Customer Reviews

Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov ~ Kotscherga, Ramey, Lipovsek, Larin, Leiferkus, Langridge, Abbado

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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.

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.

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.

If I had to recommend Boris to anyone, I would first say that there ARE two versions. Secondly, both ARE worth getting. Thirdly, this IS the definitive "Shostakovich version"; and fourthly, the definitive "Rimsky-Korsakov arrangement" is that conducted by Herbert von-Karajan on Decca, with Nicolai Ghiaurov in the title role. That is, of course, if you want the BEST in my view.

I find it intriguing to compare the two versions and the tonal differences. This version also has a few extra scenes, but the differences have been more or less exhausted by other reviewers. My comment is on the quality of this recording, beginning with Abbado's conducting. As with his incomparable Khovanshchina, the detail, phrasing and passion of his reading humble and seduce you to the point of ecstasy! The pace is brisk but never rushed and none of Boris' pathos and guilt is lost.

This brings me to the singers and a continuous line of superlatives. The chorus- the very voice and soul of the Russian people- is superb in their harmonisation of Mussorgsky's more "rustic" arrangement. The dark comedy is well portrayed both in their forced supplications and more genuine internal bickerings in the first scene. Throughout the recording, they capture the subtle tonal discords that bring this recording "closer to the original" Mussorgsky composition. And then Boris himself: Kotscherga, like Ghiaurov, is gifted with a naturally deep, sonorous bass voice, but this is a completely different Boris. While Ghiaurov's more lordly tone is all the more tragic for his broken character in the end where he softens his voice (with brilliant contrasting effect), Kotscherga's more sombre voice shows a growingly tortured Tsar from beginning to climatic end.

The remainder of the cast? Simply brilliant: both Xenia and Feodor are of convincing tones for their youthful characters. Sergei Larin has achieved wide acclaim for his brilliant tenor, and here, as Grigory/The Pretender, he portrays the passionate romantic with beautiful tone and conviction. The role of Shuisky is one that I always relish. The pinnacle of his sly craft was reached, in my view, by Maslennikov on the Decca set. His outburst during the scene in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square has a bite and venom that has not been surpassed. Similarly, his malignings before the Boyar Council in the Kremlin are chilling. In this recording, Langridge comes closest, however, and his interpretation is still quite effective. Ramey, as Pimen, is dark and foreboding, and in his voice you feel the weight of his chronicling. Von Karajan boasts a more comic duo in terms of the two drunken monks Varlaam and Missail but here, Nikolsky and Wildhaber are more than adequate. Where Marina is concerned, I must confess a bias towards Lipovsek. In my view, she can do no wrong and here she is as dramatic as always and, appreciably, WITHOUT the unsteady and violent wobble. In my view, she is vocally much preferable to Vishnevskaya on the Decca set.

Many people recommend the bargain set produced by Gergiev for Phillips because of its 2 for 1 price. I have heard it only in passing so I will not comment on its individual quality (though it is acclaimed), save to say that the Decca and Sony sets above are far superior. This is not to say, however, that the Gergiev set is not a good reading. Nevertheless, my review speaks for itself: get THIS recording of the Shostakovich arrangement.

Mozart's da Ponte operas and Boris Godunov: The world's four greatest operas, in the view of an old schoolteacher. Boris has been a great favorite since I first heard it in the 1970s, when it was performed in the Rimsky edition, before the acknowledgement of the great merits of the 'original' Mussorgsky edition. It is an opera that is rarely long away from my CD player. I had not listened to the Abaddo version (of the original) for some time though, and I can see why. Listening to it yesterday, shortly after the old Bolshoi version conducted by Mark Ermler (in the Rimsky edition, now cheaply reissued by Regis records), I found some of it short on breath and passion. Listen to the opening chorus, politely sung here by the combined Berlin and Bratislava choirs and compare it with the raw desperation of the Bolshoi chorus, singing as if their lives were at stake.

I am surprised by many comments regarding the principals on the Abbado recording. Larin admittedly sings well as the false-Dimitri but approaches many notes from the bottom and is not a match for Vladimir Atlantov, arrogantly heroic in the Bolshoi version, or the young Nicolai Gedda in the old Dobrowen with the incomparable Boris Christoff in the three bass parts of the Czar, Pimen and Varlaam. In the Ermler version the title part is sung magnificently by Evgeni Nesterenko who brings a real beauty of tone to the part as well as exceptional vocal acting. I really cannot share the enthusiasm of other reviewers for Kotscherga's assumption of the title part in the Abbado recording. To my ears, his 'tormented' sound is ugly. He rarely sings above piano, deptiving the character of any heroic stature or noble grandeur; his voice lacks a centre and, to my ears, is dripping with self-pity rather than anguish or guilt - he frequently sounds like a conventional villain, adding to the number of villains in this great opera (Shuisky, Dimitri and, of course, the Jesuit Rangoni). In fact, he makes a sound more suited to the part of Rangoni, insinuating, ugly and persistent, rather than the proud, heroic, if tormented one that we expect from Boris. In fact, I would go as far as to say that of the many assumptions of the role of Boris, I can only think of Raimondi's ill-conceived and dreadfully sung performance for Rostropovich giving less satisfaction than Kotscherga's.

I found Lipovsek to be the best of the principals in this version, but she too cannot resist making ugly sounds when the emotion operpowers her (although admittedly not as ugly as Elena Obratzova on the Bolshoi version or Vishneskaia in the admirable Karajan version. Less important parts, notably Shuiski and the Simpleton are very well sung. About Abaddo's conducting, there can be no question-marks - it is good throughout. I particularly liked his account of the confrontation between Boris and the Simpleton in fron of St Basil's church; by this point, the combined choruses have roused themselves to some genuine pathos and the effect is riveting. Unfortunately, the death of Boris scene that immediately follows it, is once again spoilt (for me) by Kotscherga's centre-less, oily singing.

I admit to not having heard the Gergiev twin version, but, if I wanted a version of the original Mussorgsky edition, I would go to the Semkov version (with with the beautiful bass of Marti Talvela), now cheaply repackaged, or the Fedoseyev version (with the aging but competent Alexander Vedernikov in the title part). Rimsky's edition has generated embarrassment of riches - the two Christoff versions, Karajan and Ermler. Abaddo's version will not be visiting my CD player soon, in spite of the conductor's command of the score. If you are tempted to buy it, may I suggest that you fist buy tracks 6, 19 and 20 of the second disc as downloads, and, if you like them, go ahead and buy the set.

This is one phenominal recording! As Boris, Anatoly Kotcherga is truly awesome, and Marjana Lipovsek is almost spellbinding as Marina. The rest of the cast,(and there are many), along with Claudio Abbado and The Berlin Philharmonic, make this version of Boris Godunov a magical experience.

Here you have a stong cast of singers doing their roles with great musicality and character. Claudio Abbado conducts the score with great care and love. Finally and most importantly you have the Berlin Philharmonic in all its sonic glory. The playing and colors that the orchestra produce are staggering. No orchestra has even come close to this level of playing. Details are clear and there is power aplenty when needed. It is clear why the Berlin Philharmonic is the worlds best.

This is a top choice in this opera - I merely add a review to alert potential buyers that this set has just - September 7th - been offered in a super budget version available at Amazon UK for a mere twenty dollars US.

I completely concur with the positive reviews - Abbado is always a first choice in Mussorgsky - I do disagree a bit with the other reviewers - I do not hear the white heat permeating some of his other Mussorgsky recordings - certainly not consistenly - Abbado just isn't as gripped with excitement here as he is in some of his single discs of the composer. This may be because Abbado leads his singers so very carefully, allowing them to give full weight to pure singing. Abbado manages the extraordinary feat of bringing out such astonishing distinquished singing from an opera more noted for its fervor, drama, and choruses and overall pageantry than bel canto!

At times the only fault I could make with this prodcution is that everything is so well played and sung you lose a little of the opera's fierceness and harmonic daring. This is the Mussorgsky version, and not the tarted up Rimsky conconction, but I dare say if Rimsky had heard this cast, orchestra and conductor he might never have felt the need to drees it up! The whole production does have a bit of the International generic, and to be blunt, the Berlin orchestra is so smooth, so refined that it sounds nothing like a Russian band; apparently they can't help themselves! The cast of singers are very stylish, largely avoiding the strident tones and sounds I've heard in other Boris productions. The most intense, heated moments come from the women and the chorus, not the Tsar. But this is not to disparage the men - what a pleasure it is to hear lines spun out with such beautiful emission. And last, while you can go elsewhere and hear a more gripping and possessed Boris, this set's Boris does a fine job, singing his role with some legato and good purity. All in all this is a very good production. I can live with all the heaps of extra refinement! Truly - caviar for the General!

Do check out the AmazonUK site for the new budget version - I do not yet know what the difference in libretto would be, hopefully one is included - I'll try and find out and augment my comment.

This is Abbado conducting the Berliner Philarmoniker -What can go wrong? The cast is very well chosen and if you like Boris Godunov, this is the one.

This work is indeed an opera that doesn't appear to offer many notable melodies, but as a whole, this opera is dense. that's what I love about Boris Godunov. This version is nice for the fact that Abbabo tried to have as much authentic Moussorgsky as possible. This tries to pack as much Boris from the two or three versions of it that are out there as possible into a recording without sounding disjoint or ruining the plot action. It does succeed. My only problem with this opera is the actual title role. I desires a deeper sounding Boris...preferably something close to a BASS sound. I felt that Boris here was too much Baritone, too high up. Overall, this is a great album.