E-Mail This Article to a Friend Countertenor of the times David Daniels, plus Gabriel Chodos and Gilbert Kalish

Think of a great singer and you’re likely to think of a soprano, tenor, bass, or mezzo-soprano/alto, in roughly that order. What you’re not likely to think of is a countertenor, a male voice who sings above the standard tenor range. Countertenors are usually associated with Baroque opera, and at first blush they'd seem to be an anachronism — a curiosity without much relevance to today’s musical culture.

But one singer is changing that in a hurry. Over the past few years, David Daniels — who makes his Boston recital debut next Friday with a Bank of America Celebrity Series appearance — has become the most visible countertenor of his generation. Through his concert appearances ad recitals, and the claim he’s staked to music more often associated with mezzo-sopranos and altos, he’s demonstrating that the countertenor’s art is as vital and worthy as that of any other singer.

His goal, he explains, was not to make large artistic statements — going outside the standard countertenor repertoire was simply part of his vision of the kind of singer he wanted to be. "It’s not a conscious effort to break down barriers, what I’ve ended up doing," he says over the phone from New York, where he’s just finished up a run at the Metropolitan Opera in Handel’s Rodelinda. "My goal has always been to be as complete an artist as I could possibly be, and that meant having as wide a repertoire as I could have. Even in my graduate recital [at the University of Michigan] in 1992 — the program was 19th- and 20th-century art song."

Ranging from Purcell and Handel to Fauré and a song cycle by the University of Michigan’s Theodore Morrison, the program he’s put together for Boston is, he says, "a typical recital for me — lots of variety of both music and languages. If you confine a program to one theme, one emotion, one language, you don’t end up keeping the attention of the audience." He sees program construction, like the concert itself, as a collaboration between himself and his accompanist, pianist Martin Katz. "I’m fortunate to have someone to work with who has such a vast knowledge of the song repertoire. It’s all about whether it makes sense. If it does to us, it will to the audience."

Countertenor recitals may be rare, but for Daniels, the issue is larger, the future of the song recital itself. "Song recitals are a relatively rare thing these days, because their audiences are dwindling." Which means promoters are reluctant to schedule them. As is the case with so much of cultural life, however, the artistic riches stand in inverse proportion to the financial ones. "The song recital is the most intense evening of sheer emotion you can get from a singer. There isn’t anything like it."

Daniels has also been looking to incorporate orchestral song into his repertoire, and he did so in a big way last year with a marvelous recording of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été (on Virgin Classics). His warm, opulent voice turns out to be perfect for a song cycle usually sung by a mezzo. The project was hatched a few years ago in collaboration with Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony. "It was the biggest stretch and risk I’ve taken," he says. And to judge from the raves that the CD received, it was a complete success.

Still, he says he probably won’t perform the cycle as a whole in concert, though he may perform selected songs. "It really takes its toll on me, singing over the orchestra." A one-night performance probably wouldn’t be too taxing, but the standard four-night engagement would mean too much strain on his voice. And he’s not bidding farewell to the more familiar countertenor repertoire, as his appearance in Rodelinda proves. The production won near-universal plaudits (Alex Ross in the January 3 New Yorker: "There was really no rational explanation for how Daniels could sail through his climactic Act III aria, ‘Vivi, tiranno,’ as if he had just finished warming up"), and he sees it as a triumph not just for him and the rest of the cast but for Baroque opera. "We did nine performances of a Handel opera at the Met, which seats 4000 people, and we sold out all of them," he says proudly. "It was a great, great thing for us, for the Met, and for people who are passionate about Handel."

David Daniels performs as part of the Bank of America Celebrity Series next Friday, January 28, at 8 p.m. at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street in Boston. Tickets are $32 to $52; call (617) 482-6661.

KEYS TO THE HEART. Two intriguing piano concerts loom a week apart on the horizon. This Monday, January 24, Gabriel Chodos, who’s co-chair of New England Conservatory’s piano department, essays two of the repertoire’s largest and most taxing sonatas: Beethoven’s Hammerklavier and the Liszt B-minor. That’s at Jordan Hall at 8 p.m.; call (617) 585-1122. Then on Monday February 1, long-time local favorite Gilbert Kalish appears in the Boston Conservatory’s Piano Masters series with a fascinating program of contemporary works by William Bolcom, Fred Hersh, and Fred Lerdahl, among others, all based on the theme from Bach’s Goldberg Variations. That’s at the conservatory’s Seully Hall, 8 the Fenway, at 8 p.m.; call (617) 912-9240. Both events are free.