Scholl/ Davies/ English Concert/Bicket, Wigmore Hall, review: Marveling at the artistry of two great countertenors

Andreas Scholl is nearly fifty, and embarking on a new career as a conductor; Iestyn Davies is currently packing them in with his incarnation of the castrato Farinelli at a West End theatre. Ten years ago Scholl was the acknowledged king countertenor; by common consent, Davies now wears the crown. And here they were together on stage. But this was no clash of the Titans: seldom have rival stars so gracefully complemented each other.

Their material was drawn from the golden age of countertenordom – the odes and laments of Henry Purcell and John Blow, interspersed with their instrumental compositions played by five members of the superb English Concert under Harry Bicket’s direction. The singers began with two duets which allowed us to compare their voices as well as their physical presences, Davies’s Tintin to Scholl’s Clark Kent. The older man’s voice was more delicate and yielding, and the younger’s power all but blew him offstage. But transcending the difference between their sounds was their shared artistry and purity of tone.

Alternating solos with duets, they took it in turns to stun us with beauty; the dark splendour of Purcell’s ‘Ode on the Death of Queen Mary’ was offset by the comic ‘Cold Song’ (Scholl’s calling-card) and ‘Evening Hymn’ (Davies’s ditto); their final encore was a brilliant reprise of ‘Sound the trumpet’ with Scholl ending in baritone mode and Davies embroidering on top. A flawless evening.