A Bright White Light

Just about any concert performance of Pergolesi’s  amazing Stabat Mater, I have learned, is worth going to. When you combine that with Vivaldi’s movingly lovely Gloria—and when you further add in the stellar skills of the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment, led by harpsichordist Jonathan Cohen—you are bound to have pretty much of a sure-fire evening of good music.

But what made Thursday night’s White Light program super-special, above and beyond the predictable pleasures, was the inclusion of countertenor Iestyn Davies. I have heard Davies in everything from modern music like Thomas Ades’s Tempest to an evening of John Dowland songs. I have seen him on stages as small as Poisson Rouge and as large as the Met. And I know that in addition to being a renowned singer, he is also a well-regarded stage actor. (His co-star from Farinelli, Mark Rylance, who was seated directly behind me during last night’s performance, shouted out an enthusiastic “Ies-tyn!” during the wild applause.) But I have never before heard Davies sing in pieces I love as much and know as well as the Stabat Mater and Gloria.

So it was a revelation to hear what his rich, mellow, expressive voice could bring to their live performance. He is one of those rare countertenors who never seems to have to push his voice or distort the melodic line; his diction is perfect, always audible but never intrusive; and he has a way of delaying the conclusion of a note to the last possible millisecond, without being a moment late, which adds to the thrill of his delivery. He also has a wonderful stage presence—as, for example, in the way he stood and watched the solo cellist who accompanied him in his Gloria part, as if he were receiving the instrumental music personally. For this and other reasons, I found it hard to take my eyes off him, even when he was not actually singing.

Every time I’ve heard Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater before, it featured two women, a soprano and a contralto. Having the contralto part sung by a countertenor, and in particular this countertenor, made something beautifully new of this beloved old work. As we sat in the subway on the way home, my companion commented, “If a countertenor is that good, you almost feel as if the voice is going directly up to God.” And when he (an agnostic) said this to me (an atheist), I knew exactly what he meant.