Mussorgsky: Boris Godounov (1869 & 1872 Versions) at Music Hills.com

Music CD 1

Boris Godounov: Part 1, Scene 1: Courtyard In The Novodevichy Monastery - Orchestral Introduction - Well What Are You Waiting For?
Boris Godounov: Part 1, Scene 1 - For Whom Dost Thou Forsake Us?
Boris Godounov: Part 1, Scene 1 - People Of The Orthodox Faith
Boris Godounov: Part 1, Scene 1 - Glory To Thee, Our Lord
Boris Godounov: Part 1, Scene 2 Square In Moscow Kremlin (Coronation Scene) - Long Live Tsar Boris Feodorovich
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 2 - My Soul Is Sad
Boris Godounov: Part 1, Scene 2 - Glory! Glory! Glory!
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 1: Cell In The Chudov Monastery - Just One More Final Tale
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 1 - Lord, Our Heavenly Father - That Same Dream Again
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 1 - You Have Gone On Writing
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 1 - Holy Father, For A Long Time
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 1 - Boris! Boris!
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 2: An Inn At The Lithuanian Frontier - Can I Bring You Anything, Reverant Fathers?
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 2 - It All Happened In The Town Of Kazan
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 2 Why Don't You Join In The Singing?
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 2 - There He Goes - What Sort Of People Are You?
Boris Godounov: Part 2, Scene 2 - I Can Read

Music CD 2

Boris Godounov: Part 3: Scene 1: The Tsar's Apartments In The Moscow Kremlin 'Terem' - My Dear Husband
Boris Godounov: Part 3: - That's Enough Now, My Precious Tsarevich
Boris Godounov: Part 3: I Have Achieved Supreme Power
Boris Godounov: Part 3: Yesterday Evening, Pushkin's Servant. . .
Boris Godounov: Part 3: No! Wait, Wait, Shuisky
Boris Godounov: Part 3: It Is Not Execution That I Fear
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 1 - A Square In Front Of The Cathedral Of St. Basil - What? Is Mass Over?
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 1: Trrr, Trrr, Tin Hat - The Moon Is On It's Travels
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 1 - What Is He Weeping About?
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2: Assembly-Hall In The Moscow Kremlin (Death Of Boris) - Boyars Of Noble Rank
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2 - What? Let Us Vote, Boyars
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2 - It's A Pity That Prince Shuisky Isn't Here
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2: Get Away . . . Get Away!
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2 - A Humble Monk
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2 - Once In A Deep Sleep
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2 - Leave Us! All Of You, Go!
Boris Godounov: Part 4, Scene 2 - O Lord! Look Down

Music CD 3

Boris Godounov: Prologue, Scene 1: A Courtyard In The Novodevichy Monastery - Well, What Are You Waiting For?
Boris Godounov: Prologue, Scene 1: For Whom Dost Thou Forsake Us?
Boris Godounov: Prologue, Scene 1: People Of The Orthodox Faith
Boris Godounov: Prologue, Scene 1: Glory To Thee, Our Lord
Boris Godounov: Prologue, Scene 2: A Square In The Moscow Kremlin (Coronation Scene) - Long Live Tsar Boris Feodorovich
Boris Godounov: Prologue, Scene 2 : My Soul Is Sad
Boris Godounov: Prologue, Scene 2 : Glory! Glory! Glory!
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 1: A Cell In The Chudov Monastery - Just One More Final Tale
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 1 : Lord, Our Heavenly Father - That Same Dream Again
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 1: You Have Gone On Writing
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 1: Holy Father, For A Long Time
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 1: It Is The Bell For Matins
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 2: An Inn On The Lithuanian Frontier - I Caught A Grey Drake
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 2: It All Happened In The Town Of Kazan
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 2: Why Don't You Join In The Singing?
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 2: There He Goes - What Sort Of People Are You?
Boris Godounov: Act 1, Scene 2: I Can Read

Music CD 4

Boris Godounov: Act 2: The Tsar's Apartments In The Moscow Kremlin (Terem) - Where Are You, My Dear Husband?
Boris Godounov: Act 2: Ah! That's Enough Now
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : So The Gnat Was Chopping Some Firewood
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : Ah, Nurse, Nanny
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : Ah! - What? Has A Wild Beast. . .
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : I Have Achieved Supreme Power
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : How Heavily Weighs The Right Hand Of The Fearful Judge
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : Ah, Shoo!
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : Our Little Parrot Was Sitting
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : My Son, My Own Dear Child!
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : Ah, The Most Illustrious Orator
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : Take Measures Immediately
Boris Godounov: Act 2 : At The Cathedral In Uglich
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 1: Marina Mnishek's Dressing Room At The Castle Of Sandomir - On The Azure Vistula
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 1: Enough!
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 1 : Ruzya, I Do Not Need You Today - How Tediously. . .
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 1 : Ah! It's You, My Father!
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 1 : Captivate The Pretender With Your Beauty!
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 1 : Your Eyes Have Started To Sparkle With A Hellish Flame
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2: The Garden Of The Mnishek Castle At Sandomir - At Midnight. . . In The Garden. . . Near The Fountain
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : Tsarevich!
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : A Humble, Sinful Pilgrim
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : Tsarevich, Conceal Yourself!
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : That Crafty Jesuit
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : The WIfe Of That Toothless Debauchee
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : It Is She! Marina!
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : But It Is Not For Amorous Conversations
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : You Alone, Marina I Worship
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : Leaders From All Corners Of Russia
Boris Godounov: Act 3, Scene 2 : O, Tsarevich, I Beg You, Do Nor Curse Me

Music CD 5

Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1: Assembly-Hall In The Moscow Kremlin (Death of Boris) - Boyars Of Noble Rank
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1 : What? Let Us Vote, Boyars
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1 : It's A Pity That Prince Shuisky Isn't Here
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1 : Get Away. . . Get Away!
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1 : A Humble Monk
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1 : Once In A Deep Sleep
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1 : Leave Us! All Of You, Go!
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 1 : O Lord! Look Down
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2: A Forest Glade Near Kromy (Revolution Scene) - Over Here! Sit Him Down On The Stump!
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2 : Trrr, Trrr, Tin Hat! - The Moon Is On Its Travels
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2 : The Sun And The Moon Have Faded
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2 : Hurrah! Daring Boldness Has Broken Free
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2 : Domine, Salvum Fac Regem
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2 : Glory To You, Tsarevich!
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2 : We, Dmitry Ivanovich
Boris Godounov: Act 4, Scene 2 : Flow, Flow Bitter Tears!

Music reviews of Mussorgsky: Boris Godounov (1869 & 1872 Versions)

Music Review: Outstanding performance(s) by Gergiev and his forces
Rating: 5 Stars

Gergiev's "Boris"(es) present an astonishing combination of fire, sweep, drama and musicality in a way I have never heard before. From first note to last in both versions, one is struck by the amount of musical and orchestral detail he is able to bring out, making each scene not only "live" in a dramatic sense, but also pulling the loose threads and uneven scenes together in a way that gives this massive, rambling opera shape and focus. I am simply spellbound by this man's abilities, though I am sure that he must use Toscanini-like rages and epithets to achieve his "miraculous" results!

The Moscow reviewer below is correct: the earlier version of the Pimen-Dmitri scene does not use the original music or words when Grigory (the false Dmitri) awakes. But what does such a niggling detail matter in the face of such an powerful, musical reading?

As for the various performers: neither Nikolai Putilin nor Vladimir Vaneev will efface memories of Boris Christoff's rich, tight-focused voice, but strictly as vocal actors they compete with Christoff and then some. Putilin has the higher voice, more of a baritone really, so that his lowest passages present some problems, and he has the archtypical Slavic "wobble" which means that some of his notes sound a bit shaky; yet he has more voice and a better "ring" on the top than Fedoseyev, the pale-voiced Boris of the early-'80s Philips set. His counterpart in the 1982 version, Vladimir Vaneev, has an altogether darker timbre, more like a Russian Gottlob Frick, and is more of a bass, which means that he comes to some grief in the high-lying passages of the Coronation Scene, but otherwise he is splendid, vocally and histrionically.

The Pimen in both sets, Nikolai Ohotnikov, is absolutely splendid: a rich, warm, well-focused low bass, reminiscent at times of the legendary Lev Sibiriakov (now, there's a name that only die-hard collectors will know!). He, too, sings with tremendous feeling, and is in fact much better than Christoff's Pimen on either set (the 1952 Dobrowen version or the stereo Cluytens version)...for all his vocal gold, Christoff could not project the warmth or humanity of Pimen because he had none in his character. (Don't take my word for it, though: talk to anyone who performed with him, or read Nicolai Gedda's account in his autobiography.)

The 1869 Grigory, Viktor Lutsuk, has a bright, ringing voice and good interpretive skills, but he suffers even worse from Slavic wobble than Putilin. The 1872 Grigory, Vladimir Galusin, is of course one of the great singing-actors of our time, caught here in his early prime with a brighter-sounding top than we are used to.

The Moscow reviewer really seems to hate Olga Borodina's Marina. She sings gloriously but, as usual, with an all-purpose tone that does not show much characterization. Evgeny Nikitin has far and away the finest voice I have ever heard in the role of Rangoni, the underhanded Jesuit, but both singers were easily topped dramatically by Mariana Lipovsek and Serge Leiferkus on the Abbado recording. In fact, this is the greatest "Polish scene" I have ever heard. But there is one detail near the end that simply astonished me: when Marina, Grigory and Rangoni come together in their trio, their voices blend perfectly. This is something I thought I would never hear in a modern opera performance, and certainly not in "Boris"!

As Varlaam, Fyodor Kuznetsov is superb in both sets: this is the best and most rhythmically accurate "Town of Kazan" aria I've ever heard from anyone. As Chaliapin pointed out, Varlaam is not a buffoon, but a wandering pilgrim, a drunk who drinks to soothe his unnamed longings, and the "Town of Kazan" song is not so much a jolly comedy piece as an outburst of this longing for the unnamed, a way of bursting out. Kuznetsov captures this perfectly.

Konstantin Pluzhnikov is a superb Shuisky both vocally and dramatically. Olga Trifonova is a wiry-voiced Xenia but characterizes well. The small roles are all sung well. Evgeny Akimov as the Simpleton will not efface memories of Ivan Kozlovsky, the finest Simpleton on records (in the old Mark Riezen set), or Andrea Velis, who sang the role so well at the Met Opera revival of 1975, but he too is quite good.

The one thing you should remember when judging this recording is that Gergiev, unlike others who have recorded the opera, only used singers from his Kirov Opera company. Galsin and Borodina have become stars, but only after the fact. This is akin to Serafin's using only the Rome Opera cast for his 1943 "Ballo in Maschera," another recording that is remarkably excellent despite the stylistic shortcomings of Beniamino Gigli.

I cannot recommend this recording highly enough. If you have no other "Boris," this is the place to start; and even if you have Christoff, this is the place to go next!