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.
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.
posted by MV at
9:17 PM
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