Jonas Kaufmann discusses his Decca Classics album, Wagner. Order on Amazon: smarturl.it/wagnerkaufmann Download on iTunes: smarturl.it/wagnerjonaskaufmann
i bought this disc recently and can honestly that this is the greatest tenor to have emerged in years what a marvellous dark tone to the voice and the colouration in it,i used to despair that there would be no decent singers in the 21st century to compete the great voices of the 20th,but Mr Kaufmann has arrived and is the tenor of this century
Jonas Kaufmann is responsible for my conversion to Wagner. It's weird as I hated Wagner's music when at music college. But I heard In fernem land sang by Jonas with so much expression. Also his Parsifal which is so exquisite. I was hooked! The Valkyrie followed - with his Siegmund - and there was absolutely no hope for me after that! I just love the Wagner lieder included in this recording. The strength, sheer vitality and also emotional empathy conveyed by Jonas's voice is magnificent, as is the glorious music of Wagner. By the way, is that beautiful hall in which Jonas gives this interview part of the recording studio that he tells us about? It's gorgeous.❤
As soon as this will be on the market, I'll have it. Loved where he shows the old scores that belonged to his grandfather. He really has Wagner "in his blood", and it shows in all his performances, especially in Lohengrin .
For some reason I thought Kaufmann was a baritone for a second. The richness and darkness of his voice makes the pitch sound lower to my ear. His transformation from a Spinto tenor from Bizet's Carmen to a dramatic tenor/heldentenor in Wagner is astonishing to me. Mattei has a very dark timbre and one of the best baritones I have listened to. Listen to Deh vieni alla finestra from Don Giovani is one of my favorites. Im going to watch Parsifal and see how he sings as Amfortas :)
Looking forward to hearing him sing the Wesendonck Lieder...at the moment I'm not entirely convinced that a male voice has the right quality for these songs but I'm looking forward to hearing him prove me wrong :-)
Why is he so consonant heavy? When you listen to Flagstad and Melchior they have such wonderful continuous sound. They sang like Italians which is what Wagner wanted for his singers and even said they should find a good Italian teacher.
Have you listened to Dieskau? Well i guess our time. I like Thomas hampson too. But i thought the role for Sigmund was a bit askew because he is tenor. But nonetheless very impressive.
I find it interesting in all this commentary about JK voice category on other UTUBE films. JK could never sustain a tenor career if he were a baritone for more than a short period. According to his teacher (Antonio Cotogni) Jean de Reske was a baritone, but had failed in this category and therefore tried to sing tenor, but he was successful only for a relatively short period, according to Edgar Herbert Caesari in his book, Vocal Truth. Worth a read.
