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Event, The Mail on Sunday, 6. September 2015 |
David Mellor |
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Jonas Kaufmann, Nessun dorma, The Puccini Album |
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Album of the week |
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This
Puccini album is a huge success for a number of reasons, beginning of course
with the exceptional vocal artistry of Jonas Kaufmann , but not ending
there. Kaufmann's finest CDs - the early, German, Romantics arias album with
Claudio Abbado, and the multiple award-winning Wagner disc with Donald
Runnicles - always involve a partnership with a major conductor, not the
sort of mediocrity most recital albums, including some of his, are lumbered
with.
Here it's Antonio Pappano, surely our finest living Puccinian,
and his extraordinary Santa Cecilia orchestra and chorus.
Kafmann in
this recital finally banishes any hint of a German tenor trying to sound
Italianate. His vocal mannerisms are impeccably Puccinian, with each piece
presented with some exquisitely nuanced singing. He also avoids the excesses
of some Italian tenors in Puccini, a composer who needs no spray- on added
emotion. Everything required by way of feeling is already in the score.
I'm sure the relationship with Pappano added a new maturity to his
singing here. Another great strength of this album is the choice of arias
and duets, with extracts from 11 of Puccini's operas, including rarities
such as "Edgar" and "Le Villi".
We don't get 'Che gelida manina' from
"La Bohème", just the concluding Act I duet 'O soave fanciulla', with
Kristine Opolais. Instead, there are four items from Puccini's only instant
big hit, "Manon Lescaut", as well as interesting stuff from "Il tabarro",
from Puccini's cowboy opera "La Fanciulla Del West", and from his
problematic operetta, "La Rondine".
Pappano, I'm sure, also had a
hand in ensuring that Dick Johnson's aria from "Fanciulla", as he waits to
be strung up, includes earlier passages that give us a contest for 'Ch'ella
Mi Creda', one of Puccini most underrated creations. Here, too, the big
string melody is beautifully phrased by Pappano and the band.
It's
fascinating that so many of the less known pieces are the ones that linger
longest in the memory, such as the aria from "Gianni Schicchi", where, among
some memorable moments from Kaufmann, 'O Mio Babbino Caro', is beautifully
reprised by the orchestra.
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