Jonas Kaufmann - You Mean the World to Me (2014) [Hi-Res]

Jonas dedicates his new album to the golden era of German music which flourished in Berlin between 1925 & 1935. He shows an undeniable mastery of this demanding repertoire, which was written for the leading tenors of the time.

‘Lied vom Leben des Schrenk’ by Künneke in particular has only been recorded 3 times before and is hugely challenging vocally. Jonas draws inspiration from an artistically rich and fascinating time of European musical history. The repertoire ranges from the Lehár-Tauber-Hits of the Roaring Twenties until the heyday of the mid 1930s which saw the eventual expulsion and banning of the composers, lyricists and singers who had defined the genre.

The repertoire draws from 3 strands of musical history (Talking movies, Operetta and Polystylistic composers) and shows Jonas’ voice at its most flexible.

The album naturally also includes operetta evergreens by the unbeatable composer-tenor pairing of Franz Lehàr and Richard Tauber – including “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz”, “Hab’ ein blaues Himmelbett ” and “Gern hab ich die Frauen geküßt”.

Jonas’ favoured encores - Richard Tauber’s famous self-penned “Du bist die Welt für mich” and “Ein Lied geht um die Welt” made famous by Joseph Schmidt in the movie of the same title - are also included.