It’s been a good few years for Cav on film, presented alongside Pag on fine, thought-provoking DVDs from the Royal Opera and Salzburg Easter Festival in innovative productions by, respectively, Damiano Michieletto (Opus Arte, 12/16) and Philipp Stölzl (Sony, 5/16). This stand-alone performance of Cavalleria rusticana from Florence (released, as is usual with Dynamic, in audio as well as video formats) offers something more straightforward, even if Luigi Di Gangi and Ugo Giacomazzi offer a production that hints more at a post-industrial near future than a rustic 19th century.

In Federica Parolini’s grungy set, large rusty panels form the backdrop, one transforming with the help of projections into the facade of a primitive church. An old bathtub sits on the stage, out of which greyed cloths are hoisted to frame the close of the Easter Hymn; Alfio’s entrance is accompanied by dancing devils; totemic masks adorn a large pole raised centre stage, which provide the visual focus during an Intermezzo that is otherwise, thankfully, unstaged. Luigi Bondi’s lighting effects some sort of dawn after Turridu’s opening offstage song but thereafter pays scant regard to what time of day it might be. Agnese Rabatti’s costumes place the principals in something like period dress, everyone else in non-descript grey.

At heart, though, this is a traditional show, with traditional central performances to match. Angelo Villari is an effective, powerful Turiddu, his voice steady and impressive if not especially memorable. Devid Cecconi is burly of body and voice as Alfio, if a little short on dangerous allure. Marina Ogii, dressed in butter-wouldn’t-melt white, is a suitably carefree Lola. Alexia Voulgaridou offers a powerfully sung, committed Santuzza but she and Elena Zilio (repeating her larger-than-life Mama Lucia from Covent Garden) might have proved more moving with less in the way of wailing, gnashing of teeth and chewing of scenery.

This release captures a solid show, then, backed up by solid conducting from Valerio Galli and fine playing and singing from the Maggio Musicale forces, but it’s not one to recommend over any of the fine video or audio recordings – singly or as the traditional double bill – already out there.