by Modest Mussorgsky
seen by live streaming from Covent Garden on 21 March 2016
Mussorgsky's original seven scene version is directed by Richard Jones and conducted by Antonio Pappano, and features Bryn Terfel in the title role.
This early version of the opera is episodic, with little or no explanation as to why Boris is initially sought after as Tsar, only to become unpopular later on. This may well be because the story is well known in Russia, and also because it was unwise to probe too deeply into court intrigue even though Boris reigned before the Romanov dynasty came to power.
Although two of the seven scenes concentrate on the emergence of the 'false Dimitry' (David Butt Philip), a monk who decides to impersonate the younger son of Ivan the Terrible despite the fact that the child was known to have been murdered, the rebellion thus fomented barely registers on the stage. The final scenes show Boris's unpopularity with the crowd, and then concentrate on his personal collapse and death.
Although two of the seven scenes concentrate on the emergence of the 'false Dimitry' (David Butt Philip), a monk who decides to impersonate the younger son of Ivan the Terrible despite the fact that the child was known to have been murdered, the rebellion thus fomented barely registers on the stage. The final scenes show Boris's unpopularity with the crowd, and then concentrate on his personal collapse and death.
The scenes in which Boris is present are effective, due to the powerful presence of Bryn Terfel, but the overall opera is unsatisfactory. The most affecting scenes are between Boris and his young son Fyodor (Ben Knight), who survived as Tsar for only a few months after his father's death. Otherwise Boris himself is somewhat opaque, and one must read between the lines to understand anything of the political scheming that surrounds him. For example, the opening scene in which the crowd begs Boris to accept the crown, shows that the crowd is being coerced, but does not explain why.
The production has impressive moments - especially the coronation scene, in which the crowd wears spectacularly colourful robes, but its general tone is more subdued. The costumes are ahistorical, reminiscent of later Russian styles of informal dress but also (as one reviewer remarked) looking like the uniforms of 1950s cinema attendants. This gave the boyars a distractingly uniform look, especially as most of them also sported a singular hairstyle.
The theme of Dmitry's murder was given prominence by being constantly re-enacted in an upper space, as if memories of it were resurfacing to torment Boris. This also allowed for a chilling foreshadowing of young Fyodor's fate, as he too was menaced with a knife in the same space in the closing moments of the opera. The reference was underscored by the fact that the murdered prince, the monk Grigory who later claims to be Dmitry, and the young Fyodor, were all redheads. Unfortunately in close-up the wigs looked completely unconvincing, though the whole symbolism may have been perfectly acceptable at the distance normal in the opera house itself.
Visually the late medieval splendour of the Russian court was eschewed in favour of the subdued tones and almost anonymous style of the costumes, and a set in which grey-black walls with an embossed pattern of bells served for all the scenes. It was not the most thrilling cinema streaming, and indeed to my taste the trailer looked far more inviting, a clever montage in which the Cyrillic titles morphed into Roman characters as Bryn Terfel's majestic profile gave an impression of real drama to be witnessed.
The production has impressive moments - especially the coronation scene, in which the crowd wears spectacularly colourful robes, but its general tone is more subdued. The costumes are ahistorical, reminiscent of later Russian styles of informal dress but also (as one reviewer remarked) looking like the uniforms of 1950s cinema attendants. This gave the boyars a distractingly uniform look, especially as most of them also sported a singular hairstyle.
The theme of Dmitry's murder was given prominence by being constantly re-enacted in an upper space, as if memories of it were resurfacing to torment Boris. This also allowed for a chilling foreshadowing of young Fyodor's fate, as he too was menaced with a knife in the same space in the closing moments of the opera. The reference was underscored by the fact that the murdered prince, the monk Grigory who later claims to be Dmitry, and the young Fyodor, were all redheads. Unfortunately in close-up the wigs looked completely unconvincing, though the whole symbolism may have been perfectly acceptable at the distance normal in the opera house itself.
Visually the late medieval splendour of the Russian court was eschewed in favour of the subdued tones and almost anonymous style of the costumes, and a set in which grey-black walls with an embossed pattern of bells served for all the scenes. It was not the most thrilling cinema streaming, and indeed to my taste the trailer looked far more inviting, a clever montage in which the Cyrillic titles morphed into Roman characters as Bryn Terfel's majestic profile gave an impression of real drama to be witnessed.
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