Kaufmann: Chamber Works (CD Review)

Includes: String Quartet No.11; Sonata No. 2, Op. 44 for Violin and Piano; String Quartet No. 7; Sonatina No. 12 for Violin and Piano (arranged for clarinet and piano); Septet for Three Violins, Viola, Two Cellos, and Piano. ARC Ensemble (Erika Raun and Marie Berard, violins; Steven Dann, viola; Thomas Wiebe, cello; Joaquin Valdepenas, clarinet; Kevein Ahfat, piano) with Jamie Kruspe, violin, and Kimberly Jeong, cello (in the Septet). Chandos CHAN 20170.

By Karl W. Nehring

This new release from Chandos is the first commercial recording devoted to music by the Czech-born Jewish composer Walter Kaufmann (1907-1984). Not the first recording of these particular pieces, mind you, but the first commercial recording of any of Kaufmann’s music. All of the pieces on this release were composed between 1934 and 1946 when Kaufmann was a refugee in India, having fled Europe in response to the rise of National Socialism.

His story is a fascinating one. He was first taught music by his uncle, a violinist and music historian who ran a local music school. After graduating from his local school, he attended the Musikhochschule in Berlin, where he was introduced to the music of India, which was at that time largely unknown in Europe. The music sounded strange to him, but he was curious to learn more about it. While still in his early twenties he was an assistant to the famed conductor Bruno Walter, and some of his early compositions began to get some recognition from performances in Prague, Vienna, and Berlin. In 1927 he enrolled in the German University in Prague. He rented a room from Franz Kafka’s mother and eventually married one of Kafka’s nieces. While a student in Berlin, Kaufmann met and befriended an amateur violinist named Albert Einstein, whom he would accompany on the piano. The two remained friends until Einstein’s death. But with the rising threat of anti-Semitism in Europe, Kaufmann decided to get an Indian visa. He wound up staying there for 12 years. In 1946 he moved to Canada, then on to the United States in 1956, where he taught at the Indiana University School of Music for the remainder of his career.

Walter Kaufmann

The ARC Ensemble consists of senior faculty from the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School in Toronto, Canada. They have made a specialty of recovering and recording music that has been suppressed and marginalized under the 20th century’s repressive political regimes, releasing a series of recordings under the heading of “Music in Exile” on the Chandos label, this being the fourth (the others featuring music by composers Paul Ben-Haim, Jerzy Fitelberg, and Szymon Laks).

The program opens with Kaufmann’s String Quartet No. 11, which consists of four movements. The listener can sense a non-Western undertone to the music, even though it also sounds clearly European in style. After the first movement comes to a close with an accelerando, the second movement evokes a softer, more plaintive mood, with a brief march-like interlude before coming to a quiet ending. The third movement opens energetically, with the music shifting to a more non-Western feeling again, with melodic figures running up and down with invigorating energy. The finale opens briskly, played with decisive flair. There is a strong rhythmic underpinning to this music, a driving pulse that can be felt as well as heard, winding down toward the end but then ending with a final flourish.

Next up is the Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, which opens quietly with the piano in the lead, the violin then joining in with a yearning melody. As the movement continues, there is an element of Dvorak-like sound (Dvorak was also Czech, of course), ending with a frantic dash to the finish. The second movement is more somber, becoming tender and touching, a subdued and quiet flame that dims to a peaceful, subdued ending. The final movement, by contrast, opens with a start and sustains an energetic, dancelike motion culminating in an exuberant ending.

ARC Ensemble

The centerpiece of the album is Kaufmann’s String Quartet No. 7, which provides ample evidence that the composer truly had a knack and a feel for quartet writing. The movements display a variety of moods, from the opening movement with its energetic opening and oft-repeated four-note theme, the quieter but extremely beautiful second movement, the fleet third movement, the yearning fourth movement, all the way through to the finale, its whirling, dancing, up-tempo energy interwoven with a more stately second theme. This is truly an impressive string quartet.

The next piece, his Sonatina No. 12 for Violin and Piano, is presented here in an arrangement for clarinet and piano. The three short movements include the gently melodic first movement, a spritely and perky second movement, and a final movement that is softer in tone, exuding an atmosphere of happiness and contentment. (Oh, I’m a fool for a clarinet…)

Closing out the program is the one-movement Septet for Three Violins, Viola, Two Cellos, and Piano. Over its nearly 15-minute length it changes moods and sonorities, but tends for the most part to maintain a consistent pulse. There are moments of dance, movements of mystery, moments of reflection, and moments of song before the piece finally fades into peaceful silence as the program ends.

The sound quality on this recording is exemplary. Especially noteworthy is the sonic soundstage, which is stable and sized right, with no huge violins or other such anomalies such as sometimes emerge on recordings of chamber music. The liner notes present a wealth of information about Kaufmann, including a number of photographs of the composer at various stages in his life. With more than 77 minutes of music that has never been recorded before, this recording presents a compelling case that the music of Walter Kaufmann deserves to be heard. What other musical delights might be hidden away in the Kaufmann archives?  

KWN

To listen to a brief excerpt from this recording, click below:

 

Jonas Kaufmann: Nessun Dorma - The Puccini Album (CD review)

Jonas Kaufmann, tenor; Kristine Opolais, soprano; Massimo Simeoli, baritone; Antonio Pirozzi, bass; Antonio Pappano, Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Sony 88875092492.

He's relatively young. He's unquestionably handsome. He has a big, powerful voice. Is it any wonder German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is one of the most-popular operatic singers in the world, if not the most popular? And, yes, I know the questions some listeners may have about this 2015 Sony release, Nessun Dorma - The Puccini Album: Does Kaufmann's essentially Germanic voice suit the operatic needs of Italian verismo composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), and do we really need another album of Puccini arias when so many good albums already exist in the catalogue.

The answers are pretty simple, of course. Appreciation of the voice (or any music for that matter) is quite a subjective thing; so you either like Kaufmann or you don't. I'm not personally a great fan of Mr. Kaufmann, but then I'm not personally a great fan of opera, so what do I know? He is certainly a fine singer, with, as I say, a big, robust voice, and that is enough to warrant him a place among the best opera singers in today's opera world. Then, does he sing any better than past greats in the field? Again, subjective. Every opera fan will have his or her own favorite opera singers. Older opera fans will no doubt favor older singers, maybe the ones they grew up with; newer opera fans will favor newer singers, and surely Kaufmann fills the bill. New fans could do worse.

Here's the program for the current album:
  1. Manon Lescaut: "Donna non vidi mai"
  2. Manon Lescaut: "Oh, sarò la più bella!... Tu, tu, amore? Tu?"
  3. Manon Lescaut: "Ah! Manon mi tradisce"
  4. Manon Lescaut: "Presto! In fila!... Non v'avvicinate! No, pazzo son!"
  5. Le Villi: "Ei giunge!... Torna ai felici dì"
  6. Edgar: "Orgia, chimera dall'occhio vitreo"
  7. La Bohème: "O soave fanciulla"
  8. Tosca: "Recondita armonia"
  9. Madama Butterfly: "Addio, fiorito asil"
10. La Fanciulla del West: "Una parola sola!... Or son sei mesi"
11. La Fanciulla del West: "Risparmiate lo scherno... Ch'ella mi creda libero"
12. La Rondine: "Parigi! È la città dei desideri"
13. Il Tabarro: "Hai ben ragione"
14. Gianni Schicchi: "Avete torto!... Firenze e come un albero fiorito"
15. Turandot: "Non piangere, Liù!"
16. Turandot: "Nessun dorma"

As you can see, all of the selections are someone's old favorites, although some of the songs may appear more familiar than others. Kaufmann has already issued a number of albums, and he had already included many of Puccini's most-celebrated tunes on them. To avoid any overlap, we get a few things he might not have otherwise chosen. In other words, don't expect this to be a "Puccini's Greatest Hits" collection.

Jonas Kaufmann

One thing nobody can deny: Kaufmann is a passionate singer, and he fills his vocal renditions with dramatic tension and excitement. For myself, though, I find him, if anything, a little too muscular in most of these selections; yet that's a highly arbitrary opinion and obviously not one too many other people share. I wonder if a Di Stefano, Domingo, Del Monaco, Corelli, Bergonzi, or Pavarotti (to name just a few from the stereo age I'm familiar with) didn't have a stronger affinity for the Italian idiom. I dunno. Kaufmann seems to belt out everything as though it were Wagner. Again, maybe it's the fact that's he's German and not Italian or Spanish; again, I don't know.

In any case, I quibble. Kaufmann does a splendid job with most of these songs. The fact that we get a wide variety of items and not the usual core selections helps, too, in keeping our attention. Still and all, if I continue to prefer Puccini's La Boheme above all the things he wrote, you'll have to forgive me; I'm a hopeless romantic. Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais do a wonderfully sensitive "O Soave Fanciulla," and Maestro Antonio Pappano, Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia provide fine accompaniment.

Producers Philipp Nedel and engineers Philip Siney and Giacomo de Caterini recorded the music at the Santa Cecilia Hall, Rome, in September 2014. Kaufmann's voice appears full and round, with only a few traces of brightness, harshness, or hardness in the loudest passages. The miking of the voice is perhaps a trifle too close, but it is not at all distracting as so many close-up pop recordings can seem. The orchestra sounds nicely spread out behind him, somewhat one-dimensionally but never compartmentalized. Although the instruments could probably use a little more bass warmth and hall ambience, it's reasonably lifelike. When the other soloists (Opolais, Simeoli, and Pirozzi) join Kaufmann in various numbers, the sound gets a tad overbearing, the voices appearing to come forward a bit, the dynamics sometimes becoming too strong and wide for comfort. A fifteenth-row seat suddenly becomes a front-row seat, if you know what I mean. Anyway, it's good, modern sound in most ways, and it will not disappoint Mr. Kaufmann's fans.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Jonas Kaufmann: You Mean the World to Me (CD review)

Jonas Kaufmann, tenor; Julia Kleiter, soprano; Jochen Rieder, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Sony Classical 88843087712.

This disc is for fans of international superstar Jonas Kaufmann, fans of early twentieth-century stage and screen songs, and maybe fans of Romantic nostalgia as well.

German operatic singer Jonas Kaufmann says that the idea for the album You Mean the World to Me came to him at the end of a concert when he had finished singing a light number for a crowd of 20,000 delighted admirers. He thought, "Why should songs such as "You Are My Heart's Delight" and "You Mean the World to Me" be no more than encores? Why not make them and other perennial favourites the main programme?" Accordingly, we have an album that includes seventeen light songs by German, Austrian, Hungarian, Russian, and Bohemian composers, the songs presented in their original arrangements and written between 1925-1935 for the Berlin stage and screen. The tunes cover a turbulent era that included postwar economic strife, the establishment of the Weimar Republic, the close of the Roaring Twenties, the worldwide Great Depression, and the rise of Naziism. Yet through it all, people wrote and sang and listened to music: popular, folk, jazz, and classical. On the present album, Kaufmann sings for us some of his favorite popular songs of the period.

Now, here's the thing: You have to remember that Mr. Kaufmann is primarily an opera singer, and when opera singers turn to more-popular fare, the results sometimes sound a bit like overkill. Such is the case here, with Kaufmann's huge tenor voice occasionally overpowering the simplicity of the stage and film numbers presented. He takes it all very seriously, of course, but by making most of the selections sound like pieces from Wagnerian opera, he perhaps loses a little something in the way of stage-musical color and drama. That is, he never quite convinced this listener that he was a character in a musical play or a part of an actual story line. Instead, he offers the songs out of context in big, full-throated fashion, some in German, some in English, the ones in German coming off best. Nonetheless, there is little doubt he loves the material, and his vocal presence conveys solid authority and conviction. He will not disappoint his fans.

The songs are too numerous to cover, so I'll just mention the names of the composers and point out a few selections I enjoyed most. The composers include some familiar names and a few less familiar: Lehar, Tauber, Stolz, Kalman, Heymann, Abraham, Benatzky, May, Spoliansky, Kunneke, and Korngold.

Jonas Kaufmann

My favorite selections include everything by Franz Lehar, whose operettas have always delighted me. Here, you'll find "Girls Were Made to Love and Kiss," "You Are My Heart's Delight," "My Little Nest of Heavenly Blue," all sung in English; and "Freunde, Das Leben Ist Lebenswert" and "Je T'ai Donne mon coeur." Lehar was probably the most popular operetta composer of his or any other day, and Kaufmann does his music fair justice. Years ago the singer Richard Tauber was instrumental in Lehar's prosperity, helping to make Lehar's songs so wildly successful. In fact, Marlene Dietrich once remarked that she understood why Bing Crosby was such a big star: "He's learnt everything from Tauber." Anyway, I bring it up because Kaufmann has a big order to fill the vocal shoes of Tauber (and to a lesser extent Crosby). Having only heard Tauber on a very few occasions, I can say that Kaufmann surpasses him handily in vocal command; however, Tauber had a more delicate way of phrasing lines, something that tends slightly to escape Kaufmann, who is more of an operatic technician than a Twenties' crooner.

Kaufmann seems most at home in the music of Robert Stolz ("Im Traum Hast du Mir Alles Erlaubt," "Don't Ask Me Why"). Stolz wrote primarily for films, and his material seems fairly accessible today, with Kaufmann appearing to put even more heart in it than he does some of the other selections. Likewise with Emmerich Kalman and Werner Richard Heymann. The songs trip lightly off Kaufmann's tongue.

On three numbers soprano Julia Kleiter joins Kaufmann, and she provides a charming counterbalance to the tenor's big, robust voice. In all, it's a delightful album, and while I may have some minor reservations, it offers a ton of musical pleasures.

Producer Philipp Nedel, balance engineer Philip Siney, and recording engineers Martin Kistner and Hansjorg Seiler made the album at the Broadcasting Center, Nalepastrasse, Berlin in January 2014. Kaufmann's voice sounds well recorded, although it's a little closer to us than the orchestra. In the media pictures of him, he's singing directly into a microphone, and that's how his voice comes off in the recording, somewhat bigger than life compared to the orchestral accompaniment. Still, there is little glare or edge in the voice, and it appears quite natural. The orchestra plays lightly and sweetly behind him, never intrusive, always supportive, and sounding nicely detailed at the same time. It clearly knows its place.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

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