Whether in the shadow of the cross or in the lawless freedom of an itinerant community, the upshot is the same. Love turns sour, reason is shattered, emotions run amok. In each of the one-act works in Opera North’s latest double bill – Pietro Mascagni’s popular Cavalleria rusticana (1890) and Sergei Rachmaninov’s rarely staged Aleko (1893) – crimes of passion result. This operatic pairing does not offer comfort, but its grip, thanks to a superb cast, chorus and orchestra conducted by Antony Hermus, is vice-like and dumbfounding.
The Mascagni is a revival from 2017, the Rachmaninov a new staging. Both are directed by Karolina Sofulak, who draws parallels between the works, written by young composers and premiered three years apart. Mascagni, 27, would never again have a success to match his enduring masterpiece, which he was still conducting in his 70s. For Rachmaninov, his student work, written at speed at the age of 19, praised by Tchaikovsky but now nearly forgotten, was only the start of a glittering compositional career.
