Countertenors? opinions?!
Question: what do you think of countertenors (ie adult men who sing alto)? they're used all the time in early music and in churches, but most people have never heard of them. here are a few (!) clips
Robin Blaze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PVkj3UIP...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7d-67F_q...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qiN0-Kz0...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5KYM75zF...
Michael Chance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AQbtZ7v9...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4KmN7k3L...
Andreas Scholl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP0188n5O...
James Bowman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Bv3307x...
David Daniels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWrhalTlp...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiU9alaW_...
What do you think? strange? weird? beautiful? a racket?
Answers: what do you think of countertenors (ie adult men who sing alto)? they're used all the time in early music and in churches, but most people have never heard of them. here are a few (!) clips
Robin Blaze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PVkj3UIP...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7d-67F_q...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qiN0-Kz0...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5KYM75zF...
Michael Chance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AQbtZ7v9...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4KmN7k3L...
Andreas Scholl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP0188n5O...
James Bowman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Bv3307x...
David Daniels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWrhalTlp...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiU9alaW_...
What do you think? strange? weird? beautiful? a racket?
I absolutely adore the voices of countertenors! They have that kind of spine-tingling, soft quality in their voices... Much more ear-pleasant for me than ANY of the tenors indeed! Andreas Scholl, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Robin Blaze, Thomas Otten... ALL of them are my favourites!
I remember the first time I heard a counter tenor my freshman year of college. Someone asked if it was 'so and so (a female name)' singing and for some reason it had the quality of a boy's voice. I remember thinking, wow! That's really cool. They have a certain timbre that an alto can't imitate. It's quite a lovely richness. Definitely not a racket. Strange, yes.
~Lisa
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau? LOL. My favorite bass-baritone would be much surprised to be listed as a countertenor!
I grew up with the wonderful voice of Alfred Deller and the Deller Consort. All modern countertenors have Deller to thank for revitalizing use of this voice. You should check out some of his recordings.