Voice & Mystery – Pilar Lorengar

   in Opera Now (Apr, 2015)
What is the collective noun for countertenors? Perhaps a few decades ago people may have suggested a ‘hoot’, but times, taste and technique have moved on, and ‘flourish’ now seems more appropriate. Decca has avoided the question by calling its new CD The Five Countertenors. If you feel this smacks of popularism (some of us are still recovering from The Irish Tenors), please don’t let it deter you as the disc is full of treats. There is the obvious opportunity to compare differing performers in the same vocal register, and also the chance to hear music from composers such as Jommelli, Porpora and Myslivec?ek, increasingly recorded, but still hardly mainstream.

The …