Can you spare a tenor? Kaufmann sings ALL of Das Lied...

[Nick Armstrong]

Anyone heard this yet?



And anyone share the view ("This is mad") of Norman L http://myscena.org/norman-lebrecht/l...der-erde-sony/ ?

Interesting that Gatti pulled out of the project (and Kaufmann himself pulled out of the live performance, illness of course).

[Richard Tarleton]

Anyone heard this yet?



And anyone share the view ("This is mad") of Norman L http://myscena.org/norman-lebrecht/l...der-erde-sony/ ?

To echo NL, what was he thinking? Hard to improve on his performance with Abbado, BPO and Anne-Sophie von Otter, I'd have thought. Now if that were released on DVD....

[Nevilevelis]

On a preview of two tracks, I don't recognise Lebrecht's excoriating review. I generally disagree with pretty much everything he says and the tone and manner in which he says it, so I look forward to hearing the lot when it's released. I know from the inside that Jonas has been ill, vocally. I have worked with him many times and he is a consummate professional, pull his weight and doesn't cancel on a whim. (I know you're not suggesting that, but just for the record...)

[Richard Tarleton]

But what do you think of NL's core point about the advisedness of such an enterprise?

[Nevilevelis]

But what do you think of NL's core point about the advisedness of such an enterprise?

On hearing only part of two tracks, I'm reserving judgement until I hear it all. His voice IS baritonal in the lower register, though!

[pastoralguy]

I always feel that if one is interested in a work then listening to an alternative viewpoint is no bad thing and if one doesn't like it then simply don't listen to it again. Simples.

[Richard Barrett]

Typical arrogant dismissal from Lebrecht. If he dislikes something this much I'm sure it's worth giving a listen to, although in this case probably not for me because I'm not keen on having a male voice in the Abschied. On the other hand I think Jonathan Nott is a superb Mahler interpreter.

[Conchis]

JK is a great artist: he does like his gimmicks, but up until now they haven't been too distracting (the Wesendonck Lieder is the first complete Wagnerian work that he's committed to audio). I'm not sure about this idea, though, and will suspend judgement until I hear it.

As for Lebrecht: no one listens to him any more, so what he says doesn't matter.

[Nevilevelis]

JK is a great artist: he does like his gimmicks, but up until now they haven't been too distracting (the Wesendonck Lieder is the first complete Wagnerian work that he's committed to audio). I'm not sure about this idea, though, and will suspend judgement until I hear it.

As for Lebrecht: no one listens to him any more, so what he says doesn't matter.

Interesting. I hadn't thought of them as gimmicks. I suppose that in a saturated market even he needs a unique selling point. Personally, I'm happy to listen to anything he does.

I wonder if NB just takes extreme viewpoints to attract attention these days, or has he always been that way? Don't answer if you can't be bothered. Who cares, right?! Idle curiosity.

[pastoralguy]

I wonder if NB just takes extreme viewpoints to attract attention these days, or has he always been that way? Don't answer if you can't be bothered. Who cares, right?! Idle curiosity.

He has made a career out of being a doom and gloom merchant. His books dwell on the, apparently, terrible state of the classical music business and how a small minority of top people make vast quantities of cash at the expense of every one else further down the chain.

Oh, and gossip!

[Nevilevelis]

He has made a career out of being a doom and gloom merchant. His books dwell on the, apparently, terrible state of the classical music business and how a small minority of top people make vast quantities of cash at the expense of every one else further down the chain.

Oh, and gossip!

Oh dear! I see!

(Private message coming your way! )

[EnemyoftheStoat]

...how a small minority of top people make vast quantities of cash at the expense of every one else further down the chain.

Well, he's not totally wrong there is he? What about the already well-heeled grandees who get lifetime achievement awards to services to their hobby (and to the refreshments industry) while their hardworking and loyal staff go virtually unrecognised, financially or otherwise?

Exposing that sort of thing is where NL could make himself useful.

[Conchis]

Interesting. I hadn't thought of them as gimmicks. I suppose that in a saturated market even he needs a unique selling point. Personally, I'm happy to listen to anything he does.

I wonder if NB just takes extreme viewpoints to attract attention these days, or has he always been that way? Don't answer if you can't be bothered. Who cares, right?! Idle curiosity.

I was possibly a bit dismissive in calling them gimmicks: I'm glad that Kaufman recorded the Lieder, especially since it seems unlikely he'll be recording the complete operas in the foreseeable future.

Lebrecht is basically the Nigel Dempster of classical music. He made a bit of a name for himself in the mid-90s with his Maestro Myth book and the one that came after it. Those books are very readable (as is the one on Covent Garden) but they are riddled with factual inaccuracies and a determination to prove his central thesis that forces NB to ignore anything that doesn't fit in with it. His reputation was destroyed when one of his books was pulped because of libellous comments he made about Naxos supremo Klaus Heymann. About ten years ago, the BBC indulged him with a radio show in which he debated such pointless topics as 'Is Sport the New Art?' But he doesn't make waves nowadays, unless it's via the Slipped Disc blog, in which he makes such asinine assertion as 'Carlos Kleiber wasn't a great conductor.'

He once described himself as a 'polemicist'. Yeah, right....

[LHC]

JK is a great artist: he does like his gimmicks, but up until now they haven't been too distracting (the Wesendonck Lieder is the first complete Wagnerian work that he's committed to audio). I'm not sure about this idea, though, and will suspend judgement until I hear it.

As for Lebrecht: no one listens to him any more, so what he says doesn't matter.

He performed Siegmund on the complete recording of Die Walkure with Gergiev before the Wesendonk lieder. He's also been on several DVD recordings (Lohengrin, Die Walkure, Parsifal)

[Barbirollians]

Kaufmann did sing the tenor songs wonderfully with Abbado and Anne Sofie von Otter in the mezzo/contralto numbers in that Performance that was shown on Sky Arts.