A minor complaint before meddle in chorus of praise surrounding the release of this CD, about the available excerpts:
1 / Siegmund: "Ein Schwert der Water verhiess mir" ("Die Walküre", Act I)
2 / Siegfried: "Das ist der nicht mein Vater" ("Siefgfried" Act II)
3 / Rienzi "Allmäch'ger Vater, blick herab" ("Rienzi", Act V)
4 / Tannhäuser "Hör year Wolfram Hör year!" (Tannhäuser, Act III)
5 / Walther: "Am stillen Herd" (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act I)
6 / Lohengrin: "In fernem Land" (Lohengrin, Act III)
7 / Wesendonck-Lieder
Why not have chosen the chronological order of the works, which would have taken us from Rienzi in Tannhäuser, then Lohengrin, Siegmund, Siegfried, Walther, and ending with the Wesendonck-Lieder, which, as everyone knows, were used as preparatory studies for Tristan, this in a logical manner that also complies with the stylistic evolution of the composer? Car hear the prayer of Rienzi after the "Whispers of the Forest" and Walther before Lohengrin, surprised the ear unpleasantly to my taste, without my path a particular advantage for the program itself. The producer he wanted the CD starts at all costs by the role of Siegmund, because it is already the iconic role of Kaufmann? Maybe ... Anyway, the singer proves once again that he is body, like few before him, with the most romantic Wagnerian heroes, full of despair and passion, the most human demigod who or, misunderstood in his thirst for justice, dismissed in its need for love, and sacrificed on the altar of divine mistakes for a moment of fervor, a moment of hope ... A Siegmund who vocally, ranks rather between Lauritz Melchior and Max Lorenz between James King and Jon Vickers - Kaufmann took Melchior example to lengthen both extremely "Wälse" prayer Siegmund, freedom Wagnerian appreciate differently.
His Siegfried is ideal, if not idyllic, it is one of the highlights, too short, this CD; parlando delicate, light, moved, with incomparable clarity, combining power and lyricism, youth and valor ... That is far from the Siegfried sharp and nasal, with narrow acute, which we had to settle for thirty years!
Stamp Kaufmann, beautiful coppery shadows, its scale, its flexibility are also in Walther wonder: we no longer holds wait to hear it in this role, in full! Tannhäuser, what rending "trip to Rome!" We can compare it to the version (much histrionesque, say the purists, but you tear the guts) of Max Lorenz led by Knappertsbusch in 1942.
If Kaufmann innovates with the integral of the "Story of the Grail" of "Lohengrin", it is not the first: Franz Völker had registered in 1936, and two integrals of "Lohengrin" had already given: that of Leinsdorf in 1966, with Sándor Kónya (CAR), and the Barenboim in 1998 with Peter Seiffert (Teldec). And it should be noted that the shortened version of the story is not usually given a break, but a desired modification by Wagner himself and notified in writing to Franz Liszt few days before the premiere of the opera in Weimar, on modification which the composer never returned and thus must be regarded as final. It should not be that the full become customary in a poorly understood sake of authenticity; authenticity is in shape by the composer.
The complete cycle of Wesendonck-Lieder is obviously the big and beautiful surprise of this CD, even if Kaufmann is not, either, the first tenor to try it: There was this jack-of-all Richard Tauber, Lauritz Melchior, Franco Corelli (with "Der Engel" in French!), and Placido Domingo, and René Kollo and a baritone Konrad Jarnot, in 2007, in the original version with piano accompaniment. But after several plays that surprise has passed, and they heard with serenity and objectivity, this cycle is worthily up alongside those of Kirsten Flagstad, Jessye Norman and Christa Ludwig.
Two dangers threaten the singers also equipped with lavish means as Jonas Kaufmann, laziness and mannerism. For laziness, nothing to fear, dedication of the artist is undeniable, but the mannerism the tent, we have seen in both "Lohengrin" stage: sometimes we would like more openness, more from that the word and its meaning are less depressed.
In terms of conducting, Donald Runnicles (born 1959) is a leader who has a proven seventeen years at the helm of the orchestra of the Opera of San Francisco, the first head of the BBC Scottisch Symphony Orchestra, he conducts the orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin since 2009. It does not make me believe that Kaufmann and him have not discussed and have not agreed on the interpretation of these extracts. And if we can, indeed, find the band a little pale at certain moments, like back, lacking flesh, without spleen provided the essential moments, we must think that the responsibility lies so that the chief soloist, one saying in the interview in the instructions the full satisfaction that he had to work with the orchestra.
Trifles that all this alongside the qualities of this record represents an ideal first approach to the work of Richard Wagner, for those who do not or who are refractory would experience it, and a delight for those who venerate the voice of Jonas Kaufmann, "first heldentenor the XXI Century", a title he will hold for a long time, serving as fervently as delicacy, faith and intelligence.
