DVD 10972 JONAS KAUFMANN COMPILATION VOL. 1

Kaufmann does his utmost, but the recording is spoilt by sloppy editing: notes are cut of at the end of an aria, transitions are unconvincing. If you want to spoil Kaufmann buy this recording. Pathetic!

If you already own Premiere disc 10883, you have a great sampling of Kaufmann's art. This new compilation provides an excellent companion disc. Among the thumbnail accessible items, the longest is the finale from Lohengrin from In fernam Land on. This is taken from Premiere's release of the complete opera and the duet with Hvorostovsky also comes from a previous release. Other than those there are no duplications from earlier releases that I know of. A few stand-outs are the Christmas carol, O Holy Night, much favored by tenors down the years. We get two verses; one in French, one in German. The Das Land des Lachhelns aria, another tenor favorite, is also excellent and well received by the audience. As is to be expected with compilations, quality varies by selection. Most here are excellent despite a little unsteadiness from a hand held camera. Sound is excellent except that in a number of the items it is way out of synch with the singers lip movements and I noticed a few dropouts. A little disconcerting but it's the voice, after all, that matters. Perhaps Premiere will be able to correct this and reissue the disc some day. Five stars anyway!