The Coronation Scene Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov - Royal Opera House - photo ROH/Catherine Ashmore |
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Mar 18 2016
Star rating:
Thrilling performances in Covent Garden's new production of Mussorgsky's original
Ben Knight, Bryn Terfel - photo ROH/Catherine Ashmore |
James Platt, David Butt Philip photo ROH/Catherine Ashmore |
In fact, we have rarely got the chance to hear Mussorgsky's 1869 original, as most performances have tended to add a few bits from the later version, Mussorgsky's revisions are too powerful to resist (this is what happened, I believe, with the 2008 production at English National Opera). But the original has its moments too, moments which are cut from the later revision possibly for being a bit too near the knuckle when it came to criticising the Russian regime (the Imperial censors were very touchy how you portrayed the Tsars, even murderous ones).
A big feature of Richard Jones' production was the way Miriam Buether' set designs included an upper level, brightly lit, which featured dumb show action related to the narrative. It is here that we saw the stylised murder of the young Dmitry, frequently repeated when Boris is on stage to show the way the event preys on his mind. During the big choral scenes, we saw the action inside so for the opening scene there were the boyars trying to persuade Boris to become Tsar, for the coronation scene we saw the coronation itself, & later the anathema being pronounced on the false Dmitry.
Ain Anger photo ROH/Catherine Ashmore |
The costumes were a mix of styles and eras, for the coronation scene and other state events the cast wore Russian-style costumes but the boyars wore jackets and trousers which could have been 19th century. John Graham Hall's Shuisky looked unnervingly like Oscar Wilde, and Jeremy White's Nikitch seemed to be wearing a shell suit. These costumes seemed to be deliberately badly fitting, and were complemented by a series of spectacularly bad wigs. Frankly, I am not certain what Jones and his designers were trying to say. I think there was a desire to universalise the work, without veering to far from the Russian origins and without being crass enough to present Boris as an icon of the modern world.
Boris is a role which seems to encourage singers to excess, Chaliapin-style. If I say that Bryn Terfel's account of the role was rather interior and lower key than usual, this has to be understood in the context of a general tendency to gross overstatement. Also, Terfel sang the role with little of the sort of sub-vocalisation beloved of earlier generations. In the opening scenes, Terfel's Boris intense and troubled, internalising the guilt which we could see made manifest in the re-enactment of the murder. Terfel brilliantly caught Boris's obsessive nature and it was this that Terfel made clear was nagging away throughout the evening. This was a very human Boris, one who interacted with his family in a natural and intimate way. Boris's solo scene after his scene with his family, in the middle of the opera, brought the singer forward on the stage as if communicating his inner thoughts to us in a bleak and racked way and the final death scene was simply thrilling.
Kostas Smoriginas, Andrew Tortise photo ROH/Catherine Ashmore |
John Tomlinson was simply brilliant as Varlaam, very funny yet always part of a greater whole and was aided and abetted by Harry Nicoll. The scene in the inn with the two of them lying drunk in front of the inn counter was simply priceless. But the production ensured that we were always aware of the slightly sinister presence of David Butt Philip's Dmitry too.
Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov - Royal Opera House photo ROH/Catherine Ashmore |
The smaller roles were all vividly taken with Jeremy White a positively violent and threatening Nikitich, Adrian Clarke as strong Mityukha, Rebecca de Pont Davies a characterful hostess, James Platt a nasty frontier guard, Sarah Pring a sympathetic nurse, and Nicolas Sales as a strong boyar, and.Kostas Smoriginas as Andrey Shchelkalov.
The augmented chorus was in superb voice, providing some thrilling and affecting singing. Whilst I might moan about the essentially static nature of the choral scenes, within these we got a lot of superbly detailed performance from the individual choral singers. Antonio Pappano and the orchestra will in similar thrilling form, so that the large scale pieces such as the coronation scene with its incessant bells made a tremendous musical effect.
This was an intelligent and thoughtful production with a very human Boris. I am not sure that Richard Jones' updating of the setting and the hints at the universality of the story did the production any real favours. The piece is too inextricably wedded to Russian history, but with a fine array of perceptive performances from the cast, chorus and orchestra this was certainly an event to remember.
Recommended recordings:
Mussorgsky Boris Godunov (excerpts in English) - John Tomlinson, Opera North, Paul Daniel
Mussorgsky Boris Godunov - Robert Lloyd in Andrei Tarkovsky's production at Kirov Opera (DVD)
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- Joyful: Handel trio sonatas from the Brook Street Band - Cd review
- Slow burn Brahms: Clare Rutter, Stephen Gadd, City of London Choir in Brahms Requiem - Concert review
- Game of thrones: Handel Ariodante at London Handel Festival - Opera review
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