Although Dvořák wrote 10 operas, the only one ever staged outside his native land is Rusalka, his penultimate effort. It’s a pity, because despite struggling with so-so librettos and a tendency for long-windedness, there’s fine music to be found in the others. Nevertheless, there are reasons why Rusalka is the best known, in particular its ability to transcend both time and place.

Like all the best fairytales, there’s a rich Freudian subtext here, but it’s also a nature piece. The latter appears to be the driver behind Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee’s ecologically focused production, filmed here during its premiere run at London’s Royal Opera House in 2023. The natural world needs to be treated with respect, it seems to say, else it can exact a terrible revenge. It also takes the view that humanity is fundamentally trivial, cruel and endlessly corrupting. No matter how hard Rusalka loves her prince, it suggests, her sacrifice is unlikely to put things right. Bleak, yes, but powerful, especially when the cast sings and acts as insightfully as they do here.

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