False Advertising

"Michael Maniaci makes his Philadelphia debut performing Handel opera arias as they were meant to be sung: by a true male soprano. Don’t miss this consummate artist and rising star of the opera world in his first Philadelphia performance – and possibly his only appearance in such an intimate setting." (Italics mine)

Yes, Handel would have expected a "true male soprano"...castrated of course. This is a little pet-peeve of mine: people saying that countertenors or male sopranists are the same voice type as the 18th century castratos. The operatic countertenor is a modern invention intended to solve the problem of casting in operas that would have originally used castrati.

There are a few fundamental differences in vocal colour between countertenors and castratos (as far as we can tell since the last one died in the early 20th century and left recordings of questionable quality):
Countertenors lack the depth of sound in the low register that castrati had. Modern countertenors have to constantly negotiate the chest/head break in the voice. Although good countertenors can get some heft into the lower range, they have trouble getting power in the passaggio because they are trying to finesse their way into the high range. Think of the powerful middle-low voice and amazing flexibility of someone like Marilyn Horne. That's much closer to what a castrati was able to do. In addition, castrati had remarkable breath control due to their adult male ribcages and child size larynxes (i.e. lots of air going through a small space).

Also, in the 18th century, falsettists existed but not on the operatic stage. They were primarily church singers, probably closer in sound to the hooty male altos you hear in the Anglican church. Furthermore, when a composer like Handel couldn't book a castrati for an opera, a female singer would take over the role, not a countertenor. The rise of gifted singers like Andreas Scholl and David Daniels has allowed opera companies to again cast male roles for male singers. Theatrically the advantages of this are obvious. Yet, you cannot say that what Daniels does vocally is the same as what Farinelli was doing.

Incidentally, I was unable to attend to Maniaci concert due to a rehearsal across town. I would have liked to hear "a true male soprano".

Early Music?

A couple recent things have made me think again about issues of early music performance. The first is Sting's recent release of a CD of Dowland lute songs in which he accompanies himself on lute (with a little help from lutenist Edin Karamazov). I applaud Sting's willingness to stretch himself as a musician and have always liked singers who seek to exist "in the cracks" between musical genres. It's also great that a whole legion of Sting fans are finding out just how great Dowland's music is. Sadly, I don't think that Sting's recording can be considered a success. It is true that the original lute song singers (including Dowland himself) were somewhat closer in sound to a rock or folk singer than a Pavarotti-like modern opera singer. The importance of text was paramount, as was communicating the overall emotional character of the song. Still, the Renaissance singer typically had a clear voice and a certain refinement to the vocal sound. In these songs, Sting's voice often sounds dull and the words are somewhat mumbled. The result, to me, sounds like an amateur basement recording by someone who hasn't quite figured out how to sing in this style. Sting should have waited a couple of years, had a few coachings and thought more about communicating this music. You can't simply pick up a lute and expect to be an expert right away. Sorry Sting, it's going to take a bit more work to really do this music justice. Listen to singers who have worked in this idiom for a long time like Mark Padmore, John Potter or Paul Agnew if you want to hear this music come to life.

I recently took part in a concert of Bach vocal music that was unashamedly not a "historical performance". Sometimes performances with modern instruments can be exciting, as performers do not feel stuck in the early music box and a more personal musical response occurs. Historical performance should not be thought of as the only solution to this music. Still, things like massive ritards at the end of each movement, snail-like chorales, thick instrumental and vocal texture, and lack of variation in articulation can make this music muddy and dampen its intricate framework. One can still give a full-blooded modern instrument performance while respecting the structures Bach has imbedded in this music. Many of the major orchestras across the country and in Europe are able to give worthwhile performances of earlier works while still preserving their unique orchestral sound.

This performance got me thinking about the state of early music in Philadelphia. We have two very fine early music instrumental ensembles, Tempesta di Mare and Piffaro but where are the vocal ensembles? There are a few groups who regularly perform early music at varying levels of competency, but for a city this large, it's unbelievable that there is not a renowned group like the Boston Camerata or the New York Collegium. I think there are probably people in Philadelphia hungry for Handel operas, French Baroque music and English and Italian consort music. So where are the performances? I've been contemplating more and more the idea of looking northward for the opportunity to perform this music. I sort of feel stuck in a city where my particular gifts as a singer are underutilised. Do not get me wrong; there are wonderful singers working in Philadelphia. It's just that to me the diversity of performances leaves something to be desired.

You know you've made it when...

...you are a modern composer of choral music and you are mentioned on ESPN.com's 'Tuesday Morning Quarterback' football blog. This was the good fortune of the rapidly rising West Coast composer Eric Whitacre. Perhaps what is even more astounding is the fact that a CD by British vocal group Polyphony of Whitacre's choral works ranked #75 on Amazon.com's sales rankings and is currently sold-out. This makes it the current highest selling classical CD on Amazon's charts. What impresses me the most is that this isn't a CD of crossover, or a "Classics for Relaxation" type of compilation, or a release by a particularly famous performer or a recording of Beethoven symphonies. This is a release of music written in the last fifteen years by a young composer, performed by a renowned choral ensemble who most people outside of the classical music world (or even the choral music world for that matter) probably haven't heard of. Of course, Polyphony wasn't the first group to record this music, and the BYU Singers made a stellar recording of the same material in 2003. Whitacre's music elegantly balances emotional accessibility and American optimism with an astounding harmonic language and a vivid imagination (check out 'Cloudburst' or 'Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine'). His 'Sleep' has to be up there in my top-ten list of choral works I've yet to perform (That list might make an interesting post sometime later on...). Whitacre is also taking advantage of the latest trend for classical marketing, Myspace.com. This is good news. Along with all of the Met Opera stuff grabbing the headlines there is cause for optimism.