His appearance, coincidentally, is not unlike the famous portrait of the composer by the Russian painter Ilya Repin, memorable for the wild staring eyes, unkempt hair and sallow, drink-befuddled complexion. After a period of neglect following Mussorgsky’s death in 1881, the opera’s fortunes were resuscitated when the rising star Fyodor Shalyapin took the title role at a performance in Moscow, since which time the work became inextricably linked with this legendary bass.Īt the centre of this first revival is the charismatic presence of Bryn Terfel who brings Mussorgsky’s tormented tsar into sharp focus. This raw, compact version in seven scenes, lasting just over two hours without a break, is the lesser performed version of several that include the composer’s “definitive” version finished three years later, and the three-act arrangement by Rimsky-Korsakov of 1908. Essentially, it’s a portrait of a conscience-stricken tsar whose psychological disintegration is prompted by past burdens. This revival of Richard Jones’s 2016 production of Boris Godunov brings another opportunity to see Mussorgsky’s first version of his clunky masterpiece drawn from Pushkin’s tragedy and completed in 1869.
Bryn Terfel as Boris Godunov.Ĭopyright Royal Opera House 2019. David Truslove casts his critical eye over Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, the latest production from the Royal Opera House to feature Bryn Terfel.
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