This week's track is totally different. It's Stabat Mater by Pergolesi. The recording is by Andreas Scholl and Barbara Bonney. Pergolesi died when he was very young at 26 in 1736. Here the music is piercingly beautiful; see if you can always tell if it's the woman or the man singing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2zc0wTORSI Paste this into your browser. There is a one minute lead in before the voices on this track, which takes 4 minutes.
Counter tenors, or as they are sometimes called, male sopranos, have been around for a long time. Usually to produce a voice of such purity and height a nasty little operation was required. The last "Castrati" to sing in public was around 1904 and there is an actual recording of him.
The operation has not been performed on Mr. Scholl, as his ex-wife and his daughter I am sure will attest.
Other well known such singers are the late Alfred Deller and currently Michael Maniaci.
You can search for all of them and the Stabat Mater on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/index
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