Just looking at the photography in the booklet that comes with
this wonderful new release from Sony Classical, I was
immediately struck by the jolly good mood, frolichkeit and
friendliness between the two artists, world-famous German
heldentenor Jonas Kaufmann and his accompanist Helmut Deutsch,
pianist, Liszt expert and aficionado. This good spirit
translates into a happy collaboration shining throughout this
record.
Liszt wrote some 90 songs that are difficult to
sing, as Liszt treated the voice as he treated the piano:
mercilessly extending it to two octaves, sudden fortissimo
outbursts, key changes and the like. Kaufmann selected 20 for
this release with a coherent title – Freudvoll und Liedvoll
meaning joyful and sorrowful – referring mainly to love, because
love is indeed sometimes very happy and sometimes very sad as
anyone who’s ever been in love knows. And indeed, the most
beautiful song, I think, is O lieb, solang du lieben kannst
(Love as long as you can) with the famous melody of Liebestraum
No.3. Kaufmann’s voice is amazingly flexible to cope with mood
changes: from heroic fortissimo to soft and sweet intonation,
like the way he caresses the words Freudvoll und Leidvoll.
The spirit of love is indeed manifest in the centrepiece of
this collection, the three Petrarch Sonnets. These are written
in Italian as opposed to all the other songs which are in
German, with unparalleled melodic richness.
A joyful
moment for me, and a nice surprise, was the sudden outburst of a
glorious Hungarian melody in the song: Die drei Zigeuner, played
with gusto by Helmut Deutsch. He is marvellous throughout,
playing with ease Liszt’s very difficult accompaniments.
