Purchase tn -equity —- join the 03-09!
' WC! 5-P¢cia‘5

$39“ “"1 great produce
. 30111 Vermont 35 55°” "

 

. Qilcfillnry
°‘ °d'°"in.-a bus’1°°”é

 

 

Oziiun Rivozr Cu-op

Your Community—0w:ned Grocery Store

Open 7 am - 11 pm every day 0 802-863-3659
82 South Vl/inooski Avenue, Buriington

We accept manufitcturers’ coupons - EBT cards welcome

 
  
   

....l..w. .a.-.».-.v...».».....~.~ww««.v.w.1»-.-mvwuom.

    

Top of the Line
Premium Quality

Patio Rooms

 

l4S Pine Haven Shores Rd.-
Stc. 1205, Shclhurnc
wvvw.vrrrx:onlpor<'h.cum or all 985-1020
Tucsrlay - Saturday 9-5

‘IIOIIIIIIIIIIIIOIICIOIIIIIIIIICIIIIOIIIOIIOIIIII

Are you: A Healthy,
Non-Smoking Woman
between the ages of

2l end 358 lnterested
in participating in 0
research study?

 

Participate in O clinicot research study to
determine the effect of ovarian hormones
on metabolism and Cardiovascular
disease risk. Monetary compensation

will be provided for your participation.

Please call (802) 847-8949

' _ ifinwaasxtr
.; ,. T 
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

 
   

‘IIIIIOIOIIIIIIIICIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOIIIIOIOCIIIIC
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
0
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

‘XIIIIOCICIOOIIIIDIICCIIIOIICIICICIIIICOIIIOIII

BY FRANCESCA SUSANNA

avid Daniels seems to be just
Dabout the hottest thing going

in the world of classical
singing these days. Besides being a
true countertenor - which is some-
times known as a falsetto — he is
unique because he is openly gay and
has been with his current boyfriend
since college. He is handsome in a
burly, yet boyish way and looks like a
milk-fed David Duchovny, which has
not hurt his rise to stardom, such as it
is. He has packed Carnegie Hall, gets
all the best opera roles written for his
type of voice, and has released several
well-received cds.

' Countertenors are some-
thing of a novelty in the classical

music world. It’s not that they haven’t -

existed before now, but they have not
been much recognized. Recently they
have begun to take the place of the
mezzo-Sopranos, who had taken the
place of the castrati.

The castrati were a shame-
ful but fascinating musical phenome-
non that flourished during the Baroque
era (roughly 1600-1750). At the time,
women were forbidden from the stage .
and church choirs, but the soprano
voice was nonetheless much prized.
Prepubescent boys were sometimes
picked out of boys’ choirs or sold into
musical service by desperately poor
parents, then neutered so that their
voices remained high. They took the
female parts in opera, but there were
also male parts, such as the title roles
of Handel’s Giulio Cesare and
Rinaldo, written specifically for the

 

high castrato voice.

Daniels’ latest ed, A Quiet
Thing, is an eclectic collection of
songs accompanied by a single guitar.
The songs run the gamut from
Renaissance Spain to Stephen Foster
with some English ballads thrown in.
It includes two songs that, until
Daniels’ renditions, never failed to
move me to the brink of tears:
Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and a Virginia
folk song, “Oh, Shenandoah.”

When Luciano Pavarotti
takes ‘his first breath to begin “Ave
Maria,” I am drawn immediately to a
dark stable where a frightened girl of
fourteen is about to give birth, out of
wedlock, to a messiah. Although I
don’t understand a word of the lyrics
beyond the title, “Ave Maria” does
this to me, no matter who sings it —
with the exception of David Daniels.
He is well trained, his voice is true,
and his technique is excellent, but the
song doesn’t seem to affect him. He
comes across as more concerned with
his pretty voice than with the music.

‘ _ “Oh, Shenandoah” is anoth-
er song that never fails to transport
me, to make me fall achingly in love
with a time and a place and a few peo-
ple who are no longer there and whom
I barely remember. It is a song that
opens up the cupboard doors of my
memory to reveal only a glimpse of-
all that and just for a moment. It
breaks my heart every time I hear it.
And Daniels’ singing of “Oh,

Shenandoah” breaks my heart too, but
for a different reason: its lack of pas-
sion or depth or connection.

Perhaps his voice has yet to
reach its full maturity, or perhaps he is
still too young and raw to give a song
like “Ave Maria” what it needs. His
voice is pinched when it should soar.
It holds the listener back by the elbow,
stuck in a dirty kitchen, when she "
should be transported completely, far
beyond the mundane to the glorious.
Nor does he sound like he “just hap-
pens to be singing” as a friend of mine
— the assistant musical director of a ,
theater — told a couple of the singers,
and which is the way the singer of a
folk song should sound. Perhaps he’s

' just not into the songs, but his voice

seems empty. His renditions need
something the way a fabulous dish
made of the best ingredients by a great
chef sometimes just needs salt.

If what Daniels’ copious
press says is true — that his voice is
magical, capable of amazing feats of
embellishment, that it is ‘ferocious,’
‘supple,’ ‘muscular’ - then the songs
on this cd are perhaps not the best
vehicle for such a voice. The collec-
tion as a whole is flat, it is monoto-
nous, the songs all sound the same.
The trills and rises are lackluster and
disappointing. He sounds bored, and
all the training and all the technique
and all the talent in the world can’t
make up for that. V

Francesca Susannah lives, writes, and
listens to music in Burlington.