Music

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Classical

By: Staff Writer

12/12/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Jonas Kaufmann, Helmut Deutsch

Schubert: die Schöne Müllerin (Decca)

At the outset of Schubert's epic cycle you wonder if Kaufmann's heroic tones are rightly cast for the naïve miller that loses the girl to a hunter and drowns his sorrows in a brook. Kaufmann's tenor often conveys a baritone in disguise, with a rugged strength and arsenal of operatic gesture at his command, but as the cycle unfolds you realize what an accomplishment this 63-minute journey is.

Kaufmann is especially attentive to the play of the strophic songs, keenly varying return verses within plan and character while never falling to mere narration. Though you sense he could slay the hunter with a backhand, the brook's final call to rest is touchingly reined in. Of course you need an equal partner at the piano for Schubert, and Helmut Deutsch acts as the ideal support. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

-- James Manishen

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 12, 2009 C4

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