LEONCAVALLO Zazà
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Genre:
Opera
Label: Opera Rara
Magazine Review Date: 07/2016
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 136
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ORC55
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Zazà |
Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Composer
BBC Singers BBC Symphony Orchestra Christopher Turner, Augusto, Tenor David Stout, Bussy, Baritone Ermonela Jaho, Zazà, Soprano Fflur Wyn, Floriana, Soprano Julia Ferri, Totò Dufresne, Speaker Kathryn Rudge, Natalia, Mezzo soprano Maurizio Benini, Conductor Nicky Spence, Courtois, Tenor Patricia Bardon, Anaide, Mezzo soprano Riccardo Massi, Milio Dufresne, Tenor Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Composer Simon Thorpe, Duclou, Baritone Stephen Gaertner, Cascart, Baritone |
Author: Hugo Shirley
One important difference is that no one gets stabbed – we’re in civilised fin de siècle Paris – and this is all about small-scale personal tragedy. But not even Laura Protano-Biggs’s excellent, in depth booklet essay can feign much interest in the plot, describing it as ‘in a sense negligible’. Indeed, in a way the opera feels like an experiment in trying to make us care about events that are essentially quite difficult to care about: Zazà has an affair with the philandering businessman Milio Dufresne; she finds out he’s married; they part ways. There are some interesting extra details along the way, not least the episode in which Zazà visits Milio’s house to find out the truth, briefly meeting the wife before having a lengthy encounter with his young daughter – a spoken role.
But, for anyone brought up on standard narratives of eternal true love, there’s inevitably something anticlimactic and unfulfilling about this mere dalliance, even if the opera gains modernist brownie points for portraying it. I worry, though, that the piece’s ostensible modernity is undermined by its implication that the actress Zazà (and a gypsy to boot) has essentially strayed too far from the conventional path to find the redemption of a ‘normal life’ she seeks, even if we are clearly supposed to feel that her decision not to tell Milio’s wife of the affair gives her redemption of a sort.
Nevertheless, Leoncavallo’s music is charming, shifting seamlessly (and often) between the easy-going, wistful lyricism of the love scenes and lively depictions of the hustle and bustle of the theatrical milieu; but, as Protano-Biggs notes, the composer was his own worst enemy in pursuing an exclamatory style that meant that none of the title character’s music was easily disseminated as discrete arias. It’s an idiom, however, that suits Ermonela Jaho extremely well, playing to the Albanian soprano’s remarkable dramatic strengths. The voice itself – captured close-up in the recording from the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios – has a slight lack of focus, but it conveys the character’s emotions powerfully enough to avoid the mawkishness to which they might otherwise be prone.
As Milio, Riccardo Massi sings with wonderful old-school charm, the voice modest in size but lyrical, relaxed and plangent; listen to his carefree Act 1 ditty ‘È un riso gentile’ for an example of his seductiveness. Stephen Gaertner is eloquent and touching as Cascart, Zazà’s old friend, and makes the most of his Act 4 aria. Patricia Bardon offers a vividly over-the-top performance as Anaide, her jealous mother, partial to the bottle, and there are excellent supporting performances from Kathryn Rudge as her maid, Nicky Spence as the impresario Courtois, David Stout and Fflur Wyn. Maurizio Benini conducts with an easy feel for the score’s shifting moods, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra play with real charm and affection. Fascinating, and recommended: it’s difficult to imagine a better case ever being made for this delightful, touching piece on disc.
Explore the world’s largest classical music catalogue on Apple Music Classical.
Included with an Apple Music subscription. Download now.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £9.20 / month
SubscribeGramophone Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £11.45 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.