MUSSORGSKY : BORIS GODUNOV

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 7th of August 2016 at 6.o4 - 9.40 pm
Sunday 9th of August 2015 at 6.05 - 9.20
Sunday 14th of July 2013 at 3.03 -  6.30 pm
Sunday 27th March 2011 at 3.03 - 8.05 pm
Sunday 9th of September 2007 at 3 pm

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
SYNOPSIS
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MUS(S)ORGSKY: Boris Godunov
opera in a prologue and four acts
With a libretto written by the composer, the opera is based on the historical drama by Alexander Pushkin and the History of the Russian State by Nikolai Karamzin. Boris Godunov reigned as Tsar of Russia during the political upheaval in the late 16th and early 17th centuries
2016

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov, an opera in four acts
with a prologue (1872 version)
Boris............................ Vladimir Vaneev
Xenia........................... OlgaTrifonova
Fyodor......................... Zlata Bulycheva
Grigory........................ Vladimir Galusin
Pimen........................... Nikolai Ohotnikov
Shuisky........................ Konstantin Pluzhnikov
Schchelkalov................ Vassily Gerello
Varlaam....................... Fyodor Kuznetsov
Misail........................... Nikolai Gassiev
Marina Mnishek........... Olga Borodina
Rangoni....................... Evgeny Nikitin
Innkeeper..................... Liubov Sokolova
Simpleton..................... Evgeny Akimov
Kirov Opera Chorus & Orch/Valery Gergiev (Philips 470 555)

 
2015
Boris Godunov................. Matti Salminen
Fyodor.............................. Ann-Marie Heino
Kseniya............................. Anna- Kristina Kaappola
Kseniya's nurse................. Merle Silmato
Prince Vasiliy Shuysky..... Jyrki Anttila
Andrey Shchelkalov......... Jaakko Kortekangas
Pimen................................ Koit Soasepp
The Pretender................... Mika Pohjonen
Marina.............................. Niina Keitel
Rangoni............................ Hannu Niemelä
Varlaam............................ Hannu Forsberg
Misail................................ Aki Alamikkotervo
Innkeeper.......................... Sirpa Nuuttila
Holy Fool......................... Evgeny Akimov
Nikitich............................. Heikki Aalto
Mityukha.......................... Robert McLoud
Boyar-in-Attendance........ Roland Liiv
Boyar Khrushchov........... Juha Lehmus
Lawicki/Czernikowski...... Ari Hosio
Police Officer................... Andrus Mitt
Finnish National Opera Chorus & Orch/Michael Gütler
(recorded in the Finnish National Opera House, Helsinki)

Here's an astonishing surprise (though astonishment and surprise should be strictly segregated, as the latter refers to being caught in the act; but there is a court scene/seen in Act 2.) The Russians are back in Helsinlki! The Finns, led by the mighty giant Matti Salminen, are impersonating the Russians.

(2007 and 2015) Radio NZ has allotted 3 hours and 20 minutes to this, so we expect the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov version, richly and romantically adorned like Scheherezade of the one thousand and one nights, rather than the Modest Mussorgsky original, modestly and starkly naked like a single night on a bare mountain (or Bald Mountain), broadcast in 2011; and when this production was shown in cinemas, Valery Gergiev was conducting the great Metropera orchestra.
   In 2012 in Madrid, Haenchen opted for the original version from 1872, but added an extra-scene from the very first version of Boris Godunov (1869).

Besides Pictures at an Exhibition (of which I have several versions: original piano, various orchestrations, brass ensemble, and even copies of the paintings) I possess Musorgsky's operas Khovanshchina (another set of slices from Russian history) and Salammbo (derived from Flaubert's Punic story, set in Carthage, including a hymn to the goddess Tanit, whose name I find in Bronze-Age inscriptions I decipher).

Boris Godunov made a great impression on me in my youth, almost as much as Wagner's Parsifal. Reflecting now on the common features and factors that created this attraction, it must have been the bells (so it had a peal for me) and the basses. There are three basses in it: Boris the wicked Tsar, Pimen the good monk, and Varlaam the bad monk. The first recording I heard (over the ABC in Sydney) was made in Paris, conducted by Issay Dobrowen, and all three roles were sung by Boris Christoff, with Nicolai Gedda as Dmitri (the false pretender). Since then I have picked up an old ten-inch disc with Christoff singing all the roles; and also Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938) on compact disc. The version I eventually purchased (at a renowned record shop in Auckland) is Herbert von Karajan's Vienna Philharmonic version, which has Nicolai Ghiaurov and Martti Talvela, with Galina Vishnevskaya as Marina.

I saw it staged in Melbourne, but missed the Wellington production.

Thanks to Guy Donaldson, I have even sung the Slava/Glory chorus in a local choir.

I suppose Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007) never sang in this opera, but I must not let his passing be ignored here. You have probably heard me say it before: I saw Pavarotti in Melbourne in Donizetti's Elixir of Love before anybody knew he was somebody, and before his fame and his form grew enormously. And two recent things increased my affection for him: seeing the end of a master class where he answered questions ever so engagingly, and learning today that a likable New Zealand tenor (foneticly: Shoorn Dicson) was an "apprentice" of Pavarotti's. Egyptian deities (and Canaanite Tanit) were sometimes depicted holding a large handkerchief, and Luciano was a great divo.

2013
Boris Godunov................. Günther Groissböck
Fyodor.............................. Alexandra Kadurina
Xenia................................ Alina Yarovaya
Xenia's nurse.................... Margarita Nekrasova
Prince Shuisky.................. Stefan Margita
Shchelkalov...................... Yuri Nechaev
Pimen................................ Dmitri Ulyanov
The Pretender, Grigory..... Michael König
Marina Mniszek................ Julia Gertseva
Rangoni............................ Evgeny Nikitin
Varlaam............................ Anatoli Kotcherga
Missail.............................. John Easterlin
Innkeeper.......................... Pilar Vázquez
Holy Fool......................... Andrei Popov
Nikitich............................. Károli Szmerédy
Mityukha.......................... Fernando Radó
Boyar-in-attendance......... Antonio Lozano
Boyar Khrushchyov......... Tomeu Bibiloni
Lewicki............................. Ángel Rodriguez
Czernikowski.................... Rodrigo Álvarez
Pequeños cantores de la JORCAM Children's Chorus, Intermezzo Chorus,
Madrid SO/Hartmut Haenchen  
(recorded in 2012 in the Teatro Real, Madrid by Spanish Radio)
2011
Boris Godunov.............. René Pape
Marina.......................... Ekaterina Semenchuk
Dimitri........................... Aleksandrs Antonenko
Shuisky......................... Oleg Balashov
Rangoni......................... Evgeny Nikitin
Pimen............................ Mikhail Petrenko
Varlaam........................ Vladimir Ognovenko
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Pavel Smelkov (EBU)

2007
Boris Godunov.............. Ferruccio Furlanetto
Pimen............................ Robert Holl
Grigory......................... Marian Talaba
Marina Mniszek............ Nadia Krasteva
Rangoni......................... Falk Struckmann
Xenia............................ Laura Tatulescu
Fyodor.......................... Michaela Selinger
Prince Shuysky.............. Jorma Silvasti
Andrey Shchelkalov...... Boaz Daniel
Varlaam........................ Ain Anger
Missail.......................... Peter Jelosits
Innkeeper...................... Janina Baechle
Holy Fool...................... Heinz Zednik
Wet-nurse..................... Margareta Hintermeier
Vienna State Opera Chorus & Orch/Daniele Gatti
(recorded 28th May 2007 at the State Opera, Vienna)


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