Your favourite counter-tenor?

[matti]

I have to confess I have a blind spot here, I do admire some counter-tenors for their musicality (I have been introduced to some fine ones by someone on this board), but in a way the whole concept eludes me somewhat. These guys DO have testicles after all, why all this effort to deny the fact?

Now, a counter-tenor singing Cherubino, that would make some sense. Has this ever been done?

[knight66]

I have wondered about that Mozart role too, but as far as I know, no CT has sung it on any of the big stages, or even recorded it. The Angel in Gerontius also sounds like an interesting proposition.

I don't think professional level singing is a normal activity; I think I may have said something similar before. It is rather like an Olympic athlete being compared to someone who goes running once a week. Singing is natural, but singing like Sutherland, Borodina, Pavarotti, Terfel etc is a million miles away from that. So, I feel no stretch in accepting the counter tenor voice; which sits naturally for a lot of baritones; though the range normally sits undeveloped. It might be part of the tenor voice, but the only references I have seen to it are by singers who when using their 'usual' register are or were baritones.

Also, there was a lot that was composed for the male voice by Handel and other baroque composers which the men are now reclaiming; without the sacrifice assumed vital in the earlier era. The vocal quality is not the same, but the result is pleasing to many.

Mike

[The new erato]

These guys DO have testicles after all, why all this effort to deny the fact?

Well actually they don't sing with their balls. I find the countertenor concept completely reasonable and consistent with the aesthetics of the period.

Now, a counter-tenor singing Cherubino, that would make some sense.

This seems completely weird to me and would have Mozart turning in his grave.

[matti]

Well actually they don't sing with their balls. I find the countertenor concept completely reasonable and consistent with the aesthetics of the period.
This seems completely weird to me and would have Mozart turning in his grave.

I was referring to castrates, as you well know. I also said I admired many counter-tenors. As to Mozart, with his weird sense of humour, he'd be indeed turning in his grave, giggling.

[Wendell_E]

Now, a counter-tenor singing Cherubino, that would make some sense. Has this ever been done?

Yes.  http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/05/01/cortezmitchell/

also:  http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Lee-David-DQ.htm

and this site also mentions a couple that have done it:  http://countertenors.tripod.com/

Never mind that Beaumarchais says in the preface to the play that "This part can only be played (Ce rôle ne peut être joué), as it was, by a pretty young woman.  The stage currently boasts no young male actor mature enough to grasp all its subtelties."   

I think that now, as then, a male actor (or singer-actor) "mature enough to grasp all its subtelties" would probably look too mature for the role.

[matti]

I think that now, as then, a male actor (or singer-actor) "mature enough to grasp all its subtelties" would probably look too mature for the role.

http://www.ramifications.be/Interviews/philippe_jaroussky_ter.htm

[The new erato]

Hank Williams jr is my favorite country tenor.

[kishnevi]

Well actually they don't sing with their balls.

Au contraire...Back in the days when I took voice lessons (for a few months in college, before I realized that singing on a stage was not for me),  the first lesson I learned to was to sing as if I was singing from there.

I am a baritone, and the few times I assayed falsetto the sopranos in my collegiate chorus complained that my high C was better than theirs--although I never attempted to develop that register. 

To the point of this thread--I have a limited tolerance for counter tenors;  and for some reason some counter tenors (for instance, Michael Chance) grate on my ears in ways that others (for instance, Jarrousky) do not.   But in general, if a female singer is an available option, I'll go for the female.

[Antoine Marchand]

I posted this video some weeks ago, but I suppose this is the right place:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7KwHErv7Ryk

Unfortunately You Tube spoils the highest notes.

[zamyrabyrd]

I have to confess I have a blind spot here, I do admire some counter-tenors for their musicality (I have been introduced to some fine ones by someone on this board), but in a way the whole concept eludes me somewhat.

I agree with those who believe that Baroque music is probably the best venue for the male falsetto. The timbre resonates well with the instruments of the time and the way they were played - the recorder and lack of vibrato on strings.  Expression then was more stylized in comparison to later periods, derived from the theory and practice of the "affects". The elusive, but palpable qualities of charm and elegance are very well represented here in the "Va Godendo" by Handel sung by Valerie Masterson in English:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn1Jac2QYxs&feature=related

Having said that, I begin to tire of the perfect, but endless roulades of a Jaroussky.  As some men might miss the flirty female qualities in the above aria when sung by a countertenor, I miss the warmth of the lower range every time I hear a male falsetto.

A case in point was the weird "Jaroussky and Friends" broadcast recently on Mezzo TV.  The Barcarolle from the Tales of Hoffman is probably one of the most deceptively easy pieces to sing as the range is in a very uncomfortable part of a high female voice, the lower middle, straddling the passagio. The mix of timbres was with Dessay, no less, an ongoing, slow motion car crash. The grand finale with the singers busy checking the music in their hands was a sloppy scene. If the concert was supposed to be representative of professional singing these days, the 21st Century won't be the golden age of song either.

Jaroussky apparently is searching up the French repertoire for pieces that may suit his voice, as though a falsetto is what the original composers had in mind.  I found the "Diva de l'Empire" of Satie very campy as the Pauline Viardot "Havanaise" done in another concert.  I prefer a Souzay or Panzera in French music anytime. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78sK4f86_8M

I am not a fan of unisex in singing (or anything for that matter). I prefer the universal yin-yang (equal but different) expressed via the human voice. Vive la difference!!

ZB

[IanHowell]

Hi, if anyone is interested in learning more about how the countertenor voice works, and what differentiates a good one for a bad one, check out this article from TheCountertenorVoice.com

http://blog.counterpointspublishing.com/2011/04/countertenor-technique-an-introduction-to-concepts/

[Harry Powell]

To tell the truth, I don't like CT's at all, but I read the article with interest. Thank you.

[knight66]

Ian, Thanks for posting the link. Very interesting, especially about how to strengthen and integrate the lower end of the voice.

I am currently listening to links of your performances on Youtube. A very rounded sound and I am enjoying the pieces a great deal.

Now...found your site, lovely material. I can feel my credit card throbbing. I have hitherto only heard that Scarlatti Salve Regina sung by Janet Baker, you also bring it up as fresh as paint.

http://www.ianhowellcountertenor.com/live/

Mike