Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; February 25, 2014—Thirty-six year old, cherubic-looking Philippe Jaroussky is the only countertenor (so far) with superstar status. Unlike most in his voice category he is not an alto, either in texture or range, and while the voice is small (certainly moreso than David Daniels’ or David Hansen’s), it has a brilliant focus. Nor would he ever be mistaken for a mezzo-soprano; if anything, he comes off at first hearing (if one has not seen him and doesn’t know) as a very gifted female lyric soprano with a startlingly pure sound. Further listenings, with an ear tuned to the countertenor sound, reveal the truth: a young man who is a great artist, with an unusually high-set, bright and sweet sound. Add to this absolute control over pitch and vibrato and impeccable taste in embellishments and rubato, and yes, his superstar status makes sense.
He and the smooth-as-silk 20-strong ensemble the Venice Baroque Orchestra have been touring, and they made a stop at the Met Museum’s Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium with a program called “A Legendary Battle: Farinelli & Porpora vs Carestini & Handel”, vaguely recreating what was on view in London in the 1730s in competing opera houses. It must have been something: two of the greatest composers for the voice writing for two of the world’s greatest castrati.
Opening with an aria written for Farinelli by Porpora (“Mira in cielo”) that showcases fast runs and trills, wide leaps, and a generally excited delivery, Jaroussky dazzled. Wisely, the next selection, “Si pietoso il tuo labbro”, also a Farinelli/Porpora aria, was a lyrical piece, requiring an absolute clarity of line, even production, flawless breath control, and a full range of dynamics. After a break for Handel’s Concerto grosso Op. 6 No. 4, played, after a somewhat tentative first movement, with élan and grace by the orchestra, Jaroussky returned and sang two Handel arias composed for Carestini. The first, from Oreste, a 1734 pastiche made up by Handel from a half-dozen of his earlier operas, is another dazzler, a simile aria comparing the character to a ship on a storm-tossed sea (“Agitato in fieri tempeste”) with its attendant long roulades, dips, and drama. In 1735, with the same cast as Oreste, Handel premiered Ariodante, and Jaroussky’s next selection was “Scerza infida”, a lament with strings and mournful bassoon; the result was heartbreaking.
A superb reading of Handel’s Concerto grosso Op. 6 No. 1 followed, giving the Venice Baroque a chance to shine and interact with precision and glee. The mood changed to calm and peace when Jaroussky opened the next aria, “Alto Giove”, another Porpora/Farinelli aria (from Polifemo), a prayer of thanks to Jove from Aci, the opera’s hero. Beginning with a long-held note that Jaroussky swelled and then diminished, the aria’s 10 minutes of gentle, swaying melody, seemingly delivered in one arc and one breath, left the audience mesmerized. Not to be outdone, Handel/Carestini returned for the program’s finale, with “Sta nell’Ircana”, a wild aria from Alcina that is normally sung by a mezzo-soprano. It brought the audience to its feet. A sad, introspective encore from Merope by Geminiano Giocomelli was icing on an otherwise perfect cake. Matinee idols are hard to come by–Jaroussky is one of the new, gender-bending group.
