Margaret Mikulska wrote:

>I'm rather disappointed with the new Herreweghe.  The worst is the bass
>singing the arias: it's quite a feat to sing through one's clenched teeth,
>as he obviously does all the time.  The result is extremely ugly.  Who is
>this singer and why did they let him anywhere near the microphone? I
>preferred the first Herreweghe, frankly.

The bass singer is Dietrich Henschel who Herreweghe also uses in his
version of Beethoven's 9th symphony.  Clenched Teeth? Well, he does tend
to have a somewhat menacing voice, but that's not so bad for a bass singer.
Although I wouldn't rate Henschel as one of the best Baroque basses I've
heard, I do find his singing idiomatic and fairly attractive.  And, some
adjusting of equalizer controls can soften his tone substantially.

In Herreweghe's first recording of the SMP, Peter Kooy is the bass soloist.
I just compared the two.  Kooy does have a more attractive tone, but
Henschel has more "bounce" to his voice.  If Kooy is better, it isn't by
much.  Just my opinion.

The first Herreweghe should definitely not be discarded in favor of the
2nd set.  It has a "rawness" which I always find enticing, and Herreweghe's
conception of the work is similar in both versions.

Don Satz
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