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Jose Echenique wrote:No dear Fergus, it´s Abbado´s.

Mussorgsky was one of Abbado´s specialties, like Verdi and Rossini, and no one conducts him better, not even the Russians.
First of all, you should know that Boris Godunov was reorchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov and up to the 70´s his orchestration was the standard version [the one used by Cluytens], since most thought Mussorgsky´s own orchestration was rather crude.
But Abbado thought otherwise, for him the original orchestration is just right for the music, the right "tinta" for this painful drama and Rimsky´s made Boris into a pageant it is not.
The Abbado recording was cast with the best singers available at the time and all are superb, except perhaps Samuel Ramey as Pimen because he sounds too Western for the role. But his Boris, the great Anatoly Kotcherga is the greatest exponent since Ghiaurov and Christoff, an he easily outshines Gergiev´s Boris.
The best thing about the Gergiev recording is that he recorded with 2 different casts the earlier and the definitive versions of Boris, but of course, the first is only a curiosity, Boris has to be heard with the Polish act.
Abbado with his incomparable understanding and pulse, lets the drama unfold like a great fresco of Russian History. It´s his compassion for this great collective tragedy [which is what Boris Godunov and also Khovanschchina are all about] that sets him above the competition. Like his Carmen, Viaggio a Reims and Simon Boccanegra, his Boris is one of the great opera recordings of all time.

james wrote:Thanks for that recommendation . I have orderred it from Amazon since it is inexpensive ..




James

Jose Echenique wrote:<Thank you for that Pepe. You have also answered what would have been my next question and that is whether the Polish act is important in the overall context of the work.>

It really is Fergus. We can only understand Marina with the Polish act, and her duet with Rangoni is a small masterpiece unto itself.

fergus wrote:

james wrote:Thanks for that recommendation . I have orderred it from Amazon since it is inexpensive ..




James

You are well ahead of me here James!

Hi Fergus,

I got it on Amazon Marketplace. There is/was a 'like new' secondhand version for £5 but they wont deliver to Ireland. . By the way there are two different editions/covers of the same performance.






I assume they are the same -- I don't care about the Libretto since I have the Gorgiev version [which I have not listenned to in ages but I think it has the Libretto].

James