Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana / Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Royal Opera House

   in Opera Now (Oct, 2016)
Antonenko also crops up in Cav & Pag from Covent Garden, starring in both with bully-boy confidence. Damiano Michieletto’s production does not work as well on film as it did in the theatre – based on a revolve, the camera shows too much of the space around the machinery as it turns, constantly reminding the viewer that it’s a stage and jolting them out of the moment. Whenever the camera does home in, though, the detail is stunning. Eva-Maria Westbroek and Carmen Giannatasio give strong performances as a dowdy Santuzza and sexy Nedda, and Dimitri Platanias is suitably revolting in both baritone roles. Antonio Pappano conducts with vigour. …