Cavalleria Rusticana

"Muti’s forces provided all the passion imaginable, yet never descended into sensation or vulgarity. One basked in the idiomatic italianata of it all. This was the most beautiful orchestral performance in memory of Mascagni’s seminal score".

In 1939, as a 15-year-old student in Athens, Maria Callas made her stage debut in the demanding role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. Five years later she sang it professionally with the Greek National Opera Company. In 1953, when she was already a star - shortly to record Tosca - Tullio Serafin enlisted her as the last-minute replacement for an indisposed colleague at the sessions for Mascagni's one-acter at La Scala. The result was a recording in which full-blooded verismo was raised to new interpretative heights.

Karajan takes real care to bring clarity and definition to music that in the wrong hands can leave you wallowing in emotional treacle . . .

Mascagnis first and most successful work has become an opera classic as it features elements of the Greek tragedy, mixing up religious and archaic elements. Its a story of love, passion, jealousy and restored honor in bloodshed. Directors Di Gangi and Giacomazzi set this traditional Cavalleria in a Sicilian village of the 1940s where the buildings are rather bare and the piazza is the stage for private as well as public drama. Conductor Valerio Galli is at the head of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of the best in Italy. Good performance reviews for the whole cast.

Maria Callas only appeared once in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana. It was her stage debut while she was still a teenager living in Athens. She would never have the opportunity to portray Santuzza live again, but thankfully left us a splendid studio recording under the aegis of la Scala, featuring her long-time partners Giuseppe Di Stefano and Rolando Panerai. Then at the zenith of her expressive means, she perfectly renders the unfathomable distress of a jilted lover, in this unmissable founding work of Italian verismo.

In 1939, as a 15-year-old student in Athens, Maria Callas made her stage debut in the demanding role of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana.

Sony Classical announces a further batch of complete recordings from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor catalogues. The newest installment of this popular series features some unusual repertoire as well as documents of the New York Metropolitan Opera in its postwar heyday. At the Met with Richard Tucker in the early 1950s, Columbia made acclaimed recordings of Leoncavallos Pagliacci and Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana, with Fausto Cleva conducting.

Mascagni’s first and most successful work has become an opera classic as it features elements of the Greek tragedy, mixing up religious and archaic elements. It’s a story of love, passion, jealousy and restored honor in bloodshed. Directors Di Gangi and Giacomazzi set this traditional Cavalleria in a Sicilian village of the 1940s where the buildings are rather bare and the piazza is the stage for private as well as public drama. Conductor Valerio Galli is at the head of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of the best in Italy. Good performance reviews for the whole cast.

Maria Callas only appeared once in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana.

Marek Janowski and the Dresdner Philharmonie present a new recording of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, the "verismo" opera par excellence. Mascagni’s debut opera turned him into an overnight world star, and continues to captivate listeners today. Even if the depiction of simple village folk and the direct emotional appeal of Cavalleria rusticana were initially greeted as a welcome alternative to the gods, intellectual pretences and dense orchestral textures of Wagner, Mascagni’s score in fact has many more symphonic qualities than is usually acknowledged.