High Life

HIGH LIFE 117 维也纳儿童合唱团的天籁童声洁净无瑕且空灵凛然，让人仿佛置身伊甸园 中，静听小天使的笑声。人类声音的原始美是如此的超凡脱俗，以至于在青春期 前将男童去势，使之成为阉伶的极端陋习，在欧洲历史上延续了数个世纪之久， 直至1903年，教皇庇护十世正式予以禁止。《我将为自己的命运缀泣》是格奥 尔格·弗里德里希·韩德尔正歌剧《凯撒大帝在埃及，HWV 17》中的著名咏叹 调，维也纳儿童合唱团的演绎美妙绝伦且极为动人。曾阐释此经典咏叹调的，包 括当代顶尖女高音、女中音及假声男高音，如芮妮·弗莱明、马格达莱娜·科泽 娜、菲利沛·雅洛斯基和弗朗哥·法吉欧利等，但合唱团的版本足以与之分庭抗 礼。 The celestial quality and virgin purity of the choir’s voice was nonpareil, reminiscent of the cherubim in the Garden of Eden, indeed the primordial beauty of the human voice without genderization. It is no wonder, although this offers no defence at all, that the hugely unsavoury practice of turning prepubescent boys into castrati continued for centuries, until it was finally and officially banned by Pope Pius X in 1903. The Vienna Boys Choir’s rendition of “ Piangerò la sorte mia ” from George Frideric Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto , HWV 17 was tear-inducing. The timeless aria has been interpreted by many virtuoso sopranos, mezzo-sopranos and countertenors alike, e.g. Renée Fleming, Magdalena Kožená, Philippe Jaroussky and Franco Fagioli, but the Choir’s version was uniquely attractive.