“Faramondo” by Handel

“Faramondo” by Diego Fasolis

Handel was a musical genius. Mozart was right. He was such skilful and masterful composer, he knew exactly when to drop a thunder bolt. And you never see it coming until you actually get hit by one. He dropped so many thunder bolts, my heart stopped so many times.

Even though his music has the great depth similar to the depth in Verdi’s music, his music never weighs you down like Verdi’s does. At the tip of his thunder bolt must have application of happy poison like an arrow of cupid. Because as soon as you get hit by one, you instantly get so euphoric.

So that’s the reason why I’ve been so happy like walking on the clouds since the first time I listen to Handel’s opera, “Faramondo” some weeks ago. As soon as I listened to it, instantly I was hooked.

This is the most gorgeous opera I’ve ever listened to. The whole album is pure beauty. And what an amazing depth it has! For three hours, while I was listening to this album with English translation in my hands, most of the time, I was so moved, I couldn’t move (knowing the meaning of songs helps to understand the depth of his music greatly even though without it, it’s still amazingly beautiful).

Countertenor, Max Emanuel Cencic sang the title hero role in “Faramondo”.  He once played the wife in psychologically and emotionally intense opera “Il Sant’ Alessio” where he sang so well and because the pain of the character was just too realistic and too close to bone, there were actual moments, I completely forgot my urge to fix his make-up (more so, because he’s a handsome guy with beautiful eyes). It’s amazing, what music can do.

His voice is very distinguishable and it has mature calm serenity, which is very similar to Andreas Scholl’s but much higher, lighter and prettier in texture with powerful force. He really has illumines, gorgeous amazing voice. This opera really showcased his voice talent fully.

His voice is well suited for the main hero who is intelligent, honest and honorable. In this opera, he sang some of the most amazing beautiful arias I’ve ever heard. Along with him, all the other singers also sang so wonderfully and so beautifully such as Philippe Jaroussky, Sophie Karthauser, Marina De Liso, In-Sung Sim and Xavier Sabata. The below is the list of my favorite arias and duet in this opera (when I actually listed all my favorites at first, there were 16 of them which are the almost all of the arias and the duets in this opera).  

Poi che pria di morire (Max Emanuel Cencic)

Se a' piedi tuoi morrò (Philippe Jaroussky)

Un'aura placida (Sophie Karthauser)

Caro, cara, tu m'accendi (Sophie Karthauser & Philippe Jaroussky)

Se Ben Mi Lusinga (Max Emanuel Cencic)

Sì Tornerò A Morir (Max Emanuel Cencic)

Virtù, che rende (Max Emanuel Cencic)

The conductor is Diego Fasolis and the ensemble is I Barocchisti. They did amazing job creating most beautiful orchestra music. Their sound is so rich and full. I really love to listen to their music more. At the end of the concert video, I liked how the conductor proudly raised the score of “Faramondo” up towards the thundering clapping audience.

Christina Pluhar/Emmanuelle Haim/Jean-Christophe Spinosi

They’re the Baroque music conductors/ music directors whom Philippe Jaroussky has frequently worked with. I’m writing about my initial impressions of their music because it’s interesting to see how their own characters can be seen through their music.

I know Christina Pluhar’s work only by her collaborations with PJ. I believe she specializes in early Baroque music (early 17^th century) like Monteverdi and the other early Baroque composers with her small assemble of Baroque musicians. Jut watching these traditional Baroque music instruments I’ve never seen before (and have no idea what they’re called) is simply fascinating.

Because she plays early Baroque music, they sound so ethnic and exotic. And the same time, there are elements in her music that sound very modern folk and modern ethnic music (I could not imagine how she was able to get New Orleans jazz out of Monteverdi’s “Ohimè Ch'io Cado”). She creates very good and very warm-hearted music. Her music reminds me the home you always long for and want to go back to.

I’ve known Emmanuelle Haim previously by her works with Rolando Villazon. I love their CD, Monteverdi’s “Combattimento” and they also produced my favorites, “D'Hipparco e di Climene Ospiti Miei” (Cavalli) and  “Si dolce è l'tormento” (Monteverdi), which are breathtakingly beautiful.

Even though Christina Pluhar and Emmanuelle Haim both play Monteverdi but yet, they sound so different and have very different feels which makes you think they were composed by two different composers.

Haim uses more Classical musical instruments and sounds much more Classical. Her music is very tight and very masculine. She could produce very raw music, which are exciting. And also she could produce very beautiful music with richness in sounds. She is very experimental and her interpretations are innovating. She is someone who can bring singers’ richness of their voices at full extent.  She also conducted and directed PJ’s CD, “Carestini” which I listen to quiet often. This CD includes probability PJ’s best songs “Scherza Infida” ((Handel) and “Mi lusinga il dolce affetto “ (Handel). I love to see her “L’Orfeo”.

I’ve known Jean-Christophe Spinosi’s works also only by his collaborations with PJ. They produced “Nisi Dominus” (Vivaldi) with pure, crisp, clear and dark tone, which is the best rendition of this song I’ve ever heard. I listened to PJ’s early rendition when he was early 20’s with a different conductor but it was not as good as this one.

Spinosi’s conducting style is very much like his own personality, catchy, athletic and energetic but also has intensive beautiful sensibility. His music has the clean feel of slashing bunch of bamboos with very sharp Samurai swords. He likes clear, crisp, agile and high-tension music with strong intonations and contrasts, which at times, could be little abrupt.

Either ways, I’ve never heard a Classical “rock’n roll” album so exciting (specially for high voice) such as “Vivaldi Heroes”. Their collaborations on Vivaldi are so amazing and just too cool. Especially “Frà le procelle “,  “Nel Profondo” and  "Sorge L'Irato Nembo" have the feel-good athleticism of Van Halen’s “Jump”(but for high voice).

One of the reasons their music is so exciting is because all three of them (Vivaldi, Spinosi and Jaroussky) bring their own athleticism and sensibility to the table by driving each other to the next extremes. Also it might be something to do with the fact that all three of them were/are violinists.

By observing the PJ’s works before and after their collaborations, I think Spinosi helped to sharpen and refine PJ’s musical sense greatly because his music became much keener after their collaborations.

Philippe Jaroussky also has his own assemble of band (I’ve never heard a opera singer who has his or her own band) using anywhere between 4 to 12 or so musicians. I believe it makes him as a music director on his own music. They’re also very good musicians and play wonderful, intimate and high quality sounds of music. He mentioned in his interview that he would like to conduct one day. I think he will make a wonderful conductor.

Vivaldi and Handel

I don't know why but I’ve always had the soft spot with Vivaldi’s string minor chords. But now I know that he composed more than these minor chords and “Four Seasons”. I didn’t even know Vivaldi or Handel wrote operas (with amazingly massive quantity amount of them, compare to the later composers) until a couple months ago. The bellows are just my initial impressions of these two biggest Baroque composers.

Vivaldi’s music is fun and exciting. Vivaldi wrote rhythmical opera tunes with very catchy melodies. There is unconditional, pure musical joy and feel-good athleticism in his music like the similar ones in Mozart’s. But listen to Vivaldi is much more like physical experience. His music strikes human senses directly. Even mellow arias like “Sol da te” or “Sent in seno” have such sensual beauty which would appeal to heart by seeping through skin.

Handel is very different from Vivaldi. If Vivaldi was Rolling Stones, Handel is the Beatles. His music has amazing emotional depth and magnificent musical beauty. In fact, the thing what I was most surprised while digging through all the Baroque music field (for treasure hunting) was the discovering of how deep Handel’s music is.

Vivaldi’s music is enjoyable even without knowing lyrics. But Handel’s music is strongly tied with the meaning of text to truly understand its emotional realism, deep intimacy and its exquisite beauty.

The man with a big wig and stately demeanor from 300 years ago in the portrait on the wall in the junior high school’s music room is not a stranger to me any more. Now I feel so close to him. I have profound admiration for him. I became forever fan of him. And I’ve scooped only the surface of his music. I really love to explore deeper.

“L’Orfeo” and “Il Sant’ Alessio”

I watched the two Baroque operas, “L’Orfeo” by Monteverdi and “Il Sant’ Alessio” by Stefano Landi staring Philippe Jaroussky recently.

In “L’Orfeo”, he sang one aria wonderfully playing very graceful La Speranza/Hope. He has wonderful stage presence. The production of “L’Orfeo” was the first rate. The hair & make-up and the costumes were moderate but very beautifully done, almost every singers looked like they just came out of a fashion magazine. The only down size was that the stage setting looked more like back stage.

Musically, it was the first rate also. All singers sang so beautifully. It is only recently I started to listen to Baroque music singers and I’ve noticed they have much lighter, airy and crystal clear voices than Puccini or Mozart singers. Often they don’t shout out loud to sing and flow of their voices sound almost effortlessly coloratura. It might be because they use less number of instruments and the Baroque music tunes are much simpler, intimate and more settled. 

I learned that “L’Orfeo” is one of the oldest operas. I don’t know why I am so attracted and fascinated by Monteverdi. I love every sound of his music.  I love Philippe’s Monteverdi as much as Rolando Villazon’s. I’m generally fond of the music in Shakespearean era (which are more like folk songs) anyway but his music is very different and so standing out. His music is very ethnic, pagan and exotic which sounds almost non-European.

“Il Sant’ Alessio” is very different from “L’Orfeo”. At the first glance of this production performed by all male casts, it is obvious that they’re trying to re-create every single details of the very first production of this opera as it was played in 1635, from the lavish costumes (which must cost fortune), the stage settings and highly stylized (in another word, highly overly cheep) acting. The some of the performers’ movements remind me the medieval religious paintings.  In a way, it was very fascinating; because while I was watching this production I had illusion I was actually there back in time.

Though I confess. It took little bit of effort to overcome the bad (authentic?) make-up job done on Max Emanuel Cencic and his little over the top acting in spite of his illuminous beautiful voice (the producer said they showed some of the performances by Tamasaburo to all the performers but I don’t think it translated well).

Other than these a few minor cosmetic issues, the production itself was much more intense than I anticipated, musically and emotionally. All the singers sang so wonderfully with such passion. I don't think Stefano Landi is big as Monteverdi in its musical scale but there are genuinely really good music and story in this opera that withstand the time.

This is a peculiar story based on the true story of Saint Alexis in the 5^th century and its religious theme might be very anachronistic to the modern moral senses.

Alexis is a young beloved son, husband and friend from the noble, disappeared suddenly and mysteriously. His parents, wife and friends are all mystified and mourn his absence. They don’t know why he disappeared or where he is or what happened to him. The only things they know is he left on his will and he fled from the searching squad in Palestine which his father sent. All through the production, they lament their agony and suffering over his absence which put them into the permanent suicidal states.

From the shadow, they’ve been watched by a beggar whom the father took in with generosity to a small space underneath staircase of his house. The beggar is actually Alexis and he came back to live there without being recognized by anyone for next 30 years.

Alexis is a searching soul dismayed by war and world and became a holy beggar for the religious salvation. His longing for salvation is so intense, he’d tried to attain it by stoicism, physical hardship and psychological torture by watching his loved ones suffer. Their torments were so great, at one point, his mother and wife tried to leave the home behind for search of him to distant dangerous lands. He talked them into not to do so with great effort but it also shook his will. Like Jesus in desert, the devil came to tempt him by telling him to go back to his family to resolve their sufferings. He struggled greatly but in the end, he was rescued by an angel and finally achieves the revelation he longed for so long. And he remained silence until his death when he finally, - in a letter he was firmly holding in his hand when he died, - told them who he was. Then explaining all what he went though and told them not to be sad but rejoice for he died happy.

Philippe played Alexis. His feature matched the role really well and I’m very impressed by his acting. He walked slowly as he carries yoke of torment and moved his arms ever so slowly as to express heaviness of his longings and sufferings. When he sang his last aria, “ O morte gradita” (Oh welcome Death) right after the revelation, is the one of these operatic moments which raw and painful emotion is exposed to the very core of bone like “Vissi d’arte” in Tosca or " Tu! tu! piccolo Iddio"in Madame Butterfly.

Philippe Jaroussky 3

I listed my personal favorite songs by Philippe Jaroussky below as part for my organizational cause. I was so used to listen to well-known operas as ‘whole set’ in Classical/Romantic eras and now PJ has too many unknown ‘singles’ in musically primitive Baroque era. When you listen to a couple hundreds of them in all Italian titles, it’s easy to lose your tracks and mind (and my playlists are already overwhelmed).

Vedro con mio diletto /Vivaldi
Scherza, Infida /Handel
L’Eraclito Amoroso /Barbara Strozzi
Cara sposa /Handel
Alto Giove /Porpora
Lascia chio pianga /Handel
Nisi Dominus /Vivaldi
Nel Profondo /Vivaldi
Frà le procelle /Vivaldi
Ciaccona di Paradiso e dell'Inferno /Anonymous
sol da te /Vivaldi
Dal tribunal d'amore /Vivaldi
Lo seguitai felice /Vivaldi
Mentre dormi, Amor fomenti /Vivaldi
Senti il fato /Porpora
Mi lusinga il dolce affetto / Handel
Ch'io Parta /Handel
Son nata a lagrimar /Handel w/Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Sì dolce è 'l tormento /Monteverdi
Lo T'abbraccio /Handel w/Nuria Rial
Zefiro torna /Monteverdi w/Nuria Rial

Philippe Jaroussky 2

Philippe Jaroussky is like a vine of potatoes. The more you pull, the more bountiful of crops just keep coming out of the uncultivated soil (Baroque music). 

He’s very much an ardent enthusiastic charming music geek. The stories he talks in interviews are very interesting and fascinating though some of them, it’s like taking musicology classes, which can go over the top of my head.

I saw very interesting scene in one of his recording session clips (aria “Pianti Sospiri”) where his singing teacher was there. At one moment while he was singing, she was giving him the hand gesture with her two pointing fingers going to the upper opposite directions like a baseball coach is sending a sign to a player during the game. And he did exactly what he was told. The top of his vocal cord separated and his voice went to the two upper opposite directions. That was very fascinating because I didn’t know a human vocal cord is capable of doing something quiet like that (she gave him thumb’s up.)

Philippe Jaroussky was not my first encounter with countertenor and I knew little about the history of castrato. So it was not really surprise for me to hear someone sing in head voice. But I guess there are some people who have trouble with it even though there are many pop/rock singers use their head voices.

Because he sings mostly cantatas or arias from male roles in operas written for castratos, many times I hear his voice as male voice. And because child-like quality of his voice, sometimes I hear voice of child. And then, because of silky beauty of his voice, there are times I hear female voice. Other times, I don’t know what he is. And it’s good. Because at this moment, he’s the only singer I don’t have to think about gender while I’m listening. I like such “neutrality” and wide inclusiveness for his voice and music have the universal appeal beyond gender, age and time.

He never seizes to amaze me. The amount of concentrative power and intensity in his music are clearly standing out when you compare the same arias sung by others. He has wonderful music instincts. He interprets, internalizes texts and scores at such level that when he expresses them, he has no fear for letting his emotions to take over: which is very important in operas, otherwise if feels fake, mechanical or monotone. Audience has to feel whatever feeling a singer expresses. And not many opera singers have this ability even though no matter how beautiful voice they have or how technically outstanding they are. In this area, Jaroussky is very original and I think this is the one of main reasons many people loves about his music. In other words, he can connect with people internally through his music.

The great example of this is his aria, “Alto Giove”. The text is simply praising and thanking the Greek God, Jupiter and while you’re listening to this very short boring text (I’ve not seen the opera yet) and simple slow quiet music, you don’t feel like it’s a great song. It is just when the moments after the last sound of the instrument of the aria disappeared into air, the sudden overwhelming emotions of joys would just burst within your soul and you heard yourself saying, “Wow! That was amazing!” It’s like you just got to the mind-blowing spiritual height of your life and you didn’t even know it until everything is over.

In the beginning, I thought this must be the result of a genius composer (Porpora). So I listened to the same aria by other singers. Some of them are good. But none of them have the same child-like, intensive spiritual quality as in Philippe’s. Every time I listen to this aria by him, my chest tightens. I have never ever been hypnotized and felt immense feelings by a song like this before.

Philippe Jaroussky

When I first listened to Philippe Jaroussky was on the video someone put up on YouTube with him and Rolando Villazon’s singing comparison of “Si dolce è l'tormento” about a year ago. 

I thought they both were wonderful. But from the pictures of him I saw around and from the fact that I heard his name often, I thought he might be one of these currently trendy hyped pop/opera singers like Sara Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. But oh, how I was wrong. Instead, I don’t say this often, I found an amazing artist.

Then I listened to his " Vedro con mio diletto" (attracted by its one and an half million views on YouTube) one day. I immediately fall in love with this Vivaldi’s emotionally hunting tune with heartbeat. And Philippe sang it beautifully, so eloquently with full of emotions. The song is the repeat of short text but he did not sing the same words in the same ways. He brought complex and conflicting emotions in so many layers to the song. Like his other songs, his songs are very detail nuanced, dramatically structured and full of deep human emotions. I like an artist like him who can bring realism and depth of humanity to his or her own art. The words and the sounds written 3~400 years ago are not old and dull words and sounds anymore. They become so real and so vivid. In “Lascia ch’io pianga”, honestly, I did not expect such level of maturity with transcendent power from someone who looks like a teenage pop star.

Until I listened to Philippe, I thought countertenor is almost extinct/barely surviving art form for I had chances to listen to only handful of countertenors in my entire life before. Many of them (except one in opera “Flight”) sang religious tunes with low, heavy and dark falsetto voices and were not particularly inspiring. So it was present surprise to hear how Philippe sings.

He has beautiful voice with bell/velvet texture, which I like in one’s singing voice. His voice is bright, light (with enough weight), agile, vibrant and warm with mezzo-soprano range but he could extend his voice to higher soprano range with gymnastic flexibility. Some of his higher notes are like laser beam or pyrotechnic fireworks with probably less colors compare to other female counterparts, which I don’t mind. I read few reviews said his voice is thin. To me, his voice is not much thinner than Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Diego Florez and Natalie Dessay.

Another misconception I had with countertenors was they’re naturally tenors in their chest voices. I was wrong. Philippe has very husky, sharp baritone voice. Think about it, Morrissey is baritone and he sings yodel and also so as others. I guess these use different vocalization techniques. I remember Rolando mentioned that his trademark song ” Una furtiva lagrima” is difficult to sing because it starts with transitional notes between head voice and chest voice.

I did not know there has been quiet wave of countertenors in this last half century. So I started to listen to other countertenors and there are quiet bit of the singers with beautiful voices. I like Andreas Scholl very much. His voice is low, heavy, beautiful, pure, serene and almost sounds like coming from another sphere. He sounds so amazing at the religious tunes. I also listened to Fabrice di Falco who inspired Philippe to sing. He has very velvety beautiful warm voice and I did see why he was inspired and “hypnotized”. They share essentially same qualities.

Philippe Jaroussky awakened my old puppy love for Baroque music. I think Baroque music appeals to modern ears. Simpler, intimate tunes, a lot of rhythm and beat. Even I said “my old puppy love”, it probably did not go beyond the average people’s knowledge of Baroque music at the level of “Four seasons” or “Ombra mai fu”. There are so many wonderful materials in Baroque music. I had never heard the name ‘Monteverdi” before and his music is so pagan and exotic. Handel always gave me the impression of big scale orthodox figure. But I discovered that he wrote a lot of great sentimental songs, which are hard to forget.

Rolando in Guadalajara, Mexico

The last June, we went to Guadalajara, Mexico to see Rolando Villazon in concert. 

I didn’t know what he’s going to sing until 3 days before the concert. It was my first Rolando experience so I hoped he’d sing some opera arias and did not know he’ll sing only the Mexican traditional popular songs. But it was not problem at all. The concert was wonderful. Bolivar Soloists played wonderfully calm, mature and intimate music. Even though they’re pop songs, Rolando sang them with his trademark passion and full operatic voice that his guts might come out (in a beautiful way). I couldn’t believe he just had very serious throat surgery! I was just in heaven by his powerful, beautiful and wonderful voice.

People in audience were so eager to talk to him. And each time he answered back, everyone laughed. Of course, we didn’t know what they’re saying to each other for we’re probably the only few non-Spanish speaking people there. But I can tell you this; I’ve been to pop, rock and classical concerts before but never seen such intimacy between musician and audience. As usual, he was beautiful to listen to and fun to look at! (Nemorino?)

We also enjoyed the city of Guadarahara. The day before the travel, we’re walking around West End in downtown Dallas sweating but in Guadalajara, the weather was so cool and so perfect. Mostly we walked around the downtown looking around so many old rundown but huge and gorgeous cathedrals and museum. What everyone said about the Mexican food was right. They’re soooo good and completely different from Tex-Mex we eat at back home in Texas. Every time I ordered a juice, it always came out as a fresh brewed. Especially I loved ‘Green Juice” which I assume the mix of cactus and other fruits. People are nice too. Mexicans in Mexico are not so dry like people in US. Good food, great music and nice people. What can you say more about Mexico? We had really wonderful time.

These experiences and Rolando’s road movie also made me want to go to other parts of Mexico. Rolando’s Mexican road movie I watched on YouTube was him speaking in English and had German voice over so I could not hear all of what he’s talking. So if anyone knows where I can find the video without the voice over, please let me know. Thank you.