Modest MUSSORGSKY (1839 - 1881)
Khovanshchina (1882)
Aleksej Krivchenya (bass) - Prince Ivan Khovansky, head of the
Streltsy; Vladislav Piavko (tenor) - Prince Andrey Khovansky, his son;
Aleksej Maslennikov (tenor) - Prince Vasily Golitsin; Aleksandr Ognivtsev
(bass) - Dosifey, head of the schismatics; Victor Nechipailo (baritone) -
Boyar Shaklovity; Irina Arkhipova (mezzo) - Marfa, a schismatic; Tatiana
Tugarinova (soprano) - Susanna, an old schismatic; Gennadi Efimov (tenor) -
Scrivener; Tamara Sorokina (soprano) - Emma, a maiden from the German
Quarter; Yurij Korolev (bass) - Varsonofyev, a retainer of Golitsin; Yurij
Grigoriev (baritone) - Kuzka, a Strelets
Choir and Orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre and the
Kremlin Palace of Congresses/Boris Khaikin
rec. 1974 (according to the booklet; other sources say 1972)
MELODIYA MELCD 10 01867 [3 CDs: 40:31 + 61:35 + 57:13]
Russian history was a central interest for Modest Mussorgsky.
Boris Godunov deals with the troubled years around 1600 and
Khovanshchina a similarly dark period about a century later when
there was opposition to Peter the Great’s attempts at westernizing
Russia. It was Prince Ivan Khovansky, the Old Believers and the Streltsy who
plotted against Tsar Peter, but Peter got the best of it and the followers
of Khovansky committed mass suicide. At least they do in the opera, but
Mussorgsky was rather free in his way with historical facts.
Mussorgsky wrote his own libretto and started composing in 1872,
before he revised Boris Godunov. Illness and over-consumption of
alcohol prevented progress during long periods and when he died in 1881 the
opera was still unfinished. His friend Rimsky-Korsakov completed it and
orchestrated it and in that version it was finally premiered in 1886. In the
1950s Dmitri Shostakovich re-orchestrated the work in closer accordance with
the composer’s intentions and it is that version that is most often
heard today. On the present recording it is the Rimsky-Korsakov version that
is performed. Khovanshchina has never attained the same popularity as
Boris Godunov. One reason I believe is the complicated plot, another
is the slow dramatic speed. Even so, there is a lot of accessible music with
such numbers as the Dance of the Persian Slaves and some groovy
choruses.
The present version was recorded in 1974 and has been re-mastered.
The sound is good with lots of detail. The voices are very close and in the
face of the listener. Listening with headphones, which I regularly do, I had
to change the volume setting intermittently to protect my eardrums.
Orchestral music needed some extra decibels, but when one of the grand
basses appeared the sound was unsociable unless I turned it down quite a
lot.
Boris Khaikin (1904-1978) was one of the legendary Russian
conductors during the last century. He was principal at the Kirov Theatre in
Leningrad 1944-1953, whereupon he moved over to the Bolshoi in Moscow. He
recorded Khovanshchina with the Kirov forces in 1946 (see review) and again in 1974 at the
Bolshoi. There is no doubting that either of these two recordings are as
idiomatic as could be with conductor, orchestra and singers steeped in a
tradition with roots struck deep in the 19th century. What they
also have in common are some less attractive features, typical of the
Russian tradition: voice production. Slavonic wobble has long been a
pejorative but in the olden days this was normal. Beauty of tone was
subordinated to drama and intensity. In the old recording the chorus
sometimes sprawls. By contrast the Bolshoi evinces more Western ideals and
thus a more sonorous and even choral sound. Listen to the chorus that
concludes act III. Beautiful singing! Solo voices are however still Slavonic
in 1974 - at least the sopranos and tenors. Fortunately the sopranos have
little to sing but Piavko’s Prince Andrey has that typical hard tenor
tone that cuts glass, and he sings at an unremitting fortissimo. Efimov in
the character role of Scrivener is easier to digest. Then there is Alexej
Maslennikov, who was a major artist and in a different political climate he
would have had a commanding international career. Herbert von Karajan
engaged him for his recording of Boris Godunov in 1970 where he was
Shuisky and also doubled as the Simpleton. His Golitsin on this recording is
a worthy memento of this singer, a smooth, mellifluous, lyrical voice
utilized with the utmost sensitivity and elegance.
When we move over to the lower voices there is a lot more to relish.
First and foremost we have Irina Arkhipova, one of the greatest
mezzo-sopranos active during the 1960s and 1970s. Marfa was among her
greatest roles and the Fortune telling aria (CD 2 tr. 3) is beautifully sung
- marvellous. She surpasses by a wide margin both Sofya Preobrazhenskaya on
the earlier Khaikin recording and Elena Zaremba on a DVD from Liceu.
On the male side there is a host of strong baritones and basses, not
least the baritone Victor Nechipailo who has a long expressive solo in act
III. The most central characters are Ivan Khovansky and Dosifey, the leader
of the schismatics. The former is magnificently sung and acted by Aleksej
Krivchenya, who at the time of the recording was well past 60. Born in 1910
he died in March 1974, which makes me wonder whether this recording was made
that year. Anyway it is obvious that it is an old singer, no longer so
sonorous, but with an expressivity that is almost visible. The latter is
beautifully sung by Aleksandr Ognivtsev with a somewhat lighter and more
baritonal voice. He is not quite in the same class as Mark Reizen on the
older recording, but then no one is really in that class and Ognivtsev is
splendid in his own right.
Khovanshchina is an opera that grows with each hearing. The
story is as unwieldy every time but the great power and beauty of the music
makes it worthwhile. This Bolshoi recording, in spite of some less than
inspiring singing, has a great deal to offer.
Göran Forsling
This Bolshoi recording has a great deal to offer.