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44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent!, March 20, 2000
This review is from: Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov ~ Kotscherga, Ramey, Lipovsek, Larin, Leiferkus, Langridge, Abbado (Audio CD)
"Wow" indeed! This is one of the most electrifying opera recordings I have ever heard and one of the most perfectly recorded. A real musical feast! I agree that Abbado is probably the best Russian music conductor today. I admire Gergiev's achievements and his indefatigability in propagating this repertoire before the Western audiences - it was through Gergiev that I started my fascination with this incredible musical world, but now, after having heard Abbado's "Boris" I crave for more Russian pieces from the Italian conductor. His magnificent recording of "Khovanshchina" was a revelation to me and led me directly to his "Boris", another musical epiphany. I knew the opera from the two versions recorded by Gergiev, with which I would not part under any circumstances, but Abbado's set strenghten my admiration for this rich and intoxicating score. No admirer of this masterpiece can afford to be without the Abbado set, but Gergiev is also a must buy and I would have a hard time trying to decide which of these two (or three, in fact, since Gergiev's recording contains - on 5 CDs for the price of 3 - both versions of the opera) should be the best recommendation for a newcomer. There is nothing on the price level that would speak in favor of either recording, but Gergiev offers much more music for the same money and his recording is the most complete you will ever get (you can play both versions independently). Here you get two Boris's - two different singers to portray the hero - and both sing admirably and often touchingly, but Anatoly Kotcherga's Boris for Abbado is something of a marvel. His is a magnificent performance! There is quite a striking difference between Abbado's and Gergiev's Marina, sung by Marjana Lipovshek in the first case, in the other by incomparable Olga Borodina. I added "incomparable" not in order to stress my preference but simply to indicate my growing admiration for this artist. Borodina sings beautifully - in vocal terms her Marina is superior to Lipovshek's, much more polished and refined. But Lipovshek scores in her general characterisation - she makes you more aware of who you are dealing with: a proud and ambitious princess, but what more - a cynical one. What really distinguishes these recordings is the involvement of the orchestras. You will marvel at the richness of this music more often while listening to Abbado's Berliner Philharmoniker! And this is of course a very important point because this music must be played with thousands of colours! Not that Gergiev did not achieve this goal - I am far from saying that, but in the Abbado's version there is much more excitement in the air and that "something" that escapes the words. If you can have only one "Boris", get the Abbado set but be prepared: soon you will find yourself buying the Kirov/Gergiev version (and maybe also a few other recordings of the opera currently on the market) because you'll never have enough of listening to this masterpiece.
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent Boris Godunov, December 27, 1999
This review is from: Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov ~ Kotscherga, Ramey, Lipovsek, Larin, Leiferkus, Langridge, Abbado (Audio CD)
Everyone knows that Claudio Abbado is the finest living Verdi and Rossini conductor, but few know that he probably is the finest Russian Music conductor since Mravinsky too. And even if his Stravinsky and Prokofiev are marvelous, it is his Mussorgsky that really stands out. Abbado presents Boris Godunov as a big, colorful and powerful canvas. Of course he prefers the original Mussorgsky scoring, and in his hands (and the Berlin Philharmonic's) it sounds unbelievably gorgeous. His cast is mostly excellent. Bass Anatoly Kotcherga is very impressive vocally, and very moving as the Zar. Marjana Lipovsek is equally good as Marina. There is no better recorded Dmitri than Sergei Larin, so it is a pity that Sam Ramey was chosen as Pimen. He sings very well as expected, but his smooth voice sounds alien in this opera, rather like using Luigi Alva as Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess. But in general this is the finest, most deeply felt Boris Godunov of the stereo era. The 5 CD Kirov recording in PHILIPS is also a "must" for collectors, since it offers both versions of Boris for the price of 3 CD's. But Abbado's conducting is if anything, finer and more dramatic than Gergiev's, and Pimen excepted, his cast is far better. This is the Boris Godunov for your library.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The agony of evil isn't here--but everything else is, September 28, 2005
This review is from: Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov ~ Kotscherga, Ramey, Lipovsek, Larin, Leiferkus, Langridge, Abbado (Audio CD)
For svirtuosic playing and excellent sound, I agree with the reviewer who picks this version of the Shostakovich edition (working from Mussorgsky's original orchestration) and the Karajan for Rimsky-Korsakov's more "civilzed" reorchestration. I think we're past the time when only one or the other can be approved; each is wonderful in its own way. I just wanted to add that in theater tradition Boris is an agonized, guilty monster, a Czar who used murder to gain his throne. He attracts sympathy through overt suffering, not for any sympathetic quality other than love of his son. To portray this agony is essential, and it is almost impossible to overplay it so far as Russian audiences are concerned. Even the scenery-chewing Boris Christoff, who practically gets hysterical in the clock and death scenes, is actually right in line. Abbado's Boris, the estimable Anatoly Kotcherga, I find rather cool and restrained when it comes to guilt-ridden agony, but the overall cast is so good--especially Dmitri and Marina, who tend to be awful on Soviet recordings--that I agree wholeheartedly with the amazon reviewer. This is a Boris to live with for a long time to come.
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