This week: explore the art of the countertenor
Gramophone
Monday, March 27, 2017
To coincide with our latest issue, which features a wide-ranging interview with Philippe Jaroussky, we take a close look at countertenors past and present
In the April 2017 issue of Gramophone, Lindsay Kemp speaks to Philippe Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Cencic and Franco Fagioli about how today's countertenor's know no limits. To find out more about subscribing to Gramophone, please visit: gramophone.co.uk/subscribe. And to celebrate our latest issue, we present here a celebration of the countertenor voice, with a guide to recent recordings, a revealing interview with Iestyn Davies and – from Gramophone's archive – the last known interview with Alfred Deller, as well as an overview of his life and recordings. Countertenor Week starts here!
Gramophone recommends: outstanding recent countertenor recordings
Are we experiencing a Golden Age of countertenor singing? The recordings highlighted here would certainly seem to suggest so...
Alfred Deller's last interview: 'the best singing is natural singing'
Mike Ashman interviewed the great countertenor in Gramophone's August 1979 issue, just 11 days before Deller's untimely death...
Icon: Alfred Deller
Richard Wigmore pays tribute to the pioneering singer who revived the countertenor voice...
Iestyn Davies: countertenor with attitude
Iestyn Davies is in demand as a recitalist, opera singer and West End star. But, says Lindsay Kemp, now with a Bach disc to add to his name, this countertenor still has his feet firmly on the ground...
David Daniels on Handel's roles for countertenor
Insights into the special demands of singing Handel's music for countertenors today...
Apple Music playlist: the countertenors
Great countertenor recordings, hand-picked by Gramophone's Editor-in-Chief James Jolly...
Photograph of Iestyn Davies by Benjamin Ealovega