{"id":92380,"date":"2024-09-24T11:44:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T15:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/operawire.com\/?p=92380"},"modified":"2024-09-24T11:44:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T15:44:18","slug":"cd-review-jonas-kaufmanns-puccini-love-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/operawire.com\/cd-review-jonas-kaufmanns-puccini-love-affairs\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review: Jonas Kaufmann\u2019s ‘Puccini: Love Affairs’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPuccini: Love Affairs\u201d is Sony Classical\u2019s response to the marketing of the centenary of the Lucchese composer\u2019s death. Sadly, instead of a complete opera recording, it is yet another compilation (in the fullest sense!) of familiar duets, and an aria from \u201cTosca\u201d and \u201cLa Boh\u00e8me\u201d each.<\/p>\n

Jonas Kaufmann<\/a> – its titular singer – represents the main selling point. The German tenor is his usual self, both suave and nonchalant, albeit constrained vocally to some unusual huskiness, and a propensity to use the voix mixte <\/i>instead of his signature muscular sound. Unfortunately, his prolonged efforts do not hold their own, as his multiple partners fail to raise the proverbial heat above lukewarm temperatures at the very best. His \u201cLove Affairs,\u201d if anything, are a tepid postlude, rather than an eruptive celebration of Puccini\u2019s romantic genius.<\/p>\n

An Affair \u00e0 Six<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

The title alludes to Puccini\u2019s many infidelities which have repeatedly put his marital relationship to the test: from the uncovered liaison with the mysterious Cori – nicknamed \u201cLa Torinese\u201d – to his tragically, and unjustly presumed affair with the young housekeeper, Doria Manfredi. Each has, to some extent, reverberated in his operas, and the relationships between tenor and soprano in particular.<\/p>\n

More prosaically, the album reprises the template of Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak\u2019s \u201cPuccini in Love\u201d (2018; also on Sony Classical). But Kaufmann, not content with just one duetting partner, took it upon himself to engage six of the world\u2019s leading sopranos for a different role each. The results, far from being fortuitous, appear mixed: Netrebko<\/a> is a very matronly Manon Lescaut whose frivolity barely translates to anything more than a pastosely layered emission, particularly in the lower register. Similarly, Sonya Yoncheva<\/a>\u2019s Tosca remains strangely nondescript, and Maria Agresta<\/a> – as Butterfly – does not nearly display the urgency Angela Gheorghiu<\/a> so eloquently conjured in EMI\u2019s 2008 recording of the complete opera (opposite Kaufmann, as well). By far the most idiosyncratic are both excerpts from \u201cLa Fanciulla del West,\u201d brought to life by Malin Bystr\u00f6m\u2019s intrinsic vulnerability, and endless compassion clad in a steely timbre (not unlike Mara Zampieri), and intelligent phrasing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Boy of the Golden West\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

Johnson is also Kaufmann\u2019s best role, as it significantly deviates from the Puccinian youthfulness ascribed to the composer\u2019s earlier operas. He relies on a certain playfulness, liberties perhaps in phrasing the lines which one would not typically expect from an Italianate tenor. The distribution of accents, for instance, in the ariose \u201cQuello che tacete\u201d, or the performative and suave \u201cAvrei voluto salire\u2026 nella vostra capanna\u201d are discretionary concessions to a more logocentric, if not Wagnerian, approach.<\/p>\n

For obvious reasons, this proves less effective in the triad of \u201cLa Boh\u00e8me,\u201d \u201cTosca,\u201d and \u201cMadama Butterfly,\u201d where the vocal limits are less easily camouflaged. In \u201cO soave fanciulla\u201d (with the alluring Pretty Yende<\/a>) Kaufmann resorts to a slightly odd voix mixte <\/i>on the culminating \u201camore;\u201d conversely, the high C in \u201cChe gelida manina\u201d rings freely, albeit with considerably less luminosity than in \u201cRomantic arias\u201d from 2008.<\/p>\n

As Cavaradossi, he generously spins the legato from \u201cs\u2019affisa intero\u201d to the beautifully transitioned \u201cocchio all\u2019amor soave.\u201d Yet the vocal profile does not match the painter\u2019s hot-blooded exuberance, and while flawless otherwise the singing\u2019s gently toned-down character feels suspiciously disengaged. Part of the malaise stems from the recording conditions: Asher Fish\u2019s orchestra was taped separately from the singers, making every attempt to achieve deeper levels of dramatic syntony a painfully taxing enterprise. It is best in the quasi-symphonic backdrop of \u201cMadama Butterfly,\u201d where the Israeli conductor effectively dwells on chromatic variability.<\/p>\n

A Marketing Affair<\/b><\/h3>\n

Not unexpectedly perhaps, Kaufmann\u2019s compilatory love affairs do not match the artistic craftsmanship of his earlier publications, notably his 2015 monograph (with Antonio Pappano). Gone is the seductiveness with which Kristine Opolais appeased his intemperate Des Grieux; gone is also the roundness, let alone the spontaneity of his Rodolfo. Instead, there is a tendency away from the mellifluous towards the slightly choppier, if not mannered, enunciatory style of the dramatic heavyweights, Johnson and \u201cIl Tabarro\u2019s\u201d Luigi in particular.<\/p>\n

It suits him well, and despite Kaufmann\u2019s recent health concerns, \u201cPuccini: Love Affairs\u201d is a powerful reminder of his enduring vocal charisma, and ability to draw its very limited set of antiheroes in finely shaded chiaroscuro<\/i>. But overall, it is not enough to evince the lingering suspicion that market conditions have yet again taken precedence over the quality of execution – after all, the centenary does not just represent a cultural opportunity, but also a monetary one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cPuccini: Love Affairs\u201d is Sony Classical\u2019s response to the marketing of the centenary of the Lucchese composer\u2019s death. Sadly, instead of a complete opera recording, it is yet another compilation (in the fullest sense!) of familiar duets, and an aria from \u201cTosca\u201d and \u201cLa Boh\u00e8me\u201d each. Jonas Kaufmann – its titular singer – represents the main selling point. The German {…}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":90490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,8],"tags":[13,15537,18,859,272,23930,180],"class_list":["post-92380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvd-and-cd-reviews","category-in-review","tag-anna-netrebko","tag-giacomo-puccini","tag-jonas-kaufmann","tag-maria-agresta","tag-pretty-yende","tag-puccini-love-affairs","tag-sonya-yoncheva"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCD Review: Jonas Kaufmann\u2019s 'Puccini: Love Affairs' - OperaWire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cPuccini: Love Affairs\u201d is Sony Classical\u2019s response to the marketing of the centenary of the Lucchese composer\u2019s death. 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