Stories » Jonas Kaufmann - The Puccini Album / ClassicsToday

Stories for September 20, 2020

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    The back story to 'Thelonious Monk Palo Alto' makes this album irresistible even before you?ve listened to it / JazzTimes
     
    Posted At : September 18, 2020 12:00 AM

    In 1968, a 16-year-old jazz fan at Palo Alto High School in California decides to hold a concert in the school's auditorium to raise funds for its International Club-and convinces Thelonious Monk's manager that his client should be the headliner. (Not surprisingly, the student, Danny Scher, would soon become a major force in the live-music production world.) As concert day approaches, one of the school's janitors, an audio enthusiast, offers to tune the piano in exchange for recording the show, a deal that's quickly agreed to. On the afternoon of October 27, the Thelonious Monk Quartet gives its only known high-school performance. Afterward, the janitor (his name apparently lost to history, though researchers are no doubt still working on that) hands the young promoter a tape. It goes in a box, where it sits for the next 50 years. When its owner rediscovers it, he contacts Monk's son T.S., who-first tickled by the story, then impressed by the recording's quality-sanctions its release. READ THE FULL JazzTimes ARTICLE

  • Labrinth's 'All For Us' from 'Euphoria' wins the 'Emmy for Outstanding Music & Lyrics' / UPROXX
     
    Posted At : September 18, 2020 12:00 AM

    UK singer and producer Labrinth just scored his first-ever Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics thanks to his Euphoria soundtrack standout, "All For Us." The song, which ended the emotional rollercoaster first season, was nominated alongside Pharrell and Chad Hugo's "Letter to My Godfather" from The Black Godfather, Thomas Mizer and Curtis Moore's "One Less Angel" from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' "The Way It Used to Be" from Watchmen. Reznor and Ross won the Emmy for the dramatically-titled Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Series, Movie Or Special award. READ THE FULL UPROXX ARTICLE

  • Beethoven continues to intimidate / CPR Classical
     
    Posted At : September 16, 2020 12:00 AM

    Some years ago, I was stopped at a traffic light and heard Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1 on the radio. It dawned on me (after many times listening and playing it in orchestras on the violin) that Brahms channeled his predecessor, Ludwig van Beethoven. The young Brahms cleverly passed this famous rhythmic tattoo among the various voices in the orchestra. Sometimes it's in your face. Sometimes it's subtle like this: There are other nods to Beethoven in Brahms' First Symphony that have been well pointed out. For instance, the nature of the broad, stately theme in Brahms' finale has been compared to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."   The pressure of such high expectations terrified him. That's why Brahms took nearly two decades - from early doodles and sketches to final product - to complete that first symphony. Once he cleared that hurdle, the music flowed freely. He completed his other three symphonies each in less than a year.    The looming shadow of Beethoven was and is legendary; intimidating numerous composers who followed him. Besides Brahms, great symphonists like Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler felt his presence. David Korevaar, a concert pianist and Distinguished Professor in the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder, said Beethoven had a similar effect on his contemporaries, including his teacher.   "Poor Haydn," Korevaar said. Franz Josef Haydn realized his student's genius and changed his focus as a composer. Haydn pretty much stopped writing instrumental music and turned his attention largely to choral works instead. "Beethoven by the late 1790s made such an impact that Haydn - who, after Mozart's death, briefly got to revel in being the greatest composer in Vienna - found himself again eclipsed," Korevaar said. Two centuries later, Beethoven continues to intimidate. "There's this kind of masterpiece complex where we say, 'Do you dare to play this music?' Well, why not?" Korevaar said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Korevaar challenged himself to record all 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, mostly in his home living room  The goal was to complete the cycle in 60 days. He did it in 41. READ THE FULL CPR Classical ARTICLE

  • Anthony McGill awarded Lincoln Center's 'Avery Fisher Prize' / The Violin Channel
     
    Posted At : September 15, 2020 12:00 AM

    In May, 2020, Anthony McGill launched a powerful musical protest video urging people to #TakeTwoKnees in demonstration against the death of George Floyd and historic racial injustice Today, the Avery Fisher Artist Program of Lincoln Center, in New York City, announced American clarinetist Anthony McGill as the 2020 recipient of the prestigious US $100,000 Avery Fisher Prize, in recognition of outstanding achievement and excellence in music. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Anthony currently serves as the principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic and holds teaching positions at The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, and Bard College Conservatory of Music. His #TakeTwoKnees video went viral this May, and hundreds of artists and citizens responded to the initiative with their own videos using the hashtag. "Thank you to the Avery Fisher Artist Program for this incredible honor. I never imagined as a young music student that one day I would be where I am today. None of it would have been possible without people truly believing in me. I'm grateful for this recognition of my life's work as I continue to advocate for the next generation of young musicians," Anthony said. A virtual 2020 Avery Fisher Prize award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, September 15 at 6:00 PM (EDT) and will be streamed live on The Violin Channel's Facebook. Previous recipients include Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Sarah Chang, Pamela Frank, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Edgar Meyer, Midori, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Leila Josefowicz, and the Emerson and Kronos String Quartets. SEE THE Violin Channel PAGE

  • NPR talks with Simone Dinnerstein about her new album, 'A Character of Quiet,' which she recorded at home
     
    Posted At : September 15, 2020 12:00 AM

    NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with concert pianist Simone Dinnerstein about her new album, A Character of Quiet, which she recorded at home during the pandemic. Life right now is a lot of things - unsettled, scary, quiet - rush-hour traffic mostly gone, the thrum of our daily routines suspended. For concert pianist Simone Dinnerstein, that has meant no touring, no concerts. Instead, she has recorded a new album at home during quarantine and chosen music that speaks to a sense of the world slowing down. It's called "A Character Of Quiet." And Simone Dinnerstein joins us now from New York. LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW & READ THE TRANSCRIPT

  • Bettye LaVette doesn't sing a song; she wrestles it to the ground / Montana Public Radio
     
    Posted At : September 15, 2020 12:00 AM

    Bettye LaVette's big ears, wide-open mind and ability to get inside a song's lyric, melodic line and harmonic implications "LaVetticize" every song she interprets. Her career parallels the rise of soul music, and she's among a tiny handful of her contemporaries who continue to create vital recordings. She was born Betty Jo Haskins on January 29, 1946, in Muskegon, Michigan. Bettye's family moved to Detroit when she was six years old. Her parents sold corn liquor and her living room was often visited by The Soul Stirrers, The Blind Boys of Mississippi, and many other traveling gospel groups of the day. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Bettye did not get her start in the church, but in that very same living room, where there was a jukebox, filled with the blues, country & western, and R&B records of the time. The "5" Royales, Dinah Washington, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Red Foley: these were her roots. "My Man - He's a Loving Man," Bettye's 1962 debut single, hit #7 on the R&B charts and sent her on tour with fellow newcomer, Otis Redding. Moving to New York, she joined the Don Gardner and Dee Dee Ford Review as a featured singer, recorded "Let Me Down Easy" and toured with James Brown. Bettye played (and tap-danced) the role of Sweet Georgia Brown in the Broadway musical, "Bubbling Brown Sugar" on tour for four years. In recent years, Bettye's recording and performing career has only picked up speed. She has received the W.C. Handy Award for Comeback Blues Album of the Year, the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, Best Soul Blues Female Artist from The Blues Foundation, and three Grammy nominations. Her new Blackbirds,' lbum was released via Verve in August 2020. Listen to Jon Floridis Montana Public Radio's Musician's Spotlight Broadcast: for for 9/15/20.

  • Igor Levit releases double album marked by a desire for encounter and togetherness / WFMT: Featured New Release
     
    Posted At : September 15, 2020 12:00 AM

    Pianist Igor Levit has released a very personal double album marked by a desire for encounter and togetherness. The program includes rarely played arrangements of Bach and Brahms by Ferruccio Busoni and Max Reger, as well as Palais de Mari – Morton Feldman's final work for piano. "Encounter" is the pianist's sixth disc released on the Sony Classical label and conveys the urgent desire for human togetherness – at a time when isolation is the order of the day. For September 15 2020, Igor Levit - Encounter is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'

Top 10 for Sep

Jonas Kaufmann - The Puccini Album / ClassicsToday

Posted: November 14, 2015 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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Jonas Kaufmann has been around now long enough for any glaring faults to have appeared and been criticized; the best we've been able to do is accuse him of crooning occasionally and lacking squillo on top notes. His preparation always seems to be diligent, his use of dynamics, though occasionally exaggerated, is both musical and in character, his phrasing is utterly idiomatic, and the tone handsome and healthy. The problem with a recital such as this, which includes arias from all of Puccini's operas (except, of course, Suor Angelica), is that we realize that tenor heroes are rarely the most three dimensional folks in any opera, and so a sameness sets in. But Kaufmann is too intelligent to just slide by, and this, with a few minor protests, shows him to be unique among today's tenors.

He is at his best in Puccini's more heroic music. As one might guess, his dark-hued tone is rich and full enough for grand statements. The Edgar and Villi excerpts, both beautiful arias, are in the exclamatory Verismo tradition of Giordano and Cilea, and Kaufmann is stunning in both. Luigi's aria from Il tabarro is similarly thrilling: it's a very hard, bitter sing that few tenors can cope with, but Kaufmann makes us hang on every word and every note. (He tries his best with Rinuccio's little aria, singing with great "face" and impeccable diction, and even keeping the vowels pure on the high B-flats, but he sounds as if he could beat the hell out of the whole Donati family, and if I were Schicchi I would keep him away from my daughter at all costs.

READ THE FULL ClassicsToday REVIEW

Crossover Media Projects with Jonas Kaufmann

  • Jonas Kaufmann

    Selige Stunde

    Jonas Kaufmann's new album, "Selige Stunde", will be released by Sony Classical on 4 September. During the corona lockdown he joined forces with pianist Helmut Deutsch to record a highly personal selection of lieder by Schubert, Brahms, Strauss, Mahler and other masters. "Selige Stunde" is the first album from this series of recording sessions and the first single - Schumann's "Mondnacht."

  • Jonas Kaufmann

    An Italian Night - Live from the Waldbuhne Berlin

    Two years after the release of his highly successful album Dolce Vita, Jonas Kaufmann reaffirmed his love affair with Italian music this summer with a special concert at the Waldbühne – Berlin's renowned stage-beneath-the-stars. In what can be seen as a wondrous zenith of his dedication to Italy and her music, the concert has become one of this year's biggest classical music events. Sony Classical is proud to announce the release of the magical concert on DVD and Blu-ray on October 19, with the CD and digital formats available October 5.

    "An Italian Night – Live from the Waldbühne Berlin" features popular songs and canzone as well as passionate Italian opera arias and duets from Cavalleria rusticana, where Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili joined Jonas as a charming guest-artist and duet partner. Both were supported by Jochen Rieder conducting the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

  • Jonas Kaufmann

    L'Opera

    Jonas Kaufmann pays homage to a magnificent era of opera that defined musical splendor and elegance, in his new album of 19th-century French opera arias and duets. His selection of music for tenor spans this momentous period, starting with "Rachel, quand du Seigneur" from Halévy's La Juive (1835), through two of Bizet's greatest works, "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" from Carmen (1875) and "Au fond du temple saint" from Les Pêcheurs de perles (1863), by way of Gounod's "Ah! lève-toi, soleil!" from Roméo et Juliette (1867) and ending with the latest aria "Pourquoi me réveiller" from Massenet's masterpiece Werther (1892). Plus many more along the way.

    15 NEW  70 TOTAL
    SYND:     NPR/ATC, Classical 24, TRH, CBC
    Direct: MOOD, AccuRadio
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Dallas, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Detroit, Santa Fe, Honolulu, IA(Statewide), WI(Statewide), Canada
    Online: AccuRadio, Passion Musique et Culture

  • Jonas Kaufmann

    Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde

    Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde was posthumously premiered in Munich in 1911 and described by Mahler as a "symphony for tenor, alto (or baritone) and orchestra." It follows that two soloists have been featured in every performance and recording to date: either tenor and baritone or tenor and alto/mezzo soprano. Jonas Kaufmann is the first soloist to be heard singing both parts. His recording of Gustav Mahler'sDas Lied von der Erde has been recently released on Sony Classical.

    28 TOTAL
    SYND:     Classical 24, CBC
    Direct: MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Dallas, New Orleans, Denver, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Canada
    Online: AccuRadio, Beyondcriticism.com 

  • Jonas Kaufmann

    Dolce Vita

    Italy and its immortal music have a magical pull on people like no other culture. Jonas Kaufmann, long familiar with Italy's ways has had his own special bond with the country since his youth. The new album, Dolce Vita is his tribute to this culture, this way of life that has conceived one immortal melody after the other for the tenor voice. Available October 7, Sony Classical is proud to release this special collectionof timeless Italian songs – sung by "The world's greatest tenor" (The Daily Telegraph)

    24 NEW  66 TOTAL
    SYND: Classical 24, CBC
    Direct: MOOD, AccuRadio
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Austin, St. Louis, Denver, New Orleans, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Madison WI, Louisville, Honolulu, KS(Network), IA(Network), WI(Network), MN(Network), NE(Network), CO(Network)
    Online: DWRadio

  • Jonas Kaufmann

    The Age of Puccini

    Jonas Kaufmann became the first German tenor to sing Cavaradossi at the Metropolitan Opera in 103 years. He shaped Puccini's music with exceptional elegance, balancing the character's essential revolutionary fervor with a heart-stopping tenderness. Critics and audiences received the portrayal ecstatically. Listeners familiar with Kaufmann's artistry in German and French repertoire exclusively will be astonished by his affinity for Italian music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Having welcomed him as Cavaradossi in 2008, Covent Garden presented his first Maurizio in 2010 and his debuts as Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut in 2014 and as Andrea Chénier in 2015. The current collection highlights many of these roles as recorded for Decca.

  • Jonas Kaufmann

    Nessun dorma - The Puccini Album

    After years of singing Giacomo Puccini's heroes on stage to vast critical and audience ac­claim, Jonas Kaufmann finally records an album entirely devoted to the world's most-loved opera composer. His new album Nessun dorma will be released on Sony Classical on September 11th and will include a selection of the composer's stupendous tenor arias drawn from Puc­cini's greatest operas, including Turandot, Manon Lescaut, Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and La fanciulla del West, amongst others. Spanning the breadth of Puccini's output from the early operas Le Villi and Edgar, the album culminates in the mighty aria "Nessun dorma" from his final opera Turandot. Jonas Kaufmann is joined on this album by Maestro Antonio Pappano, the Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and soprano Kristīne Opolais.

    41 NEW  55 Total
    SYND:     Classical 24, CBC
    Direct: Music Choice, MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Wash DC, Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Portland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Austin, New Orleans, Honolulu, Canada
    Online: Taintradio