Boris Godunov

This Mussorgsky opera of the 1872 version was filmed at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1990. It was The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden production by Andrei Tarkovsky (famous for his cinema, "Andrei Rublev"). This DVD version was directed by Stephen Lawless and television version by Humphrey Burton. The leads being sung by Robert Lloyd, Olga Borodina, Alexei Steblianko, Sergei Leiferkus and the orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev of the Kirov Opera of St Petersburg.

The GRAMOPHONE states, "This is masterly on almost every count, musical and visual, and would now be the outright choice for this work in all media...Front stage, as it were, are some of the best of the current generation of Russian singers...Gergiev is another of the recording's heros. Seldom, if ever... has the score sounded so hauntingly beautiful and apt for this huge panorama of seventeenth-century Russia... Don't miss this riveting experience."

Personally,I experienced the comment by my father, Dr. D W Stomberg, many years ago that the San Francisco staged production was boring, he almost fell asleep during the presentation.

Not now, say I, this is all of the aforementioned and more! Thank you Philips for giving us this DVD. It is much appreciated.

Dag Stomberg