Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina (Munich 2007) (Paata Burchuladze/ Anatoly Kotscherga/ Camilla Nylund/ Bayerisches Staatsorchester/ Dmitri Tcherniakov/ Kent Nagano) (Euroarts: 2072424)
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Kent Nagano superbly masters the challenges presented by this score, shapes the dynamics with subtle intensity, and casts the score in a mellow glow.
~ As Marfa, the spurned lover of Ivan Khovansky's son Andrei,
Doris Soffel unfolds such a rich palette of sonorities, from the pathos of the lower ranges to shaded distant heights, that "one is tempted to speak of a Russian mezzo".
~ Fantastic cast'
Anatoly Kotscherga portrays the religious leader Dosifei with fervor and bluster,
Klaus Florian Vogt dazzles heroically as Andrey,
John Daszak is a technically flawless Golitsin, and bass-baritone
Paata Burchuladze gives a charismatic, forceful account of Prince Ivan Khovansky.
~ The final chorus, which
Mussorgsky did not compose, is played in the orchestrally transparent version of
Igor Stravinsky - the third great Russian composer who contributed to making
"Khovanshchina" a gripping stage work for all times.
~ With his stripped-down sets and historicizing costumes, director
Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the new voices of contemporary Russian theater, builds a bridge to the political present.