28 Oct 2010

The Met’s Boris Godunov: RenĂ© Pape sizzles, Mussorgsky’s scoring fizzles

http://blog.cnycafemomus.com/2010/10/28/october-23-met-simulcast-boris-godunov.aspx

By David Abrams [cnycafemomus.com, 28 October 2010]

Listening to mostly male voices (and basses at that) delivering recitatives and monologues in Russian for four and a half hours can be enough to, well, foment a revolution. Perhaps that’s why master-orchestrator Rimsky-Korsakov twice revised Mussorgsky’s bland musical score to Boris Godunov, injecting color and fizz in an attempt to sustain musical interest throughout the lengthy epic drama.