If you’d like to listen to Mascagni’s very beautiful opera Cavalleria Rusticana but can’t be bothered to go out and buy the CD, you can currently listen to the whole thing by phoning the ENO box office on 0870 145 2200.
Sure, it’s not the best sound quality ever, and somebody does keep interrupting it to inform you that “we are currently experiencing a high volume of calls, please continue to hold and someone will be with you as soon as possible” – but you definitely get the flavour of the opera, and the rising frustration you’ll feel at your inability to actually book tickets coincides nicely with the hysteria caused by Lola’s adultery and culminating in Turiddu’s death, making for a much more intense experience.
Certainly it looks like it’s the closest I’m going to get to actually seeing any kind of opera the ENO have on offer.
