Scotland on Sunday, 27. August 2006

SARAH JONES

Recital, Edinburgh, 24 August 2006

Little Britten triumphs

(part of an article) Flawless is not quite the word to describe tenor Jonas Kaufmann, with accompanist Helmut Deutsch on Thursday. There's a hint of the baritone in Kaufmann's rich voice. Yes, at times, it's a little sparse in the higher reaches - but this is most notable when he is singing repertoire with which he is not entirely familiar. Kaufmann has that rare and moving rich brilliance of an operatic tenor, compelling in his opening Schubert Die Burgschaft, the story of a man who leaves his friend in the hands of a tyrant as surety for his own life. Sung grippingly last year by baritone Christopher Maltman, Kaufman is altogether different, adept at vocal characterisation, taking the audience through rain, flood and famine, marriage and near-death. When Kaufmann is at his best, he paints pictures with his voice - Die Burgschaft was a 10-minute one-man opera, as intended.