2017-03-27_02 featured press

Gramophone – Gramophone recommends: outstanding recent countertenor recordings

 

2017-03-37, Gramophone, by n. N.

“Porpora Farinelli Arias

Philippe Jaroussky counterten Venice Baroque Orchestra / Andrea Marcon

(Erato)

‘Jaroussky’s rapid passagework in quick heroic arias is precise (the spectacular ‘Nell’attendere il mio bene’ from Polifemo) and Cecilia Bartoli pops up for a couple of love duets but the outstanding moments are slow arias that could have been tailor-made for Jaroussky’s sweetly graceful melodic singing (‘Le limpid’onde’ from Ifigenia in Aulide, featuring the pastoral delicacy of horns, flutes and oboes). Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra produce admirable sentimental finesse or gutsy brilliance as required.’ David Vickers (11/13)”

 

Source/Read more: [x]

 

2016-03-05_04 featured press

Met Museum – Venice Baroque Orchestra with Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky

2016-03-05, Met Museum

Venice Baroque Orchestra with Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky

The astounding young countertenor Philippe Jaroussky joined the venerable Venice Baroque Orchestra for a rare New York performance, one which delved deep into the music of the Italian Baroque.

Program
A Legendary Battle: Farinelli & Porpora vs. Carestini & Handel

Nicola Porpora
“Mira in cielo,” from Arianna e Teseo (1727)
“Si pietoso il tuo labbro,” from Semiramide Riconosciuta (1739)

George Frideric Handel
Concerto Grosso in A Minor, Op. 6, No. 4
“Agitato da fiere tempeste,” from Oreste (1734)
“Scherza infida,” from Ariodante (1735)
Concerto Grosso in G Major, Op. 6, No. 1

Nicola Porpora
“Alto Giove,” from Polifemo (autograph version of 1735)

George Frideric Handel
“Sta nell’ircana,” from Alcina (1735)

Recorded February 25, 2014

Source/Watch Video: [x]

2015-10-25 featured press

BBC Radio 3 – Early Music Late – Philippe Jaroussky

2015-10-25, BBC Early Music Late, presented by Elin Manahan Thomas

Concert at the Liceu, Oct 2013, Philippe Jaroussky, Andrea Marcon, Venice Baroque Orchestra

Elin Manahan Thomas presents a concert given at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona by the great French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky.

Source/Read more/Listen to Podcast: [x]

 

2018-03-02 featured press

Deceptive Cadence – Philippe Jaroussky And The Impossibly High Male Voice

2014-03-02, Deceptive Cadence, by NPR Staff

MUSIC MAKERS
Philippe Jaroussky And The Impossibly High Male Voice

March 2, 20144:00 PM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

NPR STAFF

Philippe Jaroussky’s new album is Farinelli: Porpora Arias.
Marc Ribes /Erato/Warner Classics

Transcript

Philippe Jaroussky cuts a masculine figure on the cover of his new album, Farinelli: Porpora Arias, but you might do a double take upon hearing the music. The arias the French opera singer performs on this release were written in the 18th century for a castrato — a boy singer castrated to retain his high singing voice through adulthood.

Jaroussky is still intact, as they say. He’s a countertenor who achieves that high pitch through vocal technique — singing in a ‘head voice,’ the way the way a female soprano would, rather than in his speaking register. It’s the reason, he says, that he’ll never sound exactly like a real castrato.

“They were sounding more brilliant than us because they are bigger. They have enormous chests, with very small vocal cords,” Jaroussky explains in an interview with NPR’s Arun Rath. “That was probably pretty impressive to hear. And we know that they could keep a sound for one, two minutes, without breathing at all. You can imagine, the impact on the audience was probably amazing.”

Jaroussky took a particular interest the music Neapolitan composer Nicola Porpora wrote for the castrato Farinelli, perhaps Porpora’s most famous pupil. Audible in the work, Jaroussky says, is a mutual understanding between teacher and student that singing is about more than just biology.

“It wasn’t enough to make the operation on a child. They were training, practicing, for many, many years. They were practicing for eight hours, 10 hours a day,” he says. “What I liked with this Porpora music, particularly, is it wasn’t based about virtuosity. I think he’s respecting Farinelli more like a musician, and not only a vocal monster.”

Jaroussky says the point of taking on this repetoire was never to emulate Farinelli — though at least one critic has needled him for not sounding enough like the master.

“I don’t want to say that I’m singing like Farinelli. That would be very pretentious,” Jaroussky says. “But I think the people, they need to hear this music! When I was a student I practiced a lot, all these technical points. But now, what matters for me is really to sing for the audience in front of me. And the audience in front of me is a modern one.”

Source/Read more/Listen to Podcast: [x]

2014-02-27 featured press

The New York Times – An Orchestra Plays Backup Band as a Countertenor Takes Center Stage

2014-02-26, The New York Times, by James R. Oestreich

There are countertenors, and then there is Mr. Jaroussky.

[…] with Mr. Jaroussky, there is scarcely a sense of anything artificial in the vocal production. He sings with an ease and fluidity that you would think could come only from a natural voice. And that is before you lay on his keen intelligence and his tremendous artistry.

[…] But there was no fault to find with the performances. In the repeats of da capo arias, Mr. Jaroussky ornaments his lines lavishly yet so smoothly and naturally that if you hadn’t just heard him sing the opening relatively straight, you wouldn’t believe he was making this up.

Read more: [x]

2014-02-04 featured press

la Croix – Philippe Jaroussky, voix d’ange et artiste prudent dans les pas de Farinelli

2015-02-04, la croix, AFP

Avec quinze ans de carrière derrière lui, ce grand gaillard au visage enfantin n’a plus rien d’un débutant, et peut déjà faire un premier bilan.

“Curieusement ma tessiture n’a pas réellement changé depuis mes débuts. C’est plutôt la manière de chanter: ma voix a gagné en projection, en largeur, en brillance”, précise l’artiste, qui subjugue le public avec ses pyrotechnies vocales — au point d’avoir été surnommé “la mitraillette”.

D’une santé vocale insolente, il assure néanmoins être très prudent. “On parle souvent de sopranos et de ténors qui vont se brûler les ailes dans un répertoire trop large pour leur voix. C’est aussi un danger pour le contre-ténor”, observe-t-il.

Source/Read more: [x]

 

2013-12 featured press

Gramophone – Arias for Farinelli

2013-12 (?), Gramophone, by David Vickers

 

Jaroussky’s rapid passagework in quick heroic arias is precise (the spectacular ‘Nell’attendere il mio bene’ from Polifemo) and Cecilia Bartoli pops up for a couple of love duets but the outstanding moments are slow arias that could have been tailor-made for Jaroussky’s sweetly graceful melodic singing (‘Le limpid’onde’ from Ifigenia in Aulide, featuring the pastoral delicacy of horns, flutes and oboes).

Source/Read more: [x]

2013-10-31_02 featured press

Núvol – Jarousskelli desferma passions al Liceu

2013-10-31, Núvol, by Ovidi de Cardona

“El Liceu ja té el seu Messi dels contratenors.”

Read more: [x]

2013-10-31 featured press

El País – El contratenor cercano

2013-10-31, El País, by Juan Angel Vela del Campo

Su canto fluía con calor, con una inconmensurable belleza serena y hasta confidencial. Era como si te cantasen directamente al oído. Tal vez por ello cautivó de una manera irresistible. Los fuegos de artificio dejaron en esta ocasión el protagonismo principal a los fuegos del alma.

 

Source/Read more: [x]

2013-10-30 featured press

El mundo – El contratenor como forma de rock star

2013-10-29, El Mundo, by Javier Blánquez

La tarde estuvo a un pelo de ser histórica precisamente por ser histérica

Jaroussky es un cantante extraordinario, su técnica es impoluta: en directo, en una sola toma y sin red, canta igual que en su último disco – Porpora arias […]

Read more: [x]