Andreas Scholl, Klaus Nomi and The Cold Song

Just received a new CD today from Amazon of songs and arias by Henry Purcell, the Baroque master, as sung by the incredible countertenor, Andreas Scholl. Here is an amazing taste of his work as found on YouTube, where Scholl performs Purcell's astonishingly-modern-sounding "The Cold Song" from his 1691 opera, King Arthur:

Try this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9wHFCXuCsg

As long as we are here, we should see if we can find the interpretation by the late Klaus Nomi, possibly the most famous and controversial avant-garde countertenor of modern times:



Okay, let's find the lyrics ...

What power art thou
Who from below
Hast made me rise
Unwillingly and slow
From beds of everlasting snow

See'st thou not how stiff
And wondrous old
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold

I can scarcely move
Or draw my breath
I can scarcely move
Or draw my breath

Let me, let me,
Let me freeze again
Let me, let me
Freeze again to death
Let me, let me, let me
Freeze again to death...

Yes, I did think of this as I walked to work this morning, cold wind blowing, just above freezing ...

(Maybe sometime we will have to hear Nomi's "Samson and Delilah Aria" ... maybe even his rendition of Chubby Checker's "The Twist". I'll try to track those down; sorry, won't try to play my own FLACs online.)