Opera on 3 Live from the Met - 12th March, 2011: Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov"

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Mussorgsky's dramatic Pushkin-based opera Boris Godunov. René Pape takes on one of the great operatic bass roles of Boris, who kills the heir to the Russian throne and subsequently becomes Tsar himself. Plagued by guilt and political problems, there's now a new claimant to power, threatening his own future, and that of his troubled country.

Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff.

Boris Godunov ..... René Pape (bass)
Marina ..... Ekaterina Semenchuk (mezzo-soprano)
Dimitri ..... Aleksandrs Antonenko (tenor)
Shuisky ..... Oleg Balashov (tenor)
Rangoni ..... Evgeny Nikitin (bass-baritone)
Pimen ..... Mikhail Petrenko (bass)
Varlaam ..... Vladimir Ognovenko (bass)

Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan opera
Valery Gergiev ..... conductor.

This is not to be missed.
I confess, somewhat heretically, to having a soft spot for the Rimski-Korsakov version.(I'll make my own way to the stake.)

[Chris Newman]

.(I'll make my own way to the stake.)

I'll forgive you this time as you flagged up one hell'va cast: I can even put up with the geriatric Met Chorus wobbling with quartet of basses like that. Really, I like productions (can be any version though) where the opera begins and ends with the simpleton scene. Sometimes the ROH did it that way in the 60s with John Dobson or Francis Egerton tearing at our hearts.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Can't wait for this. Must clear some hard disc space.

[Cavaradossi]

I saw this production in the cinema last year and really looking forward to the radio broadcast this Saturday which I will have to record. The Met issued a press statement yesterday that Valery Gergiev was suffering from exhaustion & resting in St.Petersburg and unable conduct last night, (Wed) but he was hoping to be back in New York for the performance this Saturday.

Get well soon Maestro.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Get well soon Maestro.

[umslopogaas]

I shall definitely try to listen to this, its one of my favourite works. I first got to know it from the HMV Angel LPs conducted by Cluytens, with Christoff magnificent in the title role. In 1971 I made one of my very rare visits to Covent Garden to hear it and still have the programme. The cast was quite something:

Boris Godunov Boris Christoff
Shuisky John Lanigan
Pimen Joseph Rouleau
Grigory William McAlpine
Varlaam Michael Langdon
Feodor Delia Wallis
Xenia Kiri te Kanawa
Rangoni Otakar Kraus

Cond. Edward Downes

I went specially to hear Christoff and he didnt disappoint, but the real star was the live horse that Grigory rode onto and off the stage as he rallied his forces. The musical impact of the scene was rather diluted by concern that the horse might misbehave: in fact, it didnt, but the anxiety was quite distracting. It was a very big horse ...

[BBMmk2]

I do hope the Maestro will be well enough for this! It's going to be an absolute scorcher if he is! Get well soon maestro!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I hope so too, but it should be worth listening to anyway.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Sadly, Gergiev didn't make it, but Pavel Smelkov is on good form.

[johnn10]

Sadly, Gergiev didn't make it, but Pavel Smelkov is on good form.

Odd that Margaret has not sent Gergiev good wishes in case he is listening,

I have to say that I thought that Rene Pape's strategy for answering questions in the interval was fantastic: ie. to make the reply even more superficial than the question. What on earth is the point in asking a singer whether he is looking forward to the role he is performing next season. What singer is going to say something like "-no, I am just doing it for the money."