If you need more evidence that Jonas Kaufmann is decibel for decibel the best tenor currently active this video from yesterday’s performance of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West provides it. “Or son sei mesi” is in the second act and is the first of the tenor’s two aria. Kaufmann’s brilliant phrasing and his blaze of B-flats at the aria’s conclusion make his rendition extraordinary.

 

Unfortunately, the above video has gone dead. Instead, here’s Richard Tucker singing the aria. Richard Tucker -Or son sei mesi- La Fanciulla del West