Boris Godunov

At a time when most conductors favor one of Modest Mussorgsky's versions of this opera—about the rise and fall of an early 17th-century tsar who comes to power after murdering the true heir, but is ultimately overthrown by a monk pretending to be the dead man—it's rather refreshing to encounter Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's once-universally preferred but now neglected recasting, which may not be faithful to the more rugged original but has unmatched splendor, especially in the orchestral writing. Technically, this 1987 taping from Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre isn't “pure” Rimsky-Korsakov, since it reinserts the St. Basil sequence found in the Ippolitov-Ivanov edition, and reverses the order of the last two scenes in order to close with Boris' death. But even though all the tinkering in the world can't hide the fact that the piece is more a series of static tableaux than a successful drama, a performance as elaborate as this one effectively conveys Boris Godunov's monumental grandeur. Alexander Lazarev's conducting is powerful, the sets and costumes are impressive, and while bass Evgeny Nesterenko can't quite muster the punch he once did in the title role, he remains an imposing Boris. Unfortunately, apart from some of the other lower voices and the excellent chorus, the rest of the singing isn't nearly as strong—the female vocals are wobbly, and tenor Vladislav Piavko is strained as the pretender Dimitri. Still, this is an overall solid mounting of the Rimsky-Korsakov version, presented on an extra-less disc sporting decent Dolby Digital stereo sound. It's also a fine souvenir of the type of performance standards that prevailed in the waning years of the Soviet regime. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)