Derek Lee Ragin sings "A dispetto d'un volto ingrato," from Handel's Tamerlano.

[brangreen85]

Wow! Where is he now? This is the first time I've heard of him. Absolutely amazing! I won't name any names but his voice is far greater than any of the popular countertenors out there these days.

[EdmundStAustell]

@brangreen85 He certainly is wonderful....no doubt about that! You might check the web to see if he has a website...I believe he does. That might give you information about his current activities.

[Gary2837]

Simply amazing!!! Thanks for posting.

[EdmundStAustell]

@Gary2837 My pleasure; thank you for commenting!

[NaterSkates]

"I think it very likely that the male altos (and even the occasional male soprano) of today are far superior to those of two or three hundred years ago."

So the person who this aria was written custom-tailored for his voice is is a worse singer than this singer who has to change from falsetto to tenor to sing it is an is running and sliding his notes into each other? Styles and preferences change, but the chance that he's better than a castrato is slim to none.

[unpodimusica1]

@NaterSkates It would depend on the standards then and now, and the way the countertenors/male sopranos came to their voice. I'd say if they had their b... cut off their voices might be temporarily purer, but today's high male "falsetto" voices are definitely healthier and in the long run probably better. And owing to far more competition, I'd believe standards are generally higher, no matter whom the aria was written for.

[serenaluce]

@unpodimusica1 Actually,it's difficult to compare countertenors with castrati.2-3 hundred years ago there were also falsettists and castrati.What is associated with baroque and such operas like Tamerlano is about castrati.Of course, it was butchery, so it's healthier to sing as CTs now using only the most sophisticated technique to sound high,but only castrati could sound like castrati with huge range.Falsettists always existed too like PJ now whose purpose was to sing in a FLAT voice to please!

[thealessio60]

dolce morbido volluttuoso

[lara777ize]

This version Tamerlano is the best.

[EdmundStAustell]

@lara777ize Thank you! It certainly is very good....no doubt about it.

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Sorry,before saying that this version is the best have you heard Nicholas Spanos's version?I thought before that this is the best, but Ragin doesn't have such a smooth, effortless and refined technique as Spanos, though it's good too. Spanos's version is so perfect, that it's difficult to believe first that it's true:-).I couldn't believe my own ears when I first heard it and was influenced of course that if Ragin is the voice of Farinelli,he is the best. No, it's not even close:-)

[lara777ize]

@serenaluce Считаю эту версию лучшей. Великолепное исполнение. Слушала Spanos в этой арии, ни в какое сравнение с этим не идет. Я понимаю, что Вы предпочитаете Spanos всем остальным контртенорам во всем, но это лишь Ваше мнение. А Фаринелли здесь абсолютно не причем.

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Nu, togda deistvitel'no eto tol'ko vashe mnenie.Tol'ko u menya est' obe eti zapisi s Ragin i Chance, gde ya vot schitayu, chto Chance kak raz luchshii Andronico, no mogu sebe predstavit', chto Cencic budet khorosh.Tol'ko, konechno, kogda Nesi poluchaet etu rol' svoimi vyvalennymi sis'kami, khotya sovsem na etu rol' ne goditsya, to eto pornografiya,a ne iskusstvo:-)Farinelli tut prichem,potomu kak promotion deistvuet na soznanie.Ragin's technique isn't smooth and off pitch in 3d part.

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Da chto vy,ya vas i ne pytayus' pereubedit'.Znachit lichno vam golos Ragin podkhodit bol'she.Tol'ko na mnogikh deistvuet ne samoe ispolnenie,a obraz togo Farinelli is fil'ma,i gde dazhe ne Ragin poet, a computer created version, gde ego isportili vysokimi notami Godlewska.Poetomu oni ego uzhe vezde nazyvaet "God", a eshe chto iz-za Ragin nekotorye pet' stali kak CTs.No,prostite, eto zhe slishkom mnogo vibrato i v 3d part noty off pitch pokhuzhe Egorova, kotorogo vy tak kritikovali!

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Ya,kstati, tozhe nich'im fanatom ne yavlyayus', i u menya na vse tol'ko svoe mnenie. Ya byla prosto ocharovana etim peniem Ragin, i my tol'ko vernulis' s muzhem is Sochi, gde ya kupila etu zapis'.I kstati, tol'ko iz-za Ragin moya lyubimaya aria iz Tamerlano ne A dispetto, a Vuo dar pace, potomu chto eto PERVAYA, i on menya pryamo eyu srazil napoval. Ya dumala, chto luchshe byt' ne mozhet. A potom uslyshala Spanosa na YT v pervyi raz v zhizni,i ob'ektivno priznala, chto on luchshe!:-)

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Kak eto ne mozhet byt' ob'ektivnym?Voobshe,ya napisala, chto ya ego fan,a ne fanat, a eto veshi raznye.Tol'ko eto na English, a tam net razlichiya mezhdu fanatom i poklonnikom. Za neimeniem luchshego slova, mne i prikhoditsya govorit' chto ya "Spanos's fan",i Ragin's fan tozhe, i na svoem kanale ego v favourites zapisala.Tozhe,esli na russkii perevodit',budet ne to znachenie "favoirit". Ogrekhi est' u vsekh,i u Cencic tozhe,i po tekhnike i stilyu emu do Spanosa kak do neba,no great!

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize A pri tom,chto vy skazali, chto mozhete naiti u Spanosa kuchu ogrekhov, a vot pochemu-to v etoi samoi versii Ragin ikh nakhodit' ne khotite,a schitaete samoi dostoinoi na segodnyashii den'.Ya voobshe-to pointeresovalas',a slyshali li vy versiyu Spanosa,chtoby takoe utverzhdat'? Znachit,slyshali,i vas prosto Ragin tronul bol'she ispolneniem,potomu kak po tekhnike emu daleko dazhe do Cencic.A Cencic, kstati, tozhe poet Tamerlano.A kto voobshe mozhet byt' absolutno ob'ektiven v muzyke?

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Ya tozhe ne slyshala Cencic v ariyakh iz Tamerlano,tol'ko v odnom video na YT,gde oni vse v zaklyuchitel'noi stsene poyut,i tam on Tamerlano.No u menya ochen' yarkoe voobrazhenie.Cencic ochen' khorosh kak Andronico v Benche' mi sprezzi,i bol'she podkhodit dlya etoi roli s ego bolee effeminite dlya CT golosom,a ne despota Tamerlano.A vot Spanos mozhet zamechatel'no pet' oboikh.Tol'ko Nesi vidno kak rol' poluchila -svoimi sis'kami.Ya seichas mechtayu:Spanos-Anronico,Lemos­-Tamerlano!

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize A eto delo vkusa! My s vami zdes' mneniyami obmenivaemsya, a ne ubezhdaem drug druga chto-to polyubit':-). Ya by tol'ko na vashem meste naschet etoi versii ne tak kategorichno zayavila - ne chto eto na segodnyashnii den' samaya dostoinaya, a chto na vash vzglyad i na vash vkus - ona samaya krasivaya! No vy tak lyubite vsekh prosto sokrushat' naschet techniki, a zdes' takie ogrekhi, chto tushi svet! Da Ragin po tekhnike s Lemosom i Spanosom i ryagom ne valyalsya!:-)

[lara777ize]

@serenaluce Я уже говорила, что не оцениваю исполнение по принципу красиво - не красиво. И спорить с Вами в отношении Lemos - Spanos бесполезно. Они оба Ваши фавориты и Вы пытаетесь убедить всех и каждого в том, что они лучшие во всем.

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Da kogo eto vsekh i kazhdogo?Ya skazala, chto na vashem meste by prosto ne byla takoi kategorichnoi otnositel'no etoi versii Ragin.Ona -ne samaya dostoinaya! A chto,u Spanosa s ego samoi smoothest and effortless technique,ona ne dostoinaya chto li?Nado tol'ko vyskakivat' ot strasti iz shtanov i pet' nekotorye noty voobshe off pitch?A vy ne pytaetes' ubedit' vsekh i kazhdogo,chto Cencic luchshe, potomu kak kakoi-to zhurnal nazval ego golos samym krasivym?Prosto entuziazm zarazitelen:)

[lara777ize]

@serenaluce  Вы же категоричны в отношении версии Spanos, почему же я не могу быть таковой в отношении Ragin? Я читала многие Ваши комменты к разным видео и разным исполнителям и почти везде Вы противопоставляете всем либо Spanos, либо Lemos. Вы видели где-нибудь подобные мои комментарии по поводу Cencic? Я лишь однажды в видео о Фарнаке выразила свое мнение в отношении Cencic и никого не пыталась в этом убедить. Более того, неоднократно говорила, что он не всегда достаточно хорош.

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize A voprosik mozhno? Ne v plane mesti, a radi sportivnogo interesa:-). Ne vy li pervyi negative rating dali Lemos's Monteverdi piece? Uploader opredelil, chto eto byl kto-to iz Rossii, i primerno v to vremya, kak ya vam eto poslala:-) Da, znayu, chto prosila to rate and comment. Tak chto, bez obid, no chto-to uzh ochen' podozritel'no. K tomu zhe vy PJ nikogda otritsatel'nykh ratings ne daete, i dazhe khvalili ego Duetti s Cencic, a vot takoi shedevr pokhozhe prosto ne ponyali:-)...

[lara777ize]

@serenaluce Как Вы верно заметили, я даже PJ не даю отрицательных оценок, хотя его откровенно не люблю. К Lemos же просто равнодушна, стала бы я это делать? К тому же в личке я Вам писала, что "это не плохо". А "шедевр" это лишь по Вашему мнению.

[lara777ize]

@serenaluce И еще, говорите теперь, что не являетесь фанатом Лемоса или Спаноса, если бросились разыскивать того, кто посмел дать отрицательную оценку Вашему любимцу. Вы же сами говорите, что мы здесь лишь обмениваемся мнениями, почему же такая реакция? Я вообще весьма лояльно отношусь абсолютно ко всем, том числе и к PJ, и если бы Вы не втянули меня в эту дискуссию, я бы даже не упомянула ни о Лемосе, ни о Спаносе.

[serenaluce]

@lara777ize Da,plokho u vas s chuvstvom yumora:-)Ya govoryu,chto ya ne fanatka, a na English fan - poklonnitsa.My i obmenivaemsya mneniyami:esli po-vashemu nichego osobenno, to po-moemu shedevr! Esli by ya tak boyalas', chto kto-to dast moim favourites negative rating,ya by voobshe novym lyudyam ne posylala:-)Eto prosto small talk. A ya vot obychno PJ dayu otritsatel'nyi rating, potomu chto eto vsegda tak plokho, chto trudno emu nichego ne dat'!LOL Spanos tut prichmem,t.k.ego versiya DOSTOINAYA!

[tenorschofield]

Wow!!!!, he is great!!! BRAVOO!!!!

[EdmundStAustell]

@tenorschofield Again, my thanks. He is a wonderful high alto, no doubt about it.

[serenaluce]

Still wonderful to listen to this! Ragin impressed me very much first in Farinelly, Il Castrato even in that computer created articial voice and later he was the first whom I heard in this aria and it was WOW! For this I'll be always grateful to him! And also for the desire to seach other countertenor voices, different interpretations. Great artist! Some others can have a smoother , more modern technique, but he has occupied his unique place in the history of music! Bravo!

[EdmundStAustell]

@serenaluce Thank you very much, my friend. I appreciate your comment!

[piccolofred]

Bravo et merci Derek !!!

[gagehughes1]

wonderful voice

[galapagosecuador]

HE IS AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNTERTENOR !!!! :)

[EdmundStAustell]

@galapagosecuador Thank you very much! I certainly agree with you. It would seem that he has many fans out there. I have received nearly six thousand hits on this video, which is very high for a countertenor. He's very, very good!

[18aaronjames]

@galapagosecuador i must get intouch with this guy he will give me all the tips i need n e 1 know how i am a counter tennor too i am suffering i need a good teacher

[EdmundStAustell]

@18aaronjames He is managed by Colbert Artists Management. I'm sure if you google Derek Lee Ragin, you can find his homepage. Perhaps it will have an address for Colbert Management.

[solouyo]

..... quien es mi contratenor favortio ese chavo, o vitas...?? la verdad esta fuerte la competencia DX

[EdmundStAustell]

@solouyo pero que bonito tener la oportunidad de poder escoger entre gigantes, no es asi:) ?

[solouyo]

@EdmundStAustell ESO SIII , LA VERDAD VITAS ES MUY CRITICADO POR QUE SU TIPO DE VOZ ES TAN RARA QUE MUCHO DICE QUE NO ES SU VOZ REAL, PERO SI LO ES, AUNQUE EL ES MAS POPERO Y AMI ME GUSTA MAS LA OPERA JAJA

[serenaluce]

@solouyo Oh my God, why talk about Vitas on a true countertenor's video? He is just a POP SINGER performing in falsetto also some classical stuff and should be compared with Philippe Jaroussky - another POP SINGER, POP FALSETTIST singing only on HIGH notes without any depth of interpretation and any attachment to any image. To be called a CT one has to have a PROPER TECHNIQUE and all 3 REGISTERS - high, middle and LOW. PJ's a Dispetto is a very poor PARODY on Tamerlano just for LAUGHS!!!

[solouyo]

@serenaluce MIRA PARA EMPEZAR NO HABLO INGLES ASI QUE NO TE ENTENDI MUCHO, PARA SEGUIRLE VITAS NO USA FALCETE, SI ES SU VOZ REAL PERO POR EJEMPLO NO TODAS LAS VOCES SIRVEN PARA CANTAR OPERA, POR EJEMPLO BONO USA SU VOZ REAL AL CANTAR PERO NO SIRVE ESA VOZ PARA OPERA, IGUAL CON VITAS, ADEMAS EN ESTE CASO CREO QUE LE DARE EL LUGAR A DEREK YA QUE MIS GUSTOS SE INCLINAN MAS HACIA LA OPERA Y PHILLIPE RELAMENTE ES UN CONTRATENOR DE ASCO, NO TIENE UNA VOZ MUY AGRADABLE A MI GUSTO

[serenaluce]

@solouyo Thanks for your reply. Actually I'm originally from Russia and know more about Vitas. It's not his real voice like e.g. Maniaci. He uses some kind of falsetto exactly like PJ. Well, before I thought that he was promoted only as a pop singer performing some classical pieces like Ave Maria or a woman's Lucia's mad scene aria, and people understand that it's pure pop, but no, actually many think that he is a real OPERA singer and sounds like a castrato!LOL PJ is only artificially MADE CT.

[hlkearns]

God Almighty! What a voice and technique!

[EdmundStAustell]

@hlkearns Thank you! Yes, he is wonderful!

[imrepeto]

They sould not use two voices in Farinelli. His voice would have been enough!

[EdmundStAustell]

@imrepeto Yes, indeed. I agree with you. Thanks for comment.

[imrepeto]

@EdmundStAustell

Maybe Farinelli's range was wider? hmmm...

[EdmundStAustell]

@imrepeto Very hard, impossible, actually, to say. I have always been of the opinion that the highly touted castrati of the 18th century were not generally as good as the well-trained male altos of today. I see it as the ultmate triumph of technique over surgery:)

[imrepeto]

@EdmundStAustell

The problem is that we never heard that voice of a castrati. :) Did they really do it on purpose :S. They must have.

[EdmundStAustell]

@imrepeto Promising child singers were sometimes operated upon. It was not all that drastic...just a small incision and clipping the vas deferens. There used to be a saying at the time, referring to the process: "The vas deferns makes a vast difference:) It wasn't all that common. The numbers were very small. Rather more has been made of it in later centuries than need be. I suppose it's the scandalous nature of it all, etc. I don't think the reality amounted to much in fact.

[insuonfestante]

@EdmundStAustell Actually, I read somewhere that up to 5000 thousand boys would be castrated in Italy alone annually in Mozart's early age.

[EdmundStAustell]

@insuonfestante Good Lord! Can that be right?? I could, of course, be very wrong, but that sounds astonishingly high.

[insuonfestante]

@EdmundStAustell It could very well be close to the real number, given the misinterpretation originally of the Apostolic Ordain "Mulieribus taceant in ecclesiae" and then the ever more intricate and complex music composed for the church that boys would not possibly be able to perform. The whole Castrato story is complex. One other reason is that the mere operation caused those boys to grow longer limbs and wider chests, something quite rarely found in women or men of the same tessitura or not.

[insuonfestante]

@EdmundStAustell Therefore they could sing comfortably longer and more ornamented phrases with ease and softness while retaining strength that women could and cannot achieve without sacrificing brilliance and flexibility.The castrati were called soprani/alti naturali, that featured "tenere ac sonore voci" . What is more, women today sing these phrases after having trained their lungs and pectoral muscles to control breath.The castrati would not. They just sang at lung capacity.

[DrGarri]

Derek, still my very favorite Tamerlano.

[EdmundStAustell]

@DrGarri Thank you. He's mighty good, no doubt about that! I appreciate your comment.

[tamerlano236]

Very nice. Great aria. Nicholas Spanos's version is the best one.

[serenaluce]

Also, I think that only a man, in this case CT can show what Tamerlano is! A woman dressed as man and trying hard to potray this ruthless character looks and sounds just absurd to me! Before on YT they had extracts with Monica Bacelli as Tamerlano and Sara Mingardo as Andronico. To me it was just a stupid weird circus! Nowadays castrati repertoire should be left COUNTERTENORS! Women have enough to sing!... So, IMO Spanos's voice is the most BEAUTIFUL one, very little vibrato,SMOOTHEST technique!

[EdmundStAustell]

I certainly share your enthusiasm for male singers doing male roles. I have also always felt that the current male altos are very likely to be much, much better singers than the famous castrati of the 18th century, whose technique is likely to have been close to non existant. The silly popular fascination with altered males accounts for much of the interest in ancient singing. The technique of the modern singers is wonderful.

[serenaluce]

@EdmundStAustell I agree that the technique of modern countertenors is just wonderful! IMO much more superior than of those who sang 50-30 even 20 years ago. E.g. I don't like Deller. But it's just not "my" voice, and a matter of taste. Though I like Bowman very much and he is one of my one favourites like Ragin I agree that his technique already seems somewhat archaic. Thank God there are no castrati anymore, but I'm not so sure about triumph of technique over butchery as we can't compare:-)

[serenaluce]

I guess it's from that famous recording of 1985? I must admit that when I first heard it impressed me more than now. Before it just moved my heart and I didn't notice all these rough edges, but I still prefer his version to smoother Daniel's with his coloratura more like from belcanto. At least it's the right style and it's beautiful! Dumaux's version is quite good too, though he has a more feminine voice. But the best Tamerlano ever is Nicholas Spanos! PERFECT sense of style and coloratura!!!