Cavalleria rusticana

Description

Cavalleria Rusticana is the stroke of genius by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), a young composer of twenty-seven who responded to the call for projects from the publisher Sonzogno to revitalize Italian opera. Premiered in Rome in 1890, this occasion piece became a worldwide success for operas to this day, a stifling triumph for Mascagni who would write nothing equivalent and ended his life pitifully by embracing Mussolini's fascist ideologies. But that's another story! It is no surprise then that this manifesto of verismo, a concise Sicilian drama (1h20), translates perfectly to disc. This version by the Berlin Symphony under the direction of the young conductor Filippo Arlia is welcome; with the baton on the heart in the famous central intermezzo, Arlia weaves a warm orchestral tapestry for almost exclusively Italian soloists. The cast is nearly perfect: the superb soprano Alessandra di Giorgio in Santuzza's romance, yet one is left wanting more from tenor Piero Giuliacci who, in this studio recording, could have added a touch more brightness to his Turiddu, especially in the opening Sicilian... Perhaps he just lacks the stage for this Cavalleria to be superlative. (Florestan de Marucaverde)