Jonas Kaufmann: The Verdi Album (CD review)

Jonas Kaufmann, tenor; Coro del Teatro Municipale di Piancenza; Pier Giorgio Morandi, Orchestra dell-Opera di Parma. Sony Classical 88765492042.

Twenty-odd years ago, there was no doubt who the greatest tenors in the world were. Domingo, Pavarotti, and Carreras were riding so high that they united as The Three Tenors, further solidifying their dominance in the operatic world. Before them, we had tenors like Carlo Bergonzi, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Nicolai Gedda, and Mario Del Monaco, the fellows I grew up with in the old LP days. Now, things are different. The record companies don’t seem to be producing as many full-length operas as they used to, and there do not appear to be any clear-cut kings of the hill in the world of tenors. So I suppose that German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has as much a shot at the title as anyone.

His credentials: Kaufmann has a fine tenor voice, not really a lyric tenor, but having more weight, something of a cross between a spinto tenor and a dramatic tenor. He’s also blessed with handsome good looks, with stylishly long hair on his head and a stylish stubble on his face. If this were the Fifties, Hollywood would snatch him up for a romantic musical. As of this writing, he is in his vocal prime, being about forty-four years old, he’s been performing on the world stage since 1995, and he has over a dozen record albums to his credit.

But does that make him the greatest tenor currently before the public? Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on your taste in tenors, I suppose. Anyway, I don’t have nearly enough experience listening to opera to make any fair evaluation of Kaufmann as a singer, so I’ll limit myself to some general observations about the twelve Verdi selections he sings on this album. For instance, it’s easy to hear the man’s voice has range, power, and flexibility. It’s also easy to hear his voice is slightly coarser and deeper than a lot of tenors; thus, the characterization above that he is more of a dramatic than a lyric tenor. Nevertheless, it seems to work reasonably well in these arias, despite their being in Italian and not the man’s native German. (Most of Kaufmann’s early success has come in Wagner.) My only serious quibble is that the program features mainly Verdi standards, things most of us, even we opera novices, already have on disc by our own favorite tenors. I dunno; maybe this collection will grow on me if I give it a chance. As it is, I’m not sure it represents Kaufmann at his best.

So, the album begins with one of Verdi’s most recognizable creations, “La donna e mobile” from Rigoletto, which you can listen to below. It's a good song to begin the proceedings since it's not only familiar, it has all the wham and pizzazz you could want. It's the vocal equivalent of an overture, a curtain raiser, and Kaufmann belts it out with authority.

Next up is a number more to my liking: "Celeste Aida" from Aida, although for me it still needs a lighter, airier touch. That said, Kaufmann produces some welcome vocal contrasts, handling the piece neither too gently nor too robustly.

To repeat, I know next to nothing about opera. Yet I sense more of the baritone in Kaufmann's voice than the tenor. Not that this is a bad thing. It demonstrates the man's vocal range, which is clearly quite wide and stable.

And so it goes through the program, with selections from Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, Luisa Miller, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlo, La Forza del Destino, I Masnadieri, and Otello. There's quite a lot of different material in here, familiar or not, and Kaufmann makes the best of it. I wish I could say the same for the orchestral accompaniment, though, which seems a bit thin and flabby to me.

Favorites? The aforementioned "Celeste Aida"; "Di quella pira" from Il Trovatore, only because the piece is so ingrained in the basic repertoire, and because Kaufmann carries it out with such theatrical flair; "Quandole le sere al placido" from Luisa Miller because it's so very romantic, and Kaufmann sings it with such heartfelt enthusiasm; "Dio, che nell' alma infondere" from Don Carlo because Kaufmann's voice sounds so good in combination with Franco Vassallo's baritone; and "Niun me tema" from Otello because of the passion Kaufmann expresses in these closing passages from the opera.

I think most folks are going to like what they hear on the album. No doubt, it will please Kaufmann's fans. How much it may impress die-hard opera lovers, however, I couldn't guess.

Sony Classical recorded Mr. Kaufmann at the Auditorium Niccolo Paganini, Parma, Italy in March, 2013. The sound is big and bold, a lot like Kaufmann's voice. The voice is well out front, clean and clear, with a fine sense of bloom. The orchestral accompaniment seems to fade closer and farther away with the changing dynamics, but it's not objectionable. Occasionally, the voice tends to get a bit bright, almost harsh, like, obviously, on big fortes and climaxes, but again this is not particularly objectionable, and in any case some speaker systems may mitigate the situation. In all, this is probably the kind of pop-like sound that most listeners expect, and a sound that probably complements most home playback systems.

To listen to a selection from this album, click here:

JJP

Meet the Staff

Meet the Staff
John J. Puccio, Founder and Contributor

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on the Big Jon and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing for the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

Karl Nehring, Editor and Contributor

For more than 20 years I was the editor of The $ensible Sound magazine and a regular contributor to both its equipment and recordings review pages. I would not presume to present myself as some sort of expert on music, but I have a deep love for and appreciation of many types of music, "classical" especially, and have listened to thousands of recordings over the years, many of which still line the walls of my listening room (and occasionally spill onto the furniture and floor, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering wife). I have always taken the approach as a reviewer that what I am trying to do is simply to point out to readers that I have come across a recording that I have found of interest, a recording that I think they might appreciate my having pointed out to them. I suppose that sounds a bit simple-minded, but I know I appreciate reading reviews by others that do the same for me — point out recordings that they think I might enjoy.

For readers who might be wondering about what kind of system I am using to do my listening, I should probably point out that I do a LOT of music listening and employ a variety of means to do so in a variety of environments, as I would imagine many music lovers also do. Starting at the more grandiose end of the scale, the system in which I do my most serious listening comprises Marantz CD 6007 and Onkyo CD 7030 CD players, NAD C 658 streaming preamp/DAC, Legacy Audio PowerBloc2 amplifier, and a pair of Legacy Audio Focus SE loudspeakers. I occasionally do some listening through pair of Sennheiser 560S headphones. I miss the excellent ELS Studio sound system in our 2016 Acura RDX (now my wife's daily driver) on which I had ripped more than a hundred favorite CDs to the hard drive, so now when driving my 2022 Accord EX-L Hybrid I stream music from my phone through its adequate but not outstanding factory system. For more casual listening at home when I am not in my listening room, I often stream music through the phone into a Vizio soundbar system that has tolerably nice sound for such a diminutive physical presence. And finally, at the least grandiose end of the scale, I have an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom II Bluetooth speaker for those occasions where I am somewhere by myself without a sound system but in desperate need of a musical fix. I just can’t imagine life without music and I am humbly grateful for the technology that enables us to enjoy it in so many wonderful ways.

William (Bill) Heck, Webmaster and Contributor

Among my early childhood memories are those of listening to my mother playing records (some even 78 rpm ones!) of both classical music and jazz tunes. I suppose that her love of music was transmitted genetically, and my interest was sustained by years of playing in rock bands – until I realized that this was no way to make a living. The interest in classical music was rekindled in grad school when the university FM station serving as background music for studying happened to play the Brahms First Symphony. As the work came to an end, it struck me forcibly that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and from that point on, I never looked back. This revelation was to the detriment of my studies, as I subsequently spent way too much time simply listening, but music has remained a significant part of my life. These days, although I still can tell a trumpet from a bassoon and a quarter note from a treble clef, I have to admit that I remain a nonexpert. But I do love music in general and classical music in particular, and I enjoy sharing both information and opinions about it.

The audiophile bug bit about the same time that I returned to classical music. I’ve gone through plenty of equipment, brands from Audio Research to Yamaha, and the best of it has opened new audio insights. Along the way, I reviewed components, and occasionally recordings, for The $ensible Sound magazine. Most recently I’ve moved to my “ultimate system” consisting of a BlueSound Node streamer, an ancient Toshiba multi-format disk player serving as a CD transport, Legacy Wavelet II DAC/preamp/crossover, dual Legacy PowerBloc2 amps, and Legacy Signature SE speakers (biamped), all connected with decently made, no-frills cables. With the arrival of CD and higher resolution streaming, that is now the source for most of my listening.

Ryan Ross, Contributor

I started listening to and studying classical music in earnest nearly three decades ago. This interest grew naturally out of my training as a pianist. I am now a musicologist by profession, specializing in British and other symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. My scholarly work has been published in major music journals, as well as in other outlets. Current research focuses include twentieth-century symphonic historiography, and the music of Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Malcolm Arnold.

I am honored to contribute writings to Classical Candor. In an age where the classical recording industry is being subjected to such profound pressures and changes, it is more important than ever for those of us steeped in this cultural tradition to continue to foster its love and exposure. I hope that my readers can find value, no matter how modest, in what I offer here.


Bryan Geyer, Technical Analyst

I initially embraced classical music in 1954 when I mistuned my car radio and heard the Heifetz recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That inspired me to board the new "hi-fi" DIY bandwagon. In 1957 I joined one of the pioneer semiconductor makers and spent the next 32 years marketing transistors and microcircuits to military contractors. Home audio DIY projects remained a personal passion until 1989 when we created our own new photography equipment company. I later (2012) revived my interest in two channel audio when we "downsized" our life and determined that mini-monitors + paired subwoofers were a great way to mate fine music with the space constraints of condo living.

Visitors that view my technical papers on this site may wonder why they appear here, rather than on a site that features audio equipment reviews. My reason is that I tried the latter, and prefer to publish for people who actually want to listen to music; not to equipment. My focus is in describing what's technically beneficial to assure that the sound of the system will accurately replicate the source input signal (i. e. exhibit high accuracy) without inordinate cost and complexity. Conversely, most of the audiophiles of today strive to achieve sound that's euphonic, i.e. be personally satisfying. In essence, audiophiles seek sound that's consistent with their desire; the music is simply a test signal.

Mission Statement

It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job. --John J. Puccio

Contact Information

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"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa