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Jonas Kaufmann’s latest album Doppelgänger brings together two of Schumann’s most profound song cycles:Dichterliebe and Kerner-Lieder. Performed with remarkable sensitivity and vocal skill, Kaufmann, alongside pianist and longtime collaborator Helmut Deutsch, delves into the emotional and poetic depths of these Romantic masterpieces.
The album also includes “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 well as 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. Specialist promo & marketing activity.
CD:Robert Schumann - Dichterliebe op. 48 and Kerner-Lieder op. 35
Bonus: 6 Songs from Dichterliebe op. 48
DVD: Doppelgänger - Dramatized Staging of Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang D 957
83 mins / NTSC Worldwide Play
