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Jonas Kaufmann - Doppelgänger

Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Helmut Deutsch (piano)

Jonas Kaufmann - Doppelgänger

Awards:

Kaufmann and pianist Helmut Deutsch take a brisk no-nonsense approach to Dichterliebe, eschewing the poetic affectations that can mar readings of Schumann's cycle...There's not a foot-fault...

BBC Music Magazine, November 20254 out of 5 stars

More reviews

Jonas Kaufmann - Doppelgänger

Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Helmut Deutsch (piano)

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CD + DVD Video

Region: All

$31.25

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Awards:

Kaufmann and pianist Helmut Deutsch take a brisk no-nonsense approach to Dichterliebe, eschewing the poetic affectations that can mar readings of Schumann's cycle...There's not a foot-fault...

BBC Music Magazine, November 20254 out of 5 stars

More reviews

About

Jonas Kaufmann’s latest album brings together two of Schumann’s most profound song cycles—Dichterliebe and Kerner-Lieder—performed with exceptional sensitivity and vocal finesse. Accompanied by pianist and long-term collaborator Helmut Deutsch, Kaufmann explores the emotional and poetic nuances of these Romantic masterpieces. These works are complemented by “Doppelgänger”, a strikingly original stage adaptation of Schubert’s Schwanengesang (Swan Songs), directed by Claus Guth. This production reimagines the cycle through a contemporary theatrical lens, adding a powerful visual and narrative dimension to Schubert’s final songs.

As a special bonus, the release includes six previously unreleased recordings from Kaufmann’s private archive: selections from Dichterliebe recorded in 1994 during his student years.

While Dichterliebe is one of the most beloved song cycles of the Romantic era—capturing the full spectrum of love, from rapture to heartbreak, with exquisite sensitivity and poetic depth—the Kerner-Lieder reveal a more introspective and dramatic side of Schumann. These songs explore themes of solitude, nature, and spiritual yearning.

The DVD features the acclaimed theatrical production of Doppelgänger, directed by Claus Guth and staged at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. Taking its name from the final song, “Der Doppelgänger”—in which a soldier confronts the haunting realization that he did not survive the war—this Armory commission poignantly explores the longing for life’s beauty and the idea that death is not an abrupt end, but a final, reflective journey.

DVD Tracklisting:

1. Opening

2. Kriegers Ahnung, D. 957 No. 2

3. Liebesbotschaft, D. 957 No. 1

4. In der Ferne, D. 957, No. 6

5. Frühlingssehnsucht, D. 957, No. 3

6. Ständchen, D. 957 No. 4

7. Herbst, D. 945

8. Aufenthalt, D. 957 No. 5

9. Abschied, D. 957 No. 7

10. Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960: II. Andante sostenuto

11. Ihr Bild, D. 957 No. 9

12. Der Atlas, D. 957 No. 8

13. Das Fischermädchen, D. 957 No. 10

14. Am Meer, D. 957 No. 12

15. Die Stadt, D. 957 No. 11

16. Der Doppelgänger D. 957 No. 13

17. Applause & Credits

  • Release date: 5th Sep 2025
  • Label: Sony
  • Catalogue number: 19439781382
  • Genre:

Contents and tracklist

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

  • Presto Recording of the Week
    5th September 2025
  • Gramophone Magazine
    October 2025
    Video Choice
  • Presto Recordings of the Year
    Finalist 2025
  • Opus Klassik Awards
    2026
    Winner - Audiovisual Music Production

November 2025

Kaufmann and pianist Helmut Deutsch take a brisk no-nonsense approach to Dichterliebe, eschewing the poetic affectations that can mar readings of Schumann's cycle...There's not a foot-fault from either artist in the rarely performed Kerner-Lieder that follow.
4 out of 5 stars

15th September 2025

Kaufmann and Deutsch prove an impeccable Lieder duo in Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Kerner-Lieder, and there is an extraordinary bonus recording of six songs from Dichterliebe made at the very start of Kaufmann’s career in 1994. Who knew that he ever sounded like that?
3 out of 5 stars

October 2025

Staged song-cycles can literalise what is usually conveyed through the art of suggestion and can confine meaning to a single viewpoint. Not here...Kaufmann is fuelled by freedom of physical movement and specific dramatic purpose.

5th September 2025

I’d happily have listened to 1994 Kaufmann singing the complete Dichterliebe, though this bright lyric tenor is unrecognisable as the dark-voiced singer who would triumph as Siegmund and Parsifal two decades later. And of course all of the qualities which make the mature voice so special are firmly in evidence on the 2020 recordings, with Helmut Deutsch working tiny miracles in every postlude…Set in a First World War field hospital, Guth's 2023 staging of Schwanengesang might be too interventionist for some tastes, but I loved it.
Katherine Cooper

4th September 2025

Kaufmann’s tenor is largely as it should be: full of expression, dynamically varied, masterfully delicate when the occasion warrants...your heart is tugged by Kaufmann’s peerless control in quiet moments and sensitivity to every word, even when the poetry itself isn’t necessarily wonderful. There is also the sensitive piano playing of Helmut Deutsch, his piano partner throughout: they make a terrific team.
4 out of 5 stars

6th September 2025

The clarity and purpose in every word of Dichterliebe is just stunning. To hear Kaufmann launch himself into the upper "ossias", the top G in “ganz und gar gesund” in the fourth song and, even better, the exultant top A in “die Schlang", die dir am Herzen frisst” has made my week.
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