The Bolshoi Theater opened its 225th season last Friday with Modest Mussorgsky?€™s opera "Boris Godunov," led by the theater?€™s newly appointed general artistic director, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, in his first conducting assignment there in nearly two decades.
On taking up his new duties two weeks ago, Rozhdestvensky noted that the Bolshoi had scheduled "Boris Godunov," perhaps the greatest of all Russian operas, a mere two times in the current season, while planning seven performances of the musically nondescript ballet "The Pharaoh?€™s Daughter." At his insistence, "Boris" was hastily substituted for the Bolshoi?€™s traditional opening-night fare of Mikhail Glinka?€™s "Ivan Susanin."
The Bolshoi?€™s production of "Boris" dates from 1948 and is the second-oldest, after Pyotr Tchaikovsky?€™s "The Queen of Spades," in the theater?€™s current operatic repertoire. Though somewhat frayed around the edges, both the colorful, realistic sets of Fyodor Fedorovsky and the marvelously detailed staging of Leonid Baratov still provide a powerful spectacle and count among the Bolshoi?€™s greatest scenic treasures. Refurbishment they could stand, but certainly not replacement.
On the musical side, the Bolshoi is probably the world?€™s only major opera house that still performs "Boris" as reorchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov some two decades after the opera?€™s 1874 premiere. No doubt substitution of Rimsky-Korsakov?€™s lush tones for the raw, often brutal orchestral score Mussorgsky himself wrote did much to promote acceptance of the opera among audiences of a century ago. But listeners today are familiar with far more jarring sounds and the musical world now generally accepts that Mussorgsky?€™s original score offers a much more powerful statement of the music.
Rozhdestvensky would no doubt have preferred conducting the original score last week. Nevertheless, he made the most of the Rimsky-Korsakov version, in a purposeful reading that drew from the orchestra the sort of playing for which it was once renowned.
Unfortunately, Friday?€™s singing mostly failed to match what was heard from the orchestra pit. In the title role, the Bolshoi?€™s principal bass and leading Boris, Vladimir Matorin, seemed vocally out of sorts and lacking in conviction, at least until the final death scene. The major roles of Marina, the Pretender Dmitry and Prince Shuisky fell to a trio of all-too-veteran Bolshoi performers. Only the two bass principals other than Matorin, Alexander Naumenko as old monk Pimen and Igor Matyukhin as the vagabond Varlaam, made a truly positive impression. The Bolshoi chorus sounded in need of fresh new voices.
Rozhdestvensky was first hired by the Bolshoi as an intern in 1951 and worked there on and off until 1982, serving as chief conductor for five years in the 1960s. Today, at 69, he ranks among Russia?€™s, and indeed the world?€™s leading conductors, universally respected and admired by his colleagues. Though erratic on the podium, and not much given to the chores of rehearsing, his performances are nevertheless usually memorable.
Rozhdestvensky seems an excellent choice to raise the musical standard of the Bolshoi and reconstruct its operatic repertoire. As a champion of 20th-century music, he must certainly wants to see the theater present operas written later than 1920, the year in which Sergei Prokofiev completed "The Love for Three Oranges," now the theater?€™s most modern offering. But time and careful attention will be needed to bring the Bolshoi out of its musical doldrums. And there lies the big question about Rozhdestvensky. In the past decade, he has worked almost exclusively outside Russia and his commitments abroad remain heavy: He has promised to reduce these, but it remains to be seen whether he will really be free enough to bring about serious changes at the Bolshoi.
Rumors abound as to Rozhdestvensky?€™s plans for the Bolshoi and the invitations he has issued to notable figures from the worlds of opera and ballet. All that seems certain for now is that he will return in November and again next spring, and that he plans to conduct both Prokofiev?€™s "Three Oranges" and a new production of Prokofiev?€™s "The Gambler." Also apparently on the schedule for this season, perhaps with Rozhdestvensky, is what promises to be an uncommonly interesting "Khovanshchina," in the abridgment and reorchestration fashioned by two composers at least equal in stature to Mussorgsky: Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel; and first performed at Serge Diaghilev?€™s Paris "Saison Russe" in 1913.
On taking up his new duties two weeks ago, Rozhdestvensky noted that the Bolshoi had scheduled "Boris Godunov," perhaps the greatest of all Russian operas, a mere two times in the current season, while planning seven performances of the musically nondescript ballet "The Pharaoh?€™s Daughter." At his insistence, "Boris" was hastily substituted for the Bolshoi?€™s traditional opening-night fare of Mikhail Glinka?€™s "Ivan Susanin."
The Bolshoi?€™s production of "Boris" dates from 1948 and is the second-oldest, after Pyotr Tchaikovsky?€™s "The Queen of Spades," in the theater?€™s current operatic repertoire. Though somewhat frayed around the edges, both the colorful, realistic sets of Fyodor Fedorovsky and the marvelously detailed staging of Leonid Baratov still provide a powerful spectacle and count among the Bolshoi?€™s greatest scenic treasures. Refurbishment they could stand, but certainly not replacement.
On the musical side, the Bolshoi is probably the world?€™s only major opera house that still performs "Boris" as reorchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov some two decades after the opera?€™s 1874 premiere. No doubt substitution of Rimsky-Korsakov?€™s lush tones for the raw, often brutal orchestral score Mussorgsky himself wrote did much to promote acceptance of the opera among audiences of a century ago. But listeners today are familiar with far more jarring sounds and the musical world now generally accepts that Mussorgsky?€™s original score offers a much more powerful statement of the music.
Rozhdestvensky would no doubt have preferred conducting the original score last week. Nevertheless, he made the most of the Rimsky-Korsakov version, in a purposeful reading that drew from the orchestra the sort of playing for which it was once renowned.
Unfortunately, Friday?€™s singing mostly failed to match what was heard from the orchestra pit. In the title role, the Bolshoi?€™s principal bass and leading Boris, Vladimir Matorin, seemed vocally out of sorts and lacking in conviction, at least until the final death scene. The major roles of Marina, the Pretender Dmitry and Prince Shuisky fell to a trio of all-too-veteran Bolshoi performers. Only the two bass principals other than Matorin, Alexander Naumenko as old monk Pimen and Igor Matyukhin as the vagabond Varlaam, made a truly positive impression. The Bolshoi chorus sounded in need of fresh new voices.
Rozhdestvensky was first hired by the Bolshoi as an intern in 1951 and worked there on and off until 1982, serving as chief conductor for five years in the 1960s. Today, at 69, he ranks among Russia?€™s, and indeed the world?€™s leading conductors, universally respected and admired by his colleagues. Though erratic on the podium, and not much given to the chores of rehearsing, his performances are nevertheless usually memorable.
Rozhdestvensky seems an excellent choice to raise the musical standard of the Bolshoi and reconstruct its operatic repertoire. As a champion of 20th-century music, he must certainly wants to see the theater present operas written later than 1920, the year in which Sergei Prokofiev completed "The Love for Three Oranges," now the theater?€™s most modern offering. But time and careful attention will be needed to bring the Bolshoi out of its musical doldrums. And there lies the big question about Rozhdestvensky. In the past decade, he has worked almost exclusively outside Russia and his commitments abroad remain heavy: He has promised to reduce these, but it remains to be seen whether he will really be free enough to bring about serious changes at the Bolshoi.
Rumors abound as to Rozhdestvensky?€™s plans for the Bolshoi and the invitations he has issued to notable figures from the worlds of opera and ballet. All that seems certain for now is that he will return in November and again next spring, and that he plans to conduct both Prokofiev?€™s "Three Oranges" and a new production of Prokofiev?€™s "The Gambler." Also apparently on the schedule for this season, perhaps with Rozhdestvensky, is what promises to be an uncommonly interesting "Khovanshchina," in the abridgment and reorchestration fashioned by two composers at least equal in stature to Mussorgsky: Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel; and first performed at Serge Diaghilev?€™s Paris "Saison Russe" in 1913.