This will delight those who adore chunks of Puccini or of Jonas Kaufmann or both, and who do not mind the coincidence of the CD coming out within hours of the Last Night of the Proms, where the 46-year-old German tenor with the dark brown voice sang some of the same repertoire: the kind of launch party promoters can only dream of. Having released some Puccini on Decca, Kaufmann has switched to Sony and recorded familiar and less obvious repertoire afresh with Antonio Pappano and the impassioned choir and orchestra of Santa Cecilia, Rome. All the operas (except the all-female Suor Angelica) are represented, ending with a pinging, thrilling Nessun Dorma. It’s as far from Pavarotti as you can get, yet still captures the essence of Puccini.
