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From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Thu Jan 9, 2003  3:19 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Did Somebody Mention Counter-Tenors???!!!

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





  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
21827 Re: Did Somebody Mention Counter-Tenors???!!!Colin Reedcolin_reeduk Thu  1/9/2003  
21834 Re: Did Somebody Mention Counter-Tenors???!!!Edward Norton  Thu  1/9/2003  
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