CountertenorJ's channel

It makes it sounds so easy...and it's in a dreadful tessitura. He leaves me jealous too often.

@CountertenorJ And I have no reason to bash this woman. She is one of my favorite singers, period. That does not mean she is above flaw. That does not mean she is above the truth. And what I have said is the truth.

@CAROLIVERDI Unless poor technique settles in...then it will only get worse. It's hard to tell with young singers and demanding performance schedules until too late, in most cases.

@scorwitz Mr. Ainsley does not have aspirated coloratura. I am assuming you are more a fan of the legatissimo style of coloratura. That type of coloratura is inappropriate for most of Handelian works, due to the spiccato (not staccato) happening in the strings.

@counterman69 This sung key (d minor at A=415) is the correct key for the 1731 revival for the castrato Senesino (from which this recording comes -- Arias for Senesino). The version that is in the video is the 1711 version written for the (mezzo) soprano castrato Nicolino.

Please change the tag of this. She is in no way, shape or format an opera singer.

@allthenamesrtook It was 250 on one breath, with a sustainable length of over a minute and was attributed to the castrato Farinelli by Joachim Quantz.

@hngltn Dear thebarroque, you are comparing this singer's voice to Derek Lee Ragin's? This singer has several vocal flaws readily apparenty -- vocal tremelo and the lack of range (at the bottom) to actually sing this work. While I can respect people's opinions on what they like, comparing Ragi...

I think this is my favorite version of this aria. It's rather grisly (like it should be).

@jppx8mu9 Sadly, that's just the way it works. If it was a world-famous pianist, but a wonderful, albeit not internationally famous singer, the name of the pianist would be broadcast. We know Leontyne Price when we see her. We don't know who the pianist is by sight. If you happen to know...

@primohomme One can, indeed, go as smoothly through those registers as any other with enough training. However I disagree that you say he went through is registers "perfectly" smooth. Within a span of a few seconds, one can hear him transition from mixed upper ranges, through his head voice do...

@b0ttomzone You won't find many Phrygian cadences in the Baroque outside of Bach. He was the Stravinsky of his time.

Where is this dreadful technique? That's a sixty year old singer who happens to be one of the world's leading Baroque specialists. Sounds purty good to me.

@Arfat No. It does not. That is not opinion. That is fact.

Sadly, that is not the case. The health of a speaking voice is usually very indicative of the health of the singing voice. We also do not know exactly what anyone of note really sounded like, because all we have are words. Moreschi has a rather shrill voice at times and his lower register i...

@63striker I am an opera singer, and in college had to have four semesters worth of diction training. We were also taught that the messages of the piece is more important than "just pretty sound." Times have changed for opera singers, and she was not an opera singer. She's a musical theatre ...

@flaze3 Well, then we are at a disagreement. I want the voice to express the words accurately and the acting to set the mood. If I just want to hear pretty sound, I'll listen to a 'cello.

@1401JSC He, at no time, has a lack of "tone colour." His tone colour is always present. You do not always like it, but it is always there. As I said, you are talking about what singers call "focus." You can hold to what you said all you want. You are also wrong. Timbre is a property o...

@singerswithpresence It's what one of my teachers called "the baritone hook." It's an over-darkening of the tone done by the base/root of the tongue being pulled back into the pharynx. Over time it puts damaging weight on the larynx while singing and does eventually wear the voice out. Thi...

Speeds like this should only be attempted if the singers do not sound like a swarm of bees in the coloraturic passages.