Power and guilt: Bryn Terfel triumphs in ‘Boris Godunov’

The events of Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov have their origin in the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who became Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia until his death in 1584. Under his rule Russia transformed from a medieval state into a fledgling empire, he curbed the power of the boyars and surrounded himself with reliable, talented men. One of them, Boris Godunov, became regent to Ivan’s weak-minded son Fyodor, while a son by another marriage (unrecognised by the Russian Orthodox Church, which permitted only three marriages) died in slightly mysterious circumstances.

After Boris was proclaimed Tsar, his opponent and senior boyar Shuisky led an independent enquiry into the death of the son who died, concluding it was accidental. That didn’t stop Pushkin, on whose play Mussorgsky based his opera, from portraying Boris as a murderer. In this production the murder is replayed several times, on a higher level than the main stage where a boy plays with a spinning top before the assassins kill him. This occurs when Boris feels guilt at his earlier actions, and the son who died in these mysterious circumstances was named Dmitri. In the opera we also encounter an opportunist born around the same time claiming to be him — this is the false Dmitri.

The story can be confusing, as Pushkin’s twenty-five scenes were reduced to seven, but it is musically very powerful, particularly in its original 1869 version, performed here by the Royal Opera. After the work’s initial failure, Mussorgsky created a revised version in a more conventional operatic style, and Rimsky-Korsakov later reworked and re-orchestrated this. Other composers and musical scholars also had a go, but this production goes back to the original. From the sound of the tuba announcing Boris’s entrance, to the bass trombone announcing his death, the earthy fabric of this Russian music was safe in the excellent hands of Mark Wigglesworth. Released from its later Western accoutrements, this original version emphasises magnificent choral writing, and the Royal Opera’s chorus really rose to the occasion.

The large cast was headed by Bryn Terfel, who has performed the role many times in different stagings. At Covent Garden he brought immense sensitivity to the portrayal of a supremely powerful man subject to moods and doubts, along with a holy fool (Mingjie Lei), sporting an upturned bucket as head covering, who occasionally pops up to remind Boris of his guilt. Boris’s son and successor (until he was murdered one month later) was beautifully sung by the young Robert Berry-Roe, and the false Dmitri by the American tenor Jamez McCorkle. The more substantial roles of the monk and chronicler Pimen (Adam Palka), the Clerk of the Boyar’s Council (Andrii Kymach) and Shuisky (John Daszak) were all strongly sung, with Alexander Rosvalets and Alasdair Elliott providing light relief as the wandering monks Varlaam and Missail.

This second revival of Richard Jones’s 2016 production serves the opera well, the casting is excellent, and these performances are not to be missed — especially for the brilliant portrayal of Boris by Bryn Terfel.

A Message from TheArticle

We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout these hard economic times. So please, make a donation.