The superstar tenor criticises his former label for deceptively undermining his new Puccini album on Sony.

The star German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has launched a scathing attack on his former record label Decca for releasing a compilation in his name without any consultation. “Please don’t let yourselves be deceived,” he writes on his Facebook page, “this was done without my knowledge and approval.”

Further more, the new release – Jonas Kaufmann – the Age of Puccini – could easily be seen as a deliberate ploy to steal thunder from his forthcoming Puccini album due out on Sony mid-September. However, as Kaufmann points out, the new Decca album is a compilation and “contains only three Puccini arias,” and apart from these three tracks are “essentially my old recording Verismo Arias from 2010.”

Decca are doubtless the contractual owners of the recordings that Kaufmann made for them between the Romantic Arias disc in 2008 and the award winning Wagner Album in 2013. However, the new Age of Puccini disc will be the third compilation that his former label have released under his name in the two years since he moved to Sony.

Kaufmann’s full post is as follows:

Dear Friends,
Please don’t let yourselves be deceived by the Decca release “Jonas Kaufmann – The Age of Puccini”. This compilation contains only 3 Puccini arias – my recordings of Che gelida manina and E lucevan le stelle from 2007 and a scene from La Rondine, that I recorded with Renée Fleming in 2008 for the Verismo album. The remaining 18 tracks are essentially my old recording Verismo Arias from 2010. Therefore familiar recordings – in new packaging. I was not consulted in its making, this was done without my knowledge and approval.
The “real” Puccini album which I recorded with Antonio Pappano in Rome in Autumn last year is titled “Nessun dorma” and will be released on Sony in the middle of September. It exclusively contains arias and scenes from Puccini’s operas including highlights from Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Tosca, La Fanciulla del West and Turandot.
Jonas Kaufmann