PIETRO MASCAGNI

RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS

Cavalleria rusticana

Montserrat Caballé et al; Philharmonia Orchestra/muti Warner 763 6502 (download) A scrupulously performed and idiomatic account, paired with Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.

L’amico Fritz

Luciano Pavarotti et al;

ROH Orchestra/gavazzeni Warner 948 2582 (download) Arguably Mascagni’s most charming score in a classic account, wonderfully sung and superbly conducted.

Guglielmo Ratcliff

Angelo Villari et al; Wexford Festival Opera/cilluffo

RTÉ Lyric CD 152

The ambitious melodrama is vindicated in this live account from the Wexford Festival.

Lodoletta

Maria Spacagna et al; Hungarian So/rosekrans Hungaroton HCD 31307-08 (download)

This 1917 setting of a sentimental subject is Mascagni’s nearest approach to his rival Puccini’s manner.