If Jonas Kauffman's strikingly good looks don't have a hold on you, then maybe his powerful operatic tenor chops do. And his upcoming disc, You Mean the World to Me, should do just the trick to get you hooked, available September 16.
The idea for the new album came to Kaufmann during his Berlin Waldbühne concert with Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott in August 2011. Jonas has often sung German standards such as Dein ist mein ganzes Herz, Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert or Du bist die Welt für mich as encores.
That's what the focus of the disc is trained on. Melodies from Germany's Golden Era are arranged to hone in on the tenor's brilliant voice, which is tailored perfectly for what he's bringing to the table with this LP.
Narrowing the period to a time between 1925 and 1935, the hits of Franz Lehár and Richard Tauber, from the "Roaring Twenties" to the expulsion of all songwriters defined the genre and its time that someone like Mr. Kaufmann take a look into what theys till have to offer a new and expanding audience.
"No repertoire has challenged me more than this one," says Kaufmann.
"It's called 'easy listening' because the music sounds easy to the audience but most of the standards from Lehár, Kálmán, Stolz and Abraham are extremely demanding on the voice. Easy listening, maybe, but not easy performing," he continued.
A tracklist for the disc can be found here.
And until then, bide your time with some sweet Jonas.
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