German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is among the more versatile of today's singers, with a recorded catalog that stretches from later Italian opera to French works and even Schubert songs. This release suggests, however, that Wagner is his true métier. A Wagner greatest-hits album isn't really possible given the nature of his work, but this could work well as a collection of Wagner selections: it includes excerpts from works from the early Rienzi up to the "Ring" cycle, with an orchestral version of the Wesendonck-Lieder song cycle ...
Read More
German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is among the more versatile of today's singers, with a recorded catalog that stretches from later Italian opera to French works and even Schubert songs. This release suggests, however, that Wagner is his true métier. A Wagner greatest-hits album isn't really possible given the nature of his work, but this could work well as a collection of Wagner selections: it includes excerpts from works from the early Rienzi up to the "Ring" cycle, with an orchestral version of the Wesendonck-Lieder song cycle to bring down the curtain. And Kaufmann solidly grasps the different musical idioms; "Allmächtiger Vater, blick herab!" (Almighty Father, look down!), from Rienzi, is close to a conventional aria, while the selections from Die Walküre and Siegfried consist of a sort of dialogic melody, carried out at perilously high pitches over long stretches of music. Kaufmann has the power to pull off the high notes without a trace of distortion or loss of the thread of the action, and equally to...
Read Less