Tak Oda wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, Lloyd W. Hanson wrote: > > For one thing, I do not know what > > Asawa and Daniels mean by their tenor voice.
> I'm almost certain Asawa and Daniels are talking about a truly different > register (whether it is "supported falsetto" or not, I'm not sure). > Daniels in particular was training to be a Rossini tenor, and surely can > tell the difference between his tenor head voice and this other voice he > has. He specifically distinguished himself from "extended tenors" such as > Russell Oberlin (in a joint interview), by saying his countertenor is > simply not related to his tenor, that it is "a different voice". Asawa has > said pretty much the same thing as well.
I thought the list would be interested in the following article that appeared in the Washington Post a week ago about David Daniels, who recently appeared here in an art song recital. Singers might be particularly interested in his and his teacher's, George Shirley, comments about his vocal experience as a tenor vs a countertenor. BTW, anyone seriously interested in classical singing should never pass up an opportunity to hear David Daniels perform in person, whether in opera or in recital. I've had the good fortune to see him both in opera and in recital, and not only is he a wonder singer technically, he's an incredible artist.
Peggy
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One Man's Pitched Battle By John Pitcher Special to The Washington Post Saturday, September 9, 2000 ; C01
On the cover of his upcoming recording of Handel's "Rinaldo," David Daniels cuts a heroic figure. Clad in armor, he stands defiantly, clutching a very submissive and feminine-looking Cecilia Bartoli in his arms. The sheer masculinity of it all seems remarkable only because the star sings like a woman.
"I know a lot of people can't get past this sound coming from a man," remarked the 34-year-old singer, relaxing on a plush sofa this week at his home in Silver Spring. "But if people don't like it, they shouldn't buy tickets to my concerts. And believe me, if they don't want the tickets, there are plenty of people out there who do."
Tickets for just about any Daniels concert are hard to come by. Sold-out signs decorated the placards of last month's Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, where Daniels appeared with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. And tickets for his recital at the Vocal Arts Society's 10th Anniversary Concert tonight at the French Embassy in Washington have proved to be equally scarce.
Though his voice may sound unusual, at least to some American ears, it has a distinguished pedigree. Daniels is a countertenor. For hundreds of years, these male altos and falsettists have roamed the upper regions of the treble clef, singing primarily in the service of English cathedrals. The style emerged from the walls of Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in the 1940s with English countertenor Alfred Deller's now historic recordings.
Traditionally, English countertenors sang with a light, vibratoless voice that made them sound like adult choirboys. It was a pure and colorless vocal quality that was often criticized for sounding "hooty." But it resonated well within the confines of the church, even if it was unlikely to blow out the back walls of a modern opera house.
Daniels, who was initially trained as a tenor, brings a completely different approach to the art. He sings with a full-throated vibrato. His powerful voice ranges from a dusky low A to an almost translucent top A below high C--two octaves. He tosses off the most complex coloratura passages with an easy elegance, and has a commanding stage presence. A competitive amateur basketball player, lifelong Redskins fan and a self-avowed ESPN junkie, Daniels has had a lifelong interest in sports. He possesses an athletic build and GQ good looks--complete with fashionable razor stubble--that imbues his operatic roles with considerable sex appeal. He is, in short, a full-fledged opera star.
"There are actually a lot of countertenors out there who sing just as beautifully as David does," says Ira Siff, artist director of New York's La Gran Scena Opera Company. "But in achieving this level of popularity, he has really opened the door for other young countertenors. In the end, I think that might be his greatest impact."
It is the kind of help that Daniels could have used during his somewhat painful rise to the top. Born in South Carolina to parents who were both opera singers, Daniels began his studies as a boy soprano, switching to tenor after his voice broke. His dream was to become another Franco Corelli, the 20th-century Italian virtuoso who was noted for his strong, dark tenor. But it was not to be.
"I couldn't sustain that voice," Daniels remembers. "I couldn't sing notes above the staff and my voice broke all the time. It was terrible."
Daniels was already experiencing more success with his falsetto voice. So while studying at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in the '80s, he volunteered to sing as a countertenor in Handel's oratorio "Jephtha."
"I came in and sang the hell out of that piece, and in the end the only thing my teachers did was smirk and giggle," remembers Daniels, a brief look of resentment settling on his face. "As far as they were concerned, this was just a party voice. There were no countertenors in the conservatories back then, it wasn't part of the American tradition, and I never received any encouragement."
Daniels went on to pursue graduate studies with tenor George Shirley at the University of Michigan. But his problems persisted.
"His tenor was good but it was not exceptional," Shirley recalled. "He seemed miserable all the time and he called in sick a lot, missed a lot of lessons."
"It might have been psychosomatic," says Daniels. "I couldn't stand going to lessons."
So Daniels gave countertenor singing one more try. He handed Shirley a tape that he recorded at a New Year's Eve party, initially as a gag. He kept his identity secret, telling Shirley that it was just a friend who wanted an opinion.
"After a couple of minutes I asked him 'Is this you?' " Shirley remembers. "Everything was there, and all I could do at that point was encourage him. From that time on, he never got sick again, never missed a lesson, and he always came prepared, knowing exactly what he wanted to do."
In 1994 Daniels went on to make his debut performing Nero in Monteverdi's "L'Incoronazione di Poppea" at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y., and he has been in increasing demand ever since. In 1997 he became the first countertenor ever to win the Richard Tucker Award, an honor shared by such other opera luminaries as Deborah Voigt and Renee Fleming. And he has developed a special affinity for heroic baroque roles.
"If I could tell him anything, it would be to forget singing the traditional countertenor repertory," says Russell Oberlin, a countertenor and founder of the New York Pro Musica. "If I were him, I would focus on the great castrati roles. He can actually sing some of them as a soprano."
The great 18th-century castrati--Farinelli, Senesino--were the most spectacular singers of their day. They were veritable singing machines who could take an F above high C and then extemporize an extended vocal cadenza on just one breath. Handel wrote some of his most heroic and challenging roles for these singers. The abominable practice of castrating young singers died out after the 19th century. And the old Handel roles, when they were performed at all, were almost always taken by women, usually mezzo-sopranos.
Now that the period-instrument movement has revived many of Handel's forgotten operas, there is a new demand for singers who can perform the old castrati roles. Daniels fits the bill.
"That's the great thing about having someone like David around," says Nicholas McGegan, conductor of the San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. "It's more convincing for an audience to see David performing Julius Caesar rather than some mezzo in drag."
-- Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA "Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile" mailto:peggyh@i...
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