You Mean the World to Me

by Kaufmann,Jonas

Overview

After a fairly long period of relative obscurity, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann experienced a sharp rise in popularity once he hit his forties in 2009. Each of his albums outsold (or at least out-reached) the previous one, and he seems to have been deemed ready for the crossover treatment. Showing typical gravitas, Kaufmann avoided contemporary pop and even Broadway, reaching back to the world of German-language operetta between the world wars, and even including a few weighty serious opera numbers. The new audience hook consists of the album's dual release in German and English versions. The difference is partly a question of the title: the You Mean the World to Me version, including the title track, is still more than half in German. But, to answer the question that will be on everyone's mind, yes, Kaufmann can handle the English language, and he still sounds gorgeous. There is a consciousness that it is not his own, but no more than that, and it can be forgotten at times. In fact, part of what makes the English version work is not any particular amount of woodshedding on Kaufmann's part, but the intelligence of the program, which reflects a music balanced between the Germanic and American worlds. He does Franz Lehar's Girls Were Made to Love and Kiss not simply because he wants to cross over to Anglophone popular audiences, but because understanding that work requires addressing the fact that it became very popular indeed with its English text. Figures like Richard Tauber were household names for some, and it may be that Kaufmann's fine release will be seen as a forerunner of this extravagantly romantic tradition. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	09/16/2014
Label:	Sony Classical
UPC:	0888430877122
Rank:	161858

Tracks

1. Girls Were Made to Love and Kiss (from Paganini)
2. You Are My Heart's Delight (from Das Land des L¿¿chelns)
3. Du bist die Welt f¿¿r mich (from Der singende Traum)
4. My Little Nest of Heavenly Blue (from Frasquita)
5. Im Traum hast du mir alles erlaubt (from Liebeskommando)
6. Gr¿¿ss mir mein Wien (from Gr¿¿fin Mariza)
7. Irgendwo auf der Welt (from Ein blonder Traum)
8. My Song Goes Round the World
9. Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert (from Giuditta)
10. Reich mir zum Abschied noch einmal die H¿¿nde (from Viktoria und ihr Husar)
11. It Would be Wonderful Indeed (from Im wei¿¿en R¿¿ssl)
12. Diwanp¿¿ppchen (from Die Blume von Hawaii)
13. Don't Ask Me Why (from Das Lied ist aus)
14. Heute Nacht oder nie (from Das Lied einer Nacht)
15. Das Lied vom Leben des Schrenk (from Die gro¿¿e S¿¿nderin)
16. Gl¿¿ck, das mir verblieb (from Die tote Stadt)
17. Je t'ai donn¿¿ mon coeur (from Das Land des L¿¿chelns)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jonas Kaufmann   Primary Artist,Tenor (Vocal)
Jochen Rieder   Conductor
Julia Kleiter   Soprano (Vocal)
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra   Orchestra

Technical Credits

Paul Knepler   Text,Lyricist
Ernst Marischka   Text,Lyricist
Robert Gilbert   Text,Lyricist
Harry Dexter   Text,Lyricist
Hansjoerg Seiler   Engineer
Eduard Kuenneke   Composer
Paul Schott   Text,Lyricist
Paul Abraham   Composer
Andreas N. Tarkmann   Arranger
Alfred Maria Willner   Lyricist
Jean Marietti   Text,Lyricist
Walter Reisch   Lyricist
Martin Kistner   Engineer
Bela Jenbach   Lyricist
Sigmund Spaeth   Text,Lyricist
Hans May   Composer,Composer
Buero Dirk Rudolph   Design
Heinz Reichert   Lyricist
Philipp Nedel   Producer
Werner Richard Heymann   Text,Composer
Joe Young   Lyricist,Text
Thomas Voigt   Liner Notes,Artistic Supervision
Harry Graham   Text,Lyricist
Ernst Neubach   Lyricist
Alan P. Herbert   Text
Hermann Roemmer Stoll   Text,Lyricist
Armin Robinson   Text,Lyricist
Valerie Gross   Executive Producer
Philip Siney   Balance Engineer
Unspecified   Composer
Henning Hagedorn   Arranger,Reconstruction
Matthias Grimminger   Arranger,Reconstruction
Gregor Hohenberg   Cover Photo
Emmerich Foeldes   Text,Lyricist
Katharina Stoll   Text,Lyricist
Alan Patrick Henry   Lyricist
Franz Lehar   Composer
Jimmy Kennedy   Text,Lyricist
Erich Wolfgang Korngold   Composer
Richard Tauber   Composer
Julius Brammer   Text,Lyricist
Robert Stolz   Composer
Mischa Spoliansky   Composer
Ralph Benatzky   Composer
Ludwig Herzer   Lyricist
Andre Mauprey   Text,Lyricist
Fritz Loehner-Beda   Text,Lyricist
Emmerich Kalman   Composer
Alfred Gruenwald   Text,Lyricist
Marcellus Schiffer   Text,Lyricist