Antonio Pappano and his marvellous Royal Opera Orchestra need no persuading that this is the only choice when performing Boris.Īnd when you marry this choice of text to a director – Richard Jones – for whom only the unadorned truth will do you leave feeling satisfied and even a little in awe. There are the bells, the impatient ostinati, the gruff basses and lowering trombones – but the colours are almost entirely monochrome (the exact opposite of expensive gold-leaf Rimsky) and the feeling deep-rooted in dusty folklore. This is a piece in which what happens outside of the seven scenes becomes as important as the narrative contained within them, this is a piece in which the sound world is so primary, so cut to the bone, that the bare essentials which do make it to the page suggest a composer for whom the truth is just that – simple and unadorned – and for whom the middle voices, most especially the violas, are the source of moderation. Royal Opera House, London – until 26 June 2016Īs one who grew up listening to what other people did to Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov – most notably the gifted gift-wrapper Rimsky-Korsakov – the seven-scene original is doubly startling in its concision and starkness.
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