Andreas Scholl

[gareth]

Hello all,

Well, I seem to have put you off with my comments - and my unreserved apologies for the strong nature of my words which may have been offensive.

To me, the initial posts by Dave, Keith and Roger implied: the sound produced by counter-tenors in general, and by Andreas Scholl in particular (despite his artistic qualities) is unbearable, awful, weird, unnatural.

That's the impression those posts gave me when I put my initial reaction - that's still my impression of those posts now.

I considered Andreas Scholl's Last Night at the Proms performance a serene, soothing one, and a pleasure to listen to. But perhaps those are adjectives that are not normally associated with male singing - and maybe that makes people uncomfortable? Maybe the counter tenor is perceived as being feminine, and that you would expect a male to produce a masculine sound?

Anyway, I was rather shocked at the fact that 3 people expressed a view about Andreas Scholl's voice that went so completely against my own perception, and that rather put me off.

But I admit again, my subsequent reaction to it was too strongly worded.

Cheers

Gerrit

[portia]

I don't think strongly worded is the right word, more like, you were taking these attacks almost personally and you were responding in alike a manner.

Strong words is like cursing. You were just resolute to a fault, for lack of a better phrase.

As to Andreas Scholl, I haven't heard him so I can't say, but my heart is all for Domingo and Carreras.

[Natasha]

I'm going to try and listen to him, lol. I do understand why people aren't crazy about counter tenors - whenever I listen to the "Vienna Boys Choir" I think their sound is gorgeous but when I realize their guys or boys its kinda weird, lol. But their amazing talents nonetheless.

[chungchungxavier]

i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif
.........................
Wow !
You guys hate counter-tenors !?

I am so surprised !............................
You know what ?
I am sort of a counter-tenor myself . I also take classical vocal lessons . My vocal coach once asked me to sing the aria SUMMERTIME and I managed to do it .
I ended the aria with a little white-noted cadenza and my coach said that my perfromace had been fair .
I basically sing tenor but I can hit the higher notes like High D using my counter-tenor registrer .
But anyway , my singing teacher said that my voice is still developing and not mature yet .So , I'll just wait and see .


Regards

[Emma]

I personally love the sound of a counter tenor, but that may because I'm so used to hearing them. One of my friends at Uni is a counter tenor and he has a beautiful voice - he was often chosen above the other altos (counter tenor is a similar range to female alto as you probably know) in choir to take the solos as his voice was so powerful, yet pure and accessible.

Although trained as a counter tenor, when not using falsetto, Rob is also a great bass singer and fronts a rock band (not using bass range!) As I said before, I am probably only likely to enjoy counter tenors so much as I've heard them many times and am used to the timbre of the voice etc. It definitely takes some getting used to hearing a man sing the same range as an alto so I'm not surprised that some aren't too keen on it!

Emma.