It may not compete with the adoration heaped on the 18th-century castrati, but there’s a cultish following around some of today’s countertenors, and one of those is the young Argentinian Franco Fagioli. It has been argued that the sound of a castrato was more like that of a mezzo than of the classic, pure-toned countertenor, so perhaps Fagioli’s distinctive and almost feminine sound – rich with overtones, busy with vibrato – is an apt vehicle for the music in this recital of arias written for the Naples-based divo Caffarelli.
Standing in the centre of violinist Riccardo Minasi’s ensemble – seven string players and harpsichord – Fagioli dispatched his programme with flamboyant assurance, a certain amount of indulgence, and unconventional technique. Faster passages seemed to require a rearrangement of his mouth on every note, something that the hall’s overhead stage lighting emphasised mercilessly.
Caffarelli must have made a speciality of wide vocal leaps, to judge from the aria from Porpora’s Semiramide riconosciuta with which Fagioli opened – but all the overtones in Fagioli’s sound made these notes somehow blend together, and the vocal gymnastics were less impressive than perhaps they deserved to be.
Never knowingly understated, Minasi and his musicians offered vibrant playing to underpin those gymnastics, with surging violins and thudding bass lines. But they showed a calmer, more fluid side in arias such as Hasse’s Ebbi da te la vita from Siroe, re di Persia. The instrumental contributions between arias were more than just filler: they included concertos and sonatas by little-known Neapolitan composers, among them one by Angelo Ragazzi ripping off Pergolesi’s famous Stabat Mater quite shamelessly.
Minasi duetted elaborately yet pensively with Fagioli in imitation of a nightingale in an aria from Pergolesi’s Adriano in Siria; then he led the violins in an almost overly belligerent accompaniment to Crude furie from Handel’s Serse. Fagioli ended this with a flamenco-style stamp and a flourish. His style won’t be to everyone’s taste, but he is quite a performer.
