Classical Voice North America, October 6, 2013

By Richard S. Ginell

New Verdi Discs for his 200th birthday

The Requiem is probably one of Kaufmann’s last appearances under the Decca flag, for the star tenor just jumped ship to arch-rival Sony, which in turn has put out “The Verdi Album” as his label debut. As in the Requiem, Kaufmann’s timbre is dark, rich, smooth as glass in phrasing, with a vibrato that rings. He achieves an exquisite fade to pianissimo on “Celeste Aida,” beautifully controlled; the scene from Il Trovatore has electricity, the high C wrought with warlike desperation. The backing by the Orchestra dell’Opera di Parma under Pier Giorgio Morandi is excellent, well played and simpatico with the style in a sweep of arias from I Masnadieri through Otello – and the “deluxe” version has an excerpt from Macbeth as a bonus track.