Wednesday 16 March 2016

Boris Godunov REVIEW Royal Opera House


Mussorgsky Boris Gudonov at the Royal Opera House with Bryn Terfel. Here is a link to Claire Seymour's review in Opera Today, the most detailed and perceptive of all.

"Terfel’s Boris is no histrionic monster. And if, initially, he seems to hold something in reserve emotionally, this later seems to be part of a carefully judged slow-release of growing torment, which builds unstoppably to tragic confrontation and catharsis. Terfel finds the man beneath the stateliness; this is a father whose love for his children is tactile, intense and unwavering. He trades the simple attire of a boyar for the glittering glamour of his creme and gold coronation robes, but at the close Boris is a dishevelled, pitiful figure — body and mind in disarray: grey-haired, fur-coated, bare-footed, staggering and swaying like a wild Old Testament prophet. The contrast between Terfel’s physical stature and psychological vulnerability is deeply poignant. -"

 See more at: http://www.operatoday.com/content/2016/03/boris_godunov_a.php#sthash.FzGU12C5.dpuf "
photo credit : C Ashmore, Royal opera House

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