“Your voice…is attracting the most discerning audiences.” In the 1994 film “Farinelli,” the actor and performer Graham F. Valentine looks down at the kneeling castrato, delivering faint praise in a nobleman’s reedy French. His normal speaking voice is a bass-baritone with a Scottish accent; he can also sing in a penetrating head voice. In this playlist, he covers music of great timbral diversity, from Liszt-era piano to thin music-hall vibrato to exhausted microtonal half-song.


To continue reading, subscribe now.

Unlimited access to our
weekly issues and archives.


Already have an account?