen Mercedes http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html ________________________________ One must be something if one wishes to put on appearances. - Ludwig von Beethoven
|