If you sing like an angel, you might as well look like one. Philippe Jaroussky, considered one of the world’s finest countertenors, came onto the stage in Hohenems, Austria, last Saturday evening with the demeanour of a celestial being: elegant, somewhat chiselled, an almost Mannerist figure, but indeed mortal (born in 1978 in Maisons-Laffitte, France). While best known for his compelling and enlivened interpretations of Baroque cantatas and operas − one only need listen to his stunning rendition of Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga” to know why – Jaroussky’s concert varied markedly from those genres. Instead, he and his superb accompanist, Jérôme Ducros, gave an emotive programme of music set to selected poems by Paul Verlaine, the early 20th century French poet.
While out of his usual repertoire, Jaroussky was by no means out of his comfort zone. He sang works composed by ten different composers, familiar names such as Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, and Saint-Saëns figuring among them. Using a virtuosic coloratura technique, his songs spilled from him like sounds from a harp, and to the words used widely: “la calme,” “mon coeur,” “l’extase,” he lent new colour each time he came across one a second or third time. He also delved into works of lesser-known composers: Reynaldo Hahn, and Joseph Szulc, for example. The ease and buttery quality of his phrasing seem to have found just the right lyric in Ernest Chausson’s appeal to listen to “La chanson bien douce” or Poldowski’s “La lune blanche, whose last line is: “Cêst l’heure exquise.” The concert was that indeed.
Verlaine’s “Green” was performed twice in two different composers’ versions, and the delightful “Mandolin” no less than three times, by Fauré, Hahn and then Poldowsi. While sentimental by today’s measure, the poem’s words slid from the singer’s mouth like honey or mead. And his expression, perfect diction and clear tonality met with a warm reception; when he ended the song with an infectious smile on “de brise,” most of the audience broke out in a chuckle along with him. Jaroussky’s is an infinitely likeable stage presence.
Countertenor, of course, is not every music listener’s darling. It is a voice indebted to the tradition of the great Italian castrati, and we are told that for every young man who enjoyed its brief success, there were hundreds of others whose careers had but the bleakest of prospects. Jaroussky’s more recent story differs widely: apart from being entirely “intact” − as many are quick to point out − he began his musical career with the violin, but took up piano before ultimately turning to singing and a conscious choice to develop his “head voice.”