Call it operatic speed dating as the tenor Jonas Kaufmann embarks on a whirlwind romance with six different sopranos. In fact, because these sopranos were six busy women trying to sync diaries with one busy man, there were six ‘overdub dates’ (the phrase used in Sony’s promotional materials) that took place across Europe; in other words, the sessions when Kaufmann and partner recorded their vocals. These were later mixed in with the orchestral recording made in Bologna with the city’s Orchestra del Teatro Comunale under conductor Asher Fisch.

Never mind. Tenors were never meant to be trusted and Kaufmann at least sounds like he means it, from a studio in Salzburg (Anna Netrebko, Manon Lescaut) to one in Berlin (Sonya Yoncheva, Tosca); Vienna (Asmik Grigorian, Giorgetta in Il tabarro) to Stockholm (Malin Byström, Minnie in La fanciulla del West). And so, hundreds of miles away, does the more than decent Bolognese orchestra.

Always the producer of a huskier, grainier tone than most singers in this sort of repertoire, the 55-year-old Kaufmann still sounds convincingly energised, even if there are moments when he seems to let the soprano take the strain. One such example is with Maria Agresta’s Madama Butterfly in an Act 1 love duet noticeable for Agresta’s compelling fragility, but Kaufmann’s Pinkerton is not as robust or persuasive as he was in the complete opera (with Angela Gheorghiu – EMI/Warner, 3/09).

The album also starts unpromisingly, jolting us as it does to the final moments of Act 1 of La bohème. Perhaps it’s because Pretty Yende’s Mimì has barely had a chance to get into the swing of things that she sounds remote, hazy. Netrebko’s Manon takes her time to get her teeth into ‘Tu, tu, amore? Tu?’, but this more involved face-off between two headstrong people who are very bad for each other does then catch light, and is a reminder that Des Grieux was one of Kaufmann’s strongest stage roles.

From there Kaufmann’s partners largely take the spotlight: Byström is a superb Minnie, the Swedish soprano’s ‘bionda’ sound perfect for the role, with crystalline high notes, and Kaufmann’s Dick Johnson flatters the virginal Californian barmaid wonderfully. Asmik Grigorian returns to her traumatised Giorgetta (she sang it at Salzburg, caught on DVD/Blu-ray – Unitel, 10/23), and Yoncheva’s Tosca is fresh and unhammy in the flirty Act 1 duet. Finally, Kaufmann wrests back some lustre in solos: a stylish, warmly characterised ‘Che gelida manina’, and ‘E lucevan le stelle’, where his penchant for plaintive head voice sounds less mannered than it has recently done in the theatre.