Let’s have that mit Schlag! Supporting Wien, his latest CD for Sony Classical, like the rock star he is, Jonas Kaufmann tugs the heartstrings with hits from the Imperial City of balls and light opera. Who’s not a pushover for hits like these, sung with Kaufmann’s easy-going glamour? But Vienna also has its ruthless side, and that’s what Kaufmann lets show on the final track of the new album. It’s a cabaret number by the scathing (German) ironist Georg Kaiser. “Death must be a gent from Vienna,” goes the refrain, “just as Love is a woman from France.” Not a Parisienne, mind you, but fans in the City of Light will surely claim her as one of their own. —M.G.