While Jaume Aragall and Alicia Nafe are respected singers rather than “filth and dementia” icons (like Rysanek, Modl, or Olivero), this performance in the twilight of their careers is the epitome of filth and dementia. It is only a concert performance, but no one seems to have told them that; and thank the heavens for that!

Watch the video: Nafe clutches on to Aragall in a death grip, looking about ready to deliver a right hook; Aragall shakes her like a terrier shaking a rat. It is as much of a MMA cage match as an opera performance, and they do all this business without compromising on the music. It is very Cav at The Villages; the “bada” is well executed, as is the curse, a trifle geriatric, but no less powerful for that. Nafe’s beating her chest and tearing at her dress, followed by a brisk run off-stage (no curtains to pull down, alas!) is……something

(Speaking of Santuzza: I’ll leave poor Lina Bruna Rasa alone for this one, since her genuine mental health issues would make her inclusion here in very poor taste, but for the general F&D that is good verismo singing, she is the Genuine Article).