I have always had a fondness for Cavalleria Rusticana, because the music is so poetic and beautiful. Until I saw this production, I never saw a Cavalleria Rusticana that I considered bad. But I found myself very disappointed with this performance.
There are some good things this said. Unquestionably the music is superb, and it is performed sensitively by the orchestra and the conducting is nuanced. Of the staging, the Easter Hymn fares best. I didn't think much of the performances, but Cheyne Davidson is very good as Alfio and Irene Friedli is a moving Mamma Lucia.
Paoletta Maroccu's Santuzza is uneven for me. I think she is good in the Easter Hymn and in her scenes with Friedli, but her acting is to me unmotivated and she sounds squally and pushed in some of her big moments, most notably in her duet with Davidson.
Sadly, there is little better I can say about the rest. The audio is rather muffled making the powerful moments not very powerful. The chorus are not bad at all vocally, but their acting and communication come across as staid, and this is including in the Brindisi, which was joyless at best.
Most disappointing was the look of the production and Jose Cura's Turridu. For me, the production for an opera set in Spring and Easter, which I associate with new life and colour, was too dark in lighting and sparse in settings. A rather unkempt-looking Cura didn't work for me as Turridu. This was disappointing seeing as I had seen a production from 1996 with him in the role and he is much better there. His Serenade sounded very unstable at the top of his voice with his vibrato over-excessive, and to me his voice sounds very like a pushed up baritone making his high notes strained. Like Morrocu, he comes across as very unmotivated on stage, Mamma Quel Vino E Generoso is such a beautiful aria but for the first time in like ever I felt nothing.
All in all, perhaps worth a look if you love the opera, but otherwise I personally found that it never moved or grabbed me so I don't recommend it. 4/10 Bethany Cox
There are some good things this said. Unquestionably the music is superb, and it is performed sensitively by the orchestra and the conducting is nuanced. Of the staging, the Easter Hymn fares best. I didn't think much of the performances, but Cheyne Davidson is very good as Alfio and Irene Friedli is a moving Mamma Lucia.
Paoletta Maroccu's Santuzza is uneven for me. I think she is good in the Easter Hymn and in her scenes with Friedli, but her acting is to me unmotivated and she sounds squally and pushed in some of her big moments, most notably in her duet with Davidson.
Sadly, there is little better I can say about the rest. The audio is rather muffled making the powerful moments not very powerful. The chorus are not bad at all vocally, but their acting and communication come across as staid, and this is including in the Brindisi, which was joyless at best.
Most disappointing was the look of the production and Jose Cura's Turridu. For me, the production for an opera set in Spring and Easter, which I associate with new life and colour, was too dark in lighting and sparse in settings. A rather unkempt-looking Cura didn't work for me as Turridu. This was disappointing seeing as I had seen a production from 1996 with him in the role and he is much better there. His Serenade sounded very unstable at the top of his voice with his vibrato over-excessive, and to me his voice sounds very like a pushed up baritone making his high notes strained. Like Morrocu, he comes across as very unmotivated on stage, Mamma Quel Vino E Generoso is such a beautiful aria but for the first time in like ever I felt nothing.
All in all, perhaps worth a look if you love the opera, but otherwise I personally found that it never moved or grabbed me so I don't recommend it. 4/10 Bethany Cox
