The Observer, 18 October 2009

Nicholas Kenyon

Jonas Kaufmann: Arias and Scenes

It's not every tenor who can persuade Claudio Abbado to conduct his recital disc, but then Jonas Kaufmann is no ordinary tenor. His stunningly musical, rounded voice is heard to advantage on this well-planned disc, which surely aims to demonstrate the continuity of the Austro-German tradition from Mozart to Wagner. Kaufmann's voice may be already too ample for Mozart's Tamino, and his advocacy of operatic Schubert is a welcome surprise, but the pearl is a grippingly dramatic Fidelio scene, and gloriously lyrical, flowing Wagner from Parsifal and Walküre. Superb support from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Abbado for a voice of the future.