love at first sight

As you can see, describing the words heard at the music club on Saturday is complicated. When things get serious, language is not enough to express what music can do. The subject we are talking about here, like no other, even more than opera, combines word and voice on equal terms. And when two such masters work together, on tenor and on keys, as in this case, the result is a unique and, hopefully, irretrievable event.

Kaufmann and the bookbinder stood/sat together on stage for the first time—at the beginning of a Schubert cycle programmed by the pianist at the music club. It was love at first sight for them and the audience alike.

The goal was to create the song cycle “The Beautiful Müller” by Franz Schubert, one of the most complex, multifaceted and beautiful creations of the genre. Kaufmann had already recorded the 20 songs (with Helmut Deutsch) in 2009. People were very excited to see how he would do it 15 years later and now with Buchbinder. The result: a triumph.

Kaufmann, whose voice has since mastered the most difficult parts of opera literature, withdraws magnificently and puts himself entirely at the service of the cause. He creates each aria differently and yet sings with the utmost sensitivity, every note, every correct phrase – his real greatness lies in the fact that he never has to prove the size of his voice by force, and this virtuosity also sets him apart from others in opera. His tenor sounds beautifully and wonderfully colorful, his baritone timbre is perfectly in keeping with Schubert and legends like Fischer-Dieskau, he is precise in pitch and plays notes as only masters can. Such an elegant, noble and reserved “miller” is very touching.

On the other hand, Buchbinder, who hates the word accompanist – if you do that, you accompany someone to a restaurant, but not when singing a song – is an equal partner in chamber music who certainly challenges Kaufmann, for example in the first song or “Das Wandern” or in “Jäger”. At fast speeds, as if he were not at all interested in the quiet nature of a hiking trip. In terms of sound, he also takes Kaufmann where Schubert went very early. Here one plus one is not two, but a multiple of it. If they had not stopped after three times, the audience would probably still be cheering.