13 Apr 2006

Andreas Scholl at Zankel Hall

On 11 April 2006, Andreas Scholl appeared at Zankel Hall, one of the performance venues in New York's famous Carnegie Hall. According to Carnegie Hall: "On this program, we span a wonderfully diverse variety of music from a variety of places, sung by one of the world’s leading countertenors.

From the late Middle Ages in Germany, we jump to the early 17th century in Italy and England, where we linger for a while to sample Purcell’s songs and some of Haydn’s London songs to words by a British bluestocking. We end the first half with a beautifully stratospheric Mozart aria and one of his few but choice songs, the gemlike "Abendempfindung," in which one can find no less than the ultimate meaning of both life and death. Time-travel in the second half of the program sends us back to the high baroque, where we sample the operatic glories of Handel and Lotti, and the chamber music of the Venetian red-haired priest Antonio Vivaldi, who did compose music other than the Four Seasons concertos." Here are two reviews.

Countertenor Andreas Scholl Sings Songs From Baroque to Handel and Mozart
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI [NY Times, 13 April 2006]

The popular German countertenor Andreas Scholl received his early training as a member of a professional boys' choir, and there is still choirboy purity in his singing. His pitch is perfectly focused, his sound tender and radiant. Moreover, at 38, this wholesomely handsome artist still has a boyishly eager stage presence.

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Whoops and Cheers for a Countertenor Star
By JAY NORDLINGER [NY Sun, 13 April 2006]

Not so long ago, a recital by a countertenor would have been unusual. These days, however, countertenors are almost as common as mezzo-sopranos. And one of our most prominent countertenors gave a recital in Zankel Hall on Tuesday night.

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