In another of his explorations of classical gems for the pop-earred and uninitiated, Nick Smith looks at chaps heading for the high scales.
Once upon a time great singers were - cruelly - made, not born. Had they been born between the 16th and 18th century instead of the late 20th, contemporary countertenors like William Purefoy and Phillippe Jaroussky would have been created by amputating their testicles.
Historically, some males sang the impossibly high vocal part, called a countertenor or alto, because women were banned from singing sacred music. Boys' piping voices were, used but their distressing habit of growing up led to the practice of castration to retain the purity of their upper range. Many castrati were hugely popular and rich, encouraging parents to offer up their singing sons for surgery, until the practice was outlawed on the grounds of barbarism.
Purefoy, in New Zealand recently to play Arsamene in the Handel opera Xerxes, assures the same effect can be achieved with hard work and years of training. Singing countertenor, says Purefoy, is simply using the falsetto voice, which has long been a standard in heavy metal and hard rock bands like Judas Priest or Led Zeppelin. These days a generation of milder Britrock acts including Coldplay, Muse and Radiohhead all have frontmen frequently flaunting their upper registers, while across in New York, there is Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, whose second album I Am A Bird Now won Britain's Mercury Prize.
But the best pop exponent of the art of falsetto, Purefoy argues, is English star Mika, who, not coincidentally, trained as a classical singer.
Some modern countertenors have taken the art to another level. Close your eyes and listen to guys like David Daniels or Jaroussky singing alongside a soprano today and you struggle to distinguish who is female.
Countertenors like Mika and others in the classical scene still sound like men singing like women. Then there are the few who "sound just plain weird - it's an unnatural sound," comments Purefoy.
Every singer is physiologically different but sometimes vocal cords develop in unexpected ways, creating a freakish-sounding voice.
I'd wager that Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons falls in the latter, er, camp.
Not men like Daniels and Jaroussky, however, who produce an extraordinary sound: supple, rich in tone and possessing an almost liquid quality. They do sound like women but also add some indefinable quality loved by the great composers, who specifically wrote for the countertenor voice.
Fashions change and after the demise of the castrati many countertenor roles went to sopranos. It's a reflection of the revolution wrought by modern male singers that these roles are now being reclaimed.
Songs like Agnus Dei (Mass in B Minor, Bach) is one of the greatest tunes ever written, whether sung by man or woman. But there's something about the countertenor voice that better suits the song, with its "lamb of God" theme. Now countertenors are beginning to perform songs from the soprano's songbook.
At least they don't do the diva's shriek that a few sopranos still favour. The conical-breasted, helmeted Brunhilda caterwauling on stage is part of the reason general music fans don't listen to classical.
Jaroussky, on his album Heroes, sticks to songs Antonio "Four Seasons" Vivaldi originally wrote for the castrati and it is a revelation.
Mentre dormi amor fomenti (While you sleep love foments) is one of the best, and exemplifies why this is a great record.
It starts with one of those delightful string expositions of melody that on its resolution reveals this honeyed treasure of a voice that sketches out the notes of a chord and then takes flight like the bird that Antony Hegarty wishes he could be.
Jaroussky swishes down a glissando of notes better than Frank Sinatra and it is impossible not to be swept away in the sheer pleasure of the effortless motion his voice conveys.
Lowdown
CD: Heroes, Philippe Jaroussky, music by Vivaldi
Key track: Mentre dormi amor fomenti
Pop equivalent: Antony & the Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now
- TimeOut
