Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Love Affairs
Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
Pretty Yende, Anna Netrebko, Sonya Yoncheva, Malin Byström, Asmik Grigorian, Maria Agresta (sopranos)
Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna/Asher Fisch
rec. 2024, Bologna, Italy
Texts with translations into English, French and German included
Sony Classical 19802806712 [66]

This recital is one of the many motivated by this year’s centenary of the death of Puccini. If I were being cynical, I might say that the ‘gimmick’ here is the use of six of the foremost present-day sopranos as partners in the duets, but in fact it is interesting to hear these different singers in close proximity. It is also noteworthy, and salutary, that only one of them is Italian. There is, however, very little here that Kaufmann has not already recorded either in complete performance or on recital disc.

It comes as something of a jolt (at least to me, who still think of him as a relative newcomer) to realise that Kaufmann is now 55 years old, so theoretically is approaching the final stage of his career. There is remarkably little in his vocal state as demonstrated on this CD to indicate this, though his regular cancellations and withdrawals over the last five to ten years suggest a different story. The voice is perhaps not so refulgent as it was in its prime, but the vibrato is barely any looser and the top notes still seem admirably secure. His timbre now sounds a little more Teutonic to my ears, with just the occasional hint of “Kravatentenor” in the top register, but even this is only marginal. His musicianship remains as impressive as ever, though some of its manifestations in piano and pianissimo singing do not sound quite as secure and effortless as before. 

The CD begins with the duet from the end of Act 1 of La bohème. The first phrase shows a weakness that I found in a number of places on this CD: the legato is not all that it should have been. It is true that there are no holes in the line, but each individual note is given a slight diminuendo, leading to an almost jerky effect which in no way helps the legato. The dynamic arc should be made over the course of the whole seamless phrase, not for each note within it. You need only listen to Carlo Bergonzi to hear how it should go. However Kaufmann’s trademark intelligence is shown in the way he fines down the tone at “Fremon nell’anima” (marked pp, but rarely sung so). I felt in two minds about his going up to the top C with the soprano at the end. It’s not in the score (though I’m very far from being a puritan on such things), but it is almost always musically disastrous because hardly any tenors want (or, indeed, are able) to sing the note pianissimo. This means that the soprano has to follow suit, resulting, regularly, in the two of them bellowing the note in not-quite-unison, creating an effect which could hardly be farther from what Puccini and the dramatic situation want. This is not what happens here; Kaufmann is far too musical to do that, and he is a tenor with the ability to sing a pianissimo top C, which is what he does here, but I’d still have preferred him to stick to the score’s G. Pretty Yende makes an attractive-enough sound, but has nowhere near Kaufmann’s imagination, so her responses are rather blank.

The Manon Lescaut duet has the advantage of Anna Netrebko. Her voice has become a large, dark-toned instrument over the years, though her vibrato has loosened more than I would have liked and the top notes can be rather wild. The voice no longer sounds remotely like a young girl’s, but the pair throw themselves into their parts and give convincing and exciting performances, if without quite managing the real Italian slancio. 

The Act 1 Tosca duet is very fine. In the booklet interview, Kaufmann says “Tosca is a special case. It is probably the opera that I have sung most, and yet I still can’t get enough of it… I love the piece.” He is very fine; listen, for example, to the way he moulds ‘”Qual occhio al mondo” and how beautifully he responds to the music’s modulation at “Occhio all’amore soave”. I was very impressed with Yoncheva’s Tosca when I heard her in the part at Covent Garden in July 2024, and that quality is shown in this duet. She has a lovely tone with a consistent and well-controlled vibrato, but does not eschew full-blooded, dramatic singing. While it cannot be denied that she is, interpretatively, no Callas, she is alive to the text and the dramatic situation in an entirely convincing way. This is one of the best performances on this CD.

Kaufmann has had some of his biggest successes in La fanciulla del West, and it is a role that suits his dark tenor particularly well (it was, of course, written for that other baritonal tenor, Caruso). I must confess that I don’t know very much of Malin Byström’s work, and the Scandinavian name did make me wonder whether she was likely to be a natural Puccinian, but she is excellent in this duet. She has a vibrant, passionate style, with none of Lise Davidsen’s reserve, and a secure and exciting voice. Both singers are entirely inside their parts, and fully alive to the nuances of the text and score. The final duet is that from Madama Butterfly with the only Italian singer, Maria Agresta. Kaufmann is at his most refined and affecting in “Viene la sera”, conveying the best side of the brainless Pinkerton, and a genuine sense of his tenderness for Butterfly at this point. “Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia” is another example of the rather unsatisfactory legato I mentioned earlier, and again I bring in Bergonzi as expert witness for the prosecution here. Agresta is lovely in this very difficult part; Butterfly is somewhat on the same lines as Salome – “A 16 year old with the voice of an Isolde”, as Strauss described that part. Some of the orchestration of Madama Butterfly is very heavy, and needs real vocal heft to cut through (though wonderful in many respects, Ermonela Jaho was unable to achieve this). Agresta certainly sounds as if she could make a good fist of it, though I have never heard her live so can’t be sure. Certainly on CD, she seems to have the essentials and more for a very fine Butterfly. 

The final items are two of the most famous of all Puccini’s tenor arias, “Che gelida manina” and “E lucevan le stelle”. In “Che gelida” Kaufmann has gone full out for Rodolfo as poet. The start of the aria is beautifully confiding and sensitive, the dynamic kept low and the sense of address to a single character (as opposed to the back of the amphitheatre) is palpable, and he continues this approach through the rest of the aria. It works very well, though I can’t help thinking it somewhat short-changes the character. Rodolfo is a poet, but he is also someone who plays a full part in the fake outrage at Benoit in order to avoid paying the rent, and who happily joins in the horse play in the last act – and don’t forget he has purposely blown out the candle a few minutes before the aria to keep Mimì from leaving. He is a more rounded character than the moony poet that Kaufmann gives us. Listen to Gigli’s 1931 record to hear the self-deprecation, the fun, the cunning, the sheer life of Rodolfo. “E lucevan” is better; the approach is very similar, but it is far more appropriate to the character at this point in the opera. I particularly like the sense of the letter being improvised as it is written – this is not something that Cavaradossi has thought about and prepared already, he is inventing it as he writes it, and Kaufmann conveys this superbly. It builds to a fine climax, and unsurprisingly there is none of the hysterical weeping that some tenors indulge in, and it is the more effective for that.

Though I don’t recall ever having heard the orchestra before, it is a fine body of players and is very ably conducted by Asher Fisch, whom I have also not previously encountered.

This is a very enjoyable recital, and though I have had criticisms to make, the overall quality of the performances of all involved is estimable. The production values are also very high. The CD comes in a thick triptych case, with an 86-page booklet on high quality paper (though everything appears in English, French and German, so this gives a somewhat exaggerated idea of the contents). The interview with Kaufmann is of little more than glossy magazine quality, and, strangely, there is not a word about any of the other participants except for a brief roll call in the interview. I can’t imagine that they will be particularly pleased at this.

This will not go down as one of the great recital discs of the century, but there is enough of quality and interest, not least in the variety of sopranos, to make it well worth considering.

Paul Steinson

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Contents
La Boheme (with Pretty Yende)
1 – O soave fanciulla
Manon Lescaut (with Anna Netrebko)
2 – Tu, tu, amore? Tu? 
Tosca (with Sonya Yoncheva)
3 – Mario! – Son qui!
4 – Ah, quegli occhi! – Qual occhio al mondo
La Fanciulla del West (with Malin Byström)
5 – Mister Johnson, siete rimasto indietro
6 – Quello che tacete 
Il Tabarro (with Asmik Grigorian)
7 – O Luigi! Luigi! …Dimmi: perché gli hai chiesto
Madama Butterfly (with Maria Agresta)
8 – Viene la sera
9 – Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia
10 – Vogliatemi bene
La Boheme
11 – Che gelida manina!
Tosca
12 – E lucevan le stelle