“It is hard to remain the same after singing this repertoire” says the German tenor about the verismo he deals with in his last album
On April 14th, Jonas Kaufmann became the first German tenor in
103 years to sing Cavaradossi (from Puccini’s “Tosca”) in the
New York Met. On November 18th he will be the first to play the
role of Maurizio in “Adriana Lecouvreur” (Cilea) which has not
been performed in Covent Garden since 1906. In midst of all
these landmarks appears the “Verismo Arias” (Decca) album, which
has been qualified as one of the most extraordinary opera
recitals recorded in recent years. The repertoire does not
include Puccini because, in Kaufmann’s words: “Italians separate
Puccini from verismo. There’s a certain delicacy and elegance in
him which are not to be found in verismo which is rougher and
more violent.”
The album starts with “Giulietta e Romeo”
by Riccardo Zandonai. This is Romeo’s great scene and aria,
“Giulietta, son io”, in which the young Montague weeps over his
lover’s tomb. “I doubt that more personal feelings could ever be
put into music. To listen to it is like intruding into someone’s
intimacy”, says Kaufmann, who reaches a straining point with a
devilish fiato in an obscure music which allows him nevertheless
to deliver very moving subtleties. After hearing this, it’s not
hard to foresee what he will do with the final scene of “Otello”
(Verdi).
The breadth of his crescendo, the internal
vibration of each word, the vigor of his “recitativo”, his
multiple tones, his torrid sensuality which becomes lyricism,
his nuances and pianissimos, and his huge range make one wonder
whether there is something that Kaufmann should not sing. “He
has everything,” wrote The New York Times in its review of the
album.
Kaufmann never dreamt of one day being able to do
“Vesti la giubba” (“I Pagliacci” by Leoncavallo), in which he
highlights Canio’s bitterness and brutality, or the “Cavalleria
Rusticana” (Mascagni) arias, with Turiddu transformed into a
frightened little boy in “Mamma, quel vino è generoso”, but now
both operas form a part of his Metropolitan risky double
programme. “This music not only causes physical and emotional
weariness, but it is also mentally tiresome. It is hard to
remain the same after singing this repertoire. One has to
abandon oneself to the music,” he says.
As occurs with
Zandonai’s Romeo, it seems as though one were prying into the
intimacy of Kaufmann himself. It happens with “Amor ti vieta”
(very brief and brimming with passion); in the arias of Maurizio
(elegant as rarely to be seen in verismo, specially “La
dolcissima efigie”, in which the main character compares
Adriana’s beauty to his flag… and also in the weariness and
despair of “L’anima ho stanca”), and particularly in the
fragments of “Andrea Chénier” (Giordano): his “Improvviso” is of
an overwhelming and overpowering eloquence, and contrasts with
the lyrical rapture with which he performs “Come un bel dí di
Maggio”. In the duet “Vicino a te” he forms an ideal couple with
Eva Maria Westbroek, who has a huge and gorgeous voice.
The record also includes “Lamento di Federico” from
“L’Arlesiana” (Cilea), which Kaufmann has transformed into a
memorable part of his recitals by proposing a trip from the
initial intimate confidence of “ (…) e s’addormi” to the despair
of “Mi fai tanto male! Ahimè!”; the interesting “Testa adorata”
from Leoncavallo’s forgotten “Bohème”; two fragments from
“Mefistofele” (Boito); “Sí, questa estrema grazia”, from “I
Lituani”, and “Cielo e mar!”, from “La Gioconda”, both by
Ponchielli, and another rarity, the lovely song “Ombra di nube”
by Licinio Refice. Antonio Pappano conducts the Accademia
Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome. It was Pappano likewise who
conducted Kaufmann in his much awarded “Madama Butterfly”
(Puccini) with Angela Gheorghiu (EMI) and who prepared for the
same record company, once more with Kaufmann and Gheorghiu , a
new “Aída” (Verdi). These projects show an unstoppable career to
which we may add on October 25, the release of the Paris
“Werther” DVD, and within a few weeks, the “Fidelio” (Beethoven)
album, recorded in Lucerne, with Claudio Abbado as conductor and
Nina Stemme as Leonora.
