Altus: From Castrato To Countertenor

Philippe Jaroussky, Max-Emanuel Cencic, James Bowman, Alfred Deller, Gérard Lesne, René Jacobs, Charles Brett, Derek Lee Ragin, David Daniels, Alessandro Moreschi

Disc 1: 1 Vivaldi: “Vedrò con mio diletto" (Giustino) 5.11 2 Handel: “Frondi Tenere" … “Ombra mai fu" (Serse) 3.17 3 Vivaldi: “Stabat Mater dolorosa" (Stabat Mater) 3.18 4 Hasse: “Pallido il sole" (Artaserse) 4.03 5 Bach: “Vergnügte Ruh', beliebte Seelenlust" BWV170 6.56 6 Handel: “He was despised" (Le Messie) 11.46 7 Handel: “Sincero affetto" (Fernando) 5.18 8 Handel: “Minicciami, non ho timor" (Amadigi) 8.38 9 Handel: “Amor, tiranno Amor" (Serse) 4.26 10 Bach: “Bereite dich, Zion, mit zärtlichen Trieben" (Christmas Oratorio) 5.40 11 Handel: “O Lord, whose mercies numberless" (Saül) 3.30 12 Handel: “Conservate, raddoppiate" 4.30 13 Bach: “Agnus Dei" (Messe en si mineur) 5.27 14 Monteverdi: “Pur ti miro, pur ti godo" (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) 3.54 15 Anonyme (Henry VIII?) Greensleeves 3.13
Disc 2: 1 Pergolesi: “Stabat Mater dolorosa" (Stabat Mater) 4.41 2 Pergolesi: “Ad te clamamus" (Salve Regina) 1.02 3 Vivaldi: “Cum dederit dilectis" (Nisi Dominus) 3.51 4 Vivaldi: “Alleluia" (Longe mala, umbrae, terrores) 2.17 5 Legrenzi: “Ave Regina coelorum" 3.26 6 Vivaldi: “Cor ingrato dispietato" 3.23 7 Bach: “Et misericordia" (Magnificat) 3.21 8 Handel: “Madre… Son nata lagrimar" (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) 8.21 9 Handel: “Chi è nato alla sventure" (Admeto, re di Tessaglia) 2.34 10 Handel: “M'opporrò da generoso" (Fernando) 4.21 11 Charpentier: “Ecce quomodo" (Leçons de Ténèbres: Office du mercredi saint) 4.03 12 Mozart: “Venga pur, minacci e frema" (Mitridate) 7.04 13 Rossini: “Eccomi alfine in Babilonia… Ah, quel giorno" (Semiramide) 11.09 14 Britten: “Welcome, wanderer…I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) 4.55
Disc 3: 1 “I am a poor wayfaring stranger" (Trad.) 4.47 2 Purcell: Music for a while 3.46 3 Purcell: “Sound the trumpet, sound, till around" (Come ye sons of Art) 2.27 4 Bellini: “Malinconia, Ninfa gentile" 1.41 5 Gluck: “Ahimè! Dove trascorsi?... Che faro senza Euridice" (Orfeo ed Euridice) 5.07 6 Schubert: Ave Maria (arr. Ogden ) 4.31 7 Schubert: “Nacht und Träume" 4.02 8 Du Buisson: Plainte sur la mort de Monsieur Lambert 5.13 9 Berlioz: “Sur les lagunes" (Les Nuits d'été) 6.17 10 Orff: “Olim lacus colueram" (Carmina Burana) 3.50 11 Silent Night 3.54 12 Rossini: Duetto buffo di due gatti (Duo des chats) 2.51 13 Lesne: Maladresse 3.58 14 Anonyme: “Shenandoah" 4.30 15 Martini: “Plaisir d'amour" 3.50 16) Bonus track : the recording of the last castrato Alessandro Moreschi, recorded in 1902

The male voice hits an all-time high with this collection. Starting as far back as 1902 with the last of the castrati, Alessandro Moreschi, it comes right up to the present with Philippe Jaroussky and David Daniels. Compilation with Philippe Jaroussky, Max-Emanuel Cencic, James Bowman, Alfred Deller, Gérard Lesne, René Jacobs, Charles Brett, Derek Lee Ragin, David Daniels… Including last castrato Alessandro Moreschi recorded in 1902 30 years ago, when the boom in Baroque music was just beginning, the countertenor was an exotic species. Today, male falsettists performing in the alto and soprano register are best-selling stars, with Philippe Jaroussky, David Daniels, Max-Emmanuel Cencic and Andreas Scholl leading the way. Today, countertenors sing virtuoso music composed in the 18th century by figures such as Handel, Vivaldi and Mozart for the castrati, men ‘surgically altered’ before adolescence to preserve their pure, high voices. They went on to gain adult power, stamina and temperament while preserving the angelic tones of a choirboy. Among the great castrato names were Giovanni Carestini, Francesco Bernardi – known as Senesino, Girolami Crescentini and, above all, Carlo Boschi, alias Farinelli, the subject of a 1994 movie directed by Gérard Corbiau which became an international hit. These three CDs feature a roll-call of virtually all the leading countertenors of recent history, hailing from continental Europe, the UK and the US. Each has his own special vocal colour and style, from the very British restraint of Alfred Deller, probably the first great countertenor of the modern era, to the lushness of the American Daniels, the elegance of the Frenchman Philippe Jaroussky, the fire of the middle-European Max-Emmanuel Cencic and the clarity of the German Andreas Scholl. All these artists are exponents of ‘authentic’ performance, but – fortunately for the gentlemen in question – true authenticity is restricted to the track performed by Alessandro Moreschi. Dating from 1902 and the only known audio memento of a genuine castrato, it was recorded in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, where Moreschi sang in the choir. His sound is understandably plaintive, but – in every sense – the countertenors of Altus : from castrato countertenor bring complete male bravado (along with sensitivity) to some glorious music.