Franz Schubert: Piano Sonatas – Fialkowska

   in Opera Now (Jun, 2016)
A good month for lovers of verismo. Opera Rara has exhumed a delicious rarity, Leoncavallo’s Zazà from 1900, which enjoyed initial success before fading from view. It has an infectious charm, with the composer’s signature style, familiar from Pagliacci, blended with a lighter touch inspired by his time working amidst the café culture of Paris in the 1880s. Maurizio Benini’s conducting reflects this, alternating high drama with delicacy. Ermonela Jaho sings Zazà, a hugely demanding role, and she surmounts every challenge. She flits gracefully through the lighter vocal writing, and wrings as much pathos as possible from the more heightened moments of the score. In fact, I can’t think of …