Pietro Mascagni - Zanetto, featuring Yajie Zhang, Narine Yeghiyan; the Berliner Opperngrupe Orchestra and Choir (prepared by Steffen Schubert) and conductor Felix Krieger. The concert was recorded on June 13th, 2022, at the Berlin Konzerthaus.

Premiere album released on February 20th, 2026

At the American premiere in 1902, the columnist of "The New York Times" said that the music of Zanetto is "sonorous, pleasant and melodious". Rarely staged, and only occasionally recorded, Zanetto recently came to the attention of the Berlin Opperngruppe. It was performed in concert on June 13th, 2022, at the Berlin Konzerthaus, where it was also recorded. The performance was released this year, on February 20th, by the "Oehms" record label.

The album is included in the "Records of the Year 2026" project. I picked it not because of how rare it was, being an opera I'd never heard before, but because of the beautiful voice of the Chinese mezzo-soprano Yajie Zhang, who performed the lead role. At the time of the recording, the young singer was just beginning her internship with the Bavarian State Opera in Münich's Youth ensembles. Yajie Zhang's warm voice is remarkable from the very first scene, featuring fine musical flourishes. For the character Zanetto, Mascagni wrote a Renaissance-style song, Cuore, come un fiore, accompanied only by harp.

Her stage partner is Armenian soprano Narine Yeghiyan as Silvia, an expressive singer with a fine voice that's rather more lyric (the score being for a spinto), but consistent. Their voices entwine harmoniously throughout the opera, a piece that feels more like a dialogue between the two characters. Perhaps a timbre contrast between the two voices would have been better, but I think this confluence was intentional.

The ensembles are part of the Berlin Opperngruppe company, established in 2010 by conductor Felix Krieger in order to present pieces considered opera rara. The choir was overseen by Steffen Schubert and it has a unique intervention in place of the opera's overture. I would've liked the sonority of the sopranos to not be as sharp and cutting. The choral introduction feels like a wordless madrigal which would've needed a more elegant, better articulated approach. Leading it is Felix Kriger himself, who opted for an idyllic atmosphere, perhaps in the spirit of the Renaissance, ensuring the necessary support for the leading voices., without the contrasts that are specific to veristic pieces, though the orchestration allows a chromatic and dynamic palette that's much more substantial. Overall, the music is performed gracefully, acquainting us with two singers who aren't well known yet, and a piece by Mascagni that could be performed more often, even just as a concert.