Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven & Wagner (2009)

Jonas Kaufmann is now established as the most successful and versatile tenor of his generation, attracting rave reviews for his live performances and recordings.

Following the international success of Romantic Arias, Jonas Kaufmann returns with this album of outstanding arias from German opera; music of his homeland which he grew up hearing.

The great opera conductor Claudio Abbado directs the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Arnold Schoenberg Chor in his first ever vocal recital recording for Decca, and his first Decca recording for almost 40 years.

The album cover shows Jonas Kaufmann as 'Wanderer' - inspired by the much-loved painting by German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich.

Beethoven:
 Gott! Welch Dunkel hier! (from Fidelio)

Mozart:
 Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (from Die Zauberflöte)
 Die Weisheitslehre….. führt mich der Ton zu ihr from Die Zauberflöte

Schubert:
 Was quälst du mich… In tiefbewegter Brust from Fierrabras
 Schon, wenn es beginnt zu tragen….und mein Herze will ihm nach (from Alfonso und Estrella, D732)

Wagner:
 In fernem Land (from Lohengrin)
 Mein lieber Schwan (from Lohengrin)
 Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond (from Die Walküre)
 Amfortas! Die Wunde! (from Parsifal)
 Nur eine Waffe taugt (from Parsifal)

"This disc, which has the luxury of Claudio Abbado's magisterial, refined conducting, shows that Kaufmann is at least as fine a Mozart singer as a Wagner one… His outburst from Act II of Parsifal… is a thrilling foretaste of things to come… In Florestan's great aria from Fidelio we have a perfectly controlled expression of agony and exaltation. Everything here makes you crave to listen to this major artist in complete recordings, preferably, given his acting, on DVD."
BBC Music Magazine - November 2009 *****